diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c56e465..a39d1bd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -812,6 +812,14 @@ To overwrite a setting, write it as seen in `:h mkdx-settings` in your _.vimrc_:
 let g:mkdx#settings = { 'enter': { 'enable': 0 } }
 ```
 
+**NOTE:** The method used above somewhat relies on `exists('*dictwatcheradd')` which is Neovim only.
+If you intend to `:so %` your `.vimrc` file, please use the following instead:
+
+```viml
+" :h mkdx-settings
+call mkdx#configure({ 'enter': { 'enable': 0 } })
+```
+
 The above will disable the [`g:mkdx#settings.enter.enable`](#gmkdxsettingsenterenable) setting.
 For backwards compatibility, `g:mkdx#` variables are merged into the defaults.
 This happens before any `g:mkdx#settings` hash defined in _.vimrc_ is merged with the defaults.
diff --git a/autoload/mkdx.vim b/autoload/mkdx.vim
index ef7b74a..61914e0 100644
--- a/autoload/mkdx.vim
+++ b/autoload/mkdx.vim
@@ -10,6 +10,33 @@ else
   endfunc
 endif
 
+let g:mkdx#defaults = {
+      \ 'image_extension_pattern': 'a\?png\|jpe\?g\|gif',
+      \ 'insert_indent_mappings':  0,
+      \ 'restore_visual':          1,
+      \ 'gf_on_steroids':          0,
+      \ 'enter':                   { 'enable': 1, 'shift': 0, 'malformed': 1, 'o': 1, 'shifto': 1, 'increment': 1, 'close_pum': 0 },
+      \ 'tab':                     { 'enable': 1 },
+      \ 'map':                     { 'prefix': '<leader>', 'enable': 1 },
+      \ 'tokens':                  { 'enter': ['-', '*', '>'], 'bold': '**', 'italic': '*',
+      \                              'list': '-', 'fence': '', 'header': '#', 'strike': '' },
+      \ 'checkbox':                { 'toggles': [' ', '-', 'x'], 'update_tree': 2, 'initial_state': ' ', 'match_attrs': { 'mkdxCheckboxEmpty': '', 'mkdxCheckboxPending': '', 'mkdxCheckboxComplete': '' } },
+      \ 'toc':                     { 'text': 'TOC', 'list_token': '-', 'position': 0, 'update_on_write': 0,
+      \                              'details': { 'enable': 0, 'summary': 'Click to expand {{toc.text}}',
+      \                                           'nesting_level': -1, 'child_count': 5, 'child_summary': 'show {{count}} items' } },
+      \ 'table':                   { 'divider': '|', 'header_divider': '-',
+      \                              'align': { 'left': [], 'center': [], 'right': [],
+      \                                         'default': 'center' } },
+      \ 'links':                   { 'external': { 'enable': 0, 'timeout': 3, 'host': '', 'relative': 1,
+      \                                            'user_agent':  'Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_13_1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/9001.0.0000.000 vim-mkdx/1.10.0' },
+      \                              'fragment': { 'jumplist': 1, 'complete': 1, 'pumheight': 15, 'completeopt': 'noinsert,menuone' },
+      \                              'conceal': 1 },
+      \ 'highlight':               { 'enable': 0, 'frontmatter': { 'yaml': 1, 'toml': 0, 'json': 0 } },
+      \ 'auto_update':             { 'enable': 1 },
+      \ 'fold':                    { 'enable': 0, 'components': ['toc', 'fence'] }
+    \ }
+
+
 let s:_is_nvim               = has('nvim')
 let s:_has_curl              = executable('curl')
 let s:_can_async             = s:_is_nvim || has('job')
@@ -1301,6 +1328,10 @@ fun! mkdx#guard_settings()
   endif
 endfun
 
+function! mkdx#configure(...)
+  let g:mkdx#settings = mkdx#MergeSettings(g:mkdx#defaults, get(a:000, 0, {}))
+endfunction
+
 fun! mkdx#MergeSettings(...)
   let a = get(a:000, 0, {})
   let b = get(a:000, 1, {})
diff --git a/doc/mkdx.txt b/doc/mkdx.txt
index 0a6aeb5..e7456d2 100644
--- a/doc/mkdx.txt
+++ b/doc/mkdx.txt
@@ -380,50 +380,50 @@ value defined in the settings hash will end up being used, e.g. the
 
 Below a mapping of settings to global variables:
 
-s:defaults.insert_indent_mappings     `=>`
-s:defaults.gf_on_steroids             `=>`
-s:defaults.links.external.enable      `=>`
-s:defaults.links.external.host        `=>`
-s:defaults.links.external.timeout     `=>`
-s:defaults.links.external.relative    `=>`
-s:defaults.links.external.user_agent  `=>`
-s:defaults.links.fragment.jumplist    `=>`
-s:defaults.links.fragment.complete    `=>`
-s:defaults.links.conceal              `=>`
-s:defaults.image_extension_pattern    `=>` g:mkdx#link_as_img_pat
-s:defaults.restore_visual             `=>` g:mkdx#restore_visual
-s:defaults.map.prefix                 `=>` g:mkdx#map_prefix
-s:defaults.map.enable                 `=>` g:mkdx#map_keys
-s:defaults.checkbox.toggles           `=>` g:mkdx#checkbox_toggles
-s:defaults.checkbox.update_tree       `=>` g:mkdx#checklist_update_tree
-s:defaults.checkbox.initial_state     `=>` g:mkdx#checkbox_initial_state
-s:defaults.table.header_divider       `=>` g:mkdx#table_header_divider
-s:defaults.table.divider              `=>` g:mkdx#table_divider
-s:defaults.tokens.header              `=>` g:mkdx#header_style
-s:defaults.tokens.enter               `=>` g:mkdx#list_tokens
-s:defaults.tokens.fence               `=>` g:mkdx#fence_style
-s:defaults.tokens.bold                `=>` g:mkdx#bold_token
-s:defaults.tokens.strike              `=>`
-s:defaults.tokens.italic              `=>` g:mkdx#italic_token
-s:defaults.tokens.list                `=>` g:mkdx#list_token
-s:defaults.enter.enable               `=>` g:mkdx#enhance_enter
-s:defaults.enter.malformed            `=>` g:mkdx#handle_malformed_indent
-s:defaults.enter.o                    `=>`
-s:defaults.enter.shifto               `=>`
-s:defaults.enter.shift                `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.list_token             `=>` g:mkdx#toc_list_token
-s:defaults.toc.text                   `=>` g:mkdx#toc_text
-s:defaults.toc.position               `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.update_on_write        `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.details.enable         `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.details.summary        `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.details.nesting_level  `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.details.child_count    `=>`
-s:defaults.toc.details.child_summary  `=>`
-s:defaults.highlight.enable           `=>`
-s:defaults.highlight.frontmatter.yaml `=>`
-s:defaults.highlight.frontmatter.toml `=>`
-s:defaults.highlight.frontmatter.json `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.insert_indent_mappings     `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.gf_on_steroids             `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.external.enable      `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.external.host        `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.external.timeout     `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.external.relative    `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.external.user_agent  `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.fragment.jumplist    `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.fragment.complete    `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.links.conceal              `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.image_extension_pattern    `=>` g:mkdx#link_as_img_pat
+g:mkdx#defaults.restore_visual             `=>` g:mkdx#restore_visual
+g:mkdx#defaults.map.prefix                 `=>` g:mkdx#map_prefix
+g:mkdx#defaults.map.enable                 `=>` g:mkdx#map_keys
+g:mkdx#defaults.checkbox.toggles           `=>` g:mkdx#checkbox_toggles
+g:mkdx#defaults.checkbox.update_tree       `=>` g:mkdx#checklist_update_tree
+g:mkdx#defaults.checkbox.initial_state     `=>` g:mkdx#checkbox_initial_state
+g:mkdx#defaults.table.header_divider       `=>` g:mkdx#table_header_divider
+g:mkdx#defaults.table.divider              `=>` g:mkdx#table_divider
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.header              `=>` g:mkdx#header_style
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.enter               `=>` g:mkdx#list_tokens
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.fence               `=>` g:mkdx#fence_style
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.bold                `=>` g:mkdx#bold_token
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.strike              `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.italic              `=>` g:mkdx#italic_token
+g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.list                `=>` g:mkdx#list_token
+g:mkdx#defaults.enter.enable               `=>` g:mkdx#enhance_enter
+g:mkdx#defaults.enter.malformed            `=>` g:mkdx#handle_malformed_indent
+g:mkdx#defaults.enter.o                    `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.enter.shifto               `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.enter.shift                `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.list_token             `=>` g:mkdx#toc_list_token
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.text                   `=>` g:mkdx#toc_text
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.position               `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.update_on_write        `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.details.enable         `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.details.summary        `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.details.nesting_level  `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.details.child_count    `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.toc.details.child_summary  `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.highlight.enable           `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.highlight.frontmatter.yaml `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.highlight.frontmatter.toml `=>`
+g:mkdx#defaults.highlight.frontmatter.json `=>`
 
 ==============================================================================
 `g:mkdx#settings.insert_indent_mappings = 0` *mkdx-setting-insert-indent-mappings*
diff --git a/plugin/mkdx.vim b/plugin/mkdx.vim
index a3eb946..56d275d 100644
--- a/plugin/mkdx.vim
+++ b/plugin/mkdx.vim
@@ -1,55 +1,25 @@
-let s:defaults = {
-      \ 'image_extension_pattern': 'a\?png\|jpe\?g\|gif',
-      \ 'insert_indent_mappings':  0,
-      \ 'restore_visual':          1,
-      \ 'gf_on_steroids':          0,
-      \ 'enter':                   { 'enable': 1, 'shift': 0, 'malformed': 1, 'o': 1, 'shifto': 1, 'increment': 1, 'close_pum': 0 },
-      \ 'tab':                     { 'enable': 1 },
-      \ 'map':                     { 'prefix': '<leader>', 'enable': 1 },
-      \ 'tokens':                  { 'enter': ['-', '*', '>'], 'bold': '**', 'italic': '*',
-      \                              'list': '-', 'fence': '', 'header': '#', 'strike': '' },
-      \ 'checkbox':                { 'toggles': [' ', '-', 'x'], 'update_tree': 2, 'initial_state': ' ', 'match_attrs': { 'mkdxCheckboxEmpty': '', 'mkdxCheckboxPending': '', 'mkdxCheckboxComplete': '' } },
-      \ 'toc':                     { 'text': 'TOC', 'list_token': '-', 'position': 0, 'update_on_write': 0,
-      \                              'details': { 'enable': 0, 'summary': 'Click to expand {{toc.text}}',
-      \                                           'nesting_level': -1, 'child_count': 5, 'child_summary': 'show {{count}} items' } },
-      \ 'table':                   { 'divider': '|', 'header_divider': '-',
-      \                              'align': { 'left': [], 'center': [], 'right': [],
-      \                                         'default': 'center' } },
-      \ 'links':                   { 'external': { 'enable': 0, 'timeout': 3, 'host': '', 'relative': 1,
-      \                                            'user_agent':  'Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_13_1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/9001.0.0000.000 vim-mkdx/1.10.0' },
-      \                              'fragment': { 'jumplist': 1, 'complete': 1, 'pumheight': 15, 'completeopt': 'noinsert,menuone' },
-      \                              'conceal': 1 },
-      \ 'highlight':               { 'enable': 0, 'frontmatter': { 'yaml': 1, 'toml': 0, 'json': 0 } },
-      \ 'auto_update':             { 'enable': 1 },
-      \ 'fold':                    { 'enable': 0, 'components': ['toc', 'fence'] }
-    \ }
+if exists('g:mkdx#map_prefix')              | let g:mkdx#defaults.map.prefix = g:mkdx#map_prefix                         | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#map_keys')                | let g:mkdx#defaults.map.enable = g:mkdx#map_keys                           | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#checkbox_toggles')        | let g:mkdx#defaults.checkbox.toggles = g:mkdx#checkbox_toggles             | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#checklist_update_tree')   | let g:mkdx#defaults.checkbox.update_tree = g:mkdx#checklist_update_tree    | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#restore_visual')          | let g:mkdx#defaults.restore_visual = g:mkdx#restore_visual                 | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#header_style')            | let g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.header = g:mkdx#header_style                    | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#table_header_divider')    | let g:mkdx#defaults.table.header_divider = g:mkdx#table_header_divider     | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#table_divider')           | let g:mkdx#defaults.table.divider = g:mkdx#table_divider                   | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#enhance_enter')           | let g:mkdx#defaults.enter.enable = g:mkdx#enhance_enter                    | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#list_tokens')             | let g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.enter = g:mkdx#list_tokens                      | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#fence_style')             | let g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.fence = g:mkdx#fence_style                      | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#handle_malformed_indent') | let g:mkdx#defaults.enter.malformed = g:mkdx#handle_malformed_indent       | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#link_as_img_pat')         | let g:mkdx#defaults.image_extension_pattern = g:mkdx#link_as_img_pat       | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#bold_token')              | let g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.bold = g:mkdx#bold_token                        | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#italic_token')            | let g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.italic = g:mkdx#italic_token                    | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#list_token')              | let g:mkdx#defaults.tokens.list = g:mkdx#list_token                        | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#toc_list_token')          | let g:mkdx#defaults.toc.list_token = g:mkdx#toc_list_token                 | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#toc_text')                | let g:mkdx#defaults.toc.text = g:mkdx#toc_text                             | endif
+if exists('g:mkdx#checkbox_initial_state')  | let g:mkdx#defaults.checkbox.initial_state = g:mkdx#checkbox_initial_state | endif
 
-if exists('g:mkdx#map_prefix')              | let s:defaults.map.prefix = g:mkdx#map_prefix                         | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#map_keys')                | let s:defaults.map.enable = g:mkdx#map_keys                           | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#checkbox_toggles')        | let s:defaults.checkbox.toggles = g:mkdx#checkbox_toggles             | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#checklist_update_tree')   | let s:defaults.checkbox.update_tree = g:mkdx#checklist_update_tree    | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#restore_visual')          | let s:defaults.restore_visual = g:mkdx#restore_visual                 | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#header_style')            | let s:defaults.tokens.header = g:mkdx#header_style                    | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#table_header_divider')    | let s:defaults.table.header_divider = g:mkdx#table_header_divider     | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#table_divider')           | let s:defaults.table.divider = g:mkdx#table_divider                   | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#enhance_enter')           | let s:defaults.enter.enable = g:mkdx#enhance_enter                    | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#list_tokens')             | let s:defaults.tokens.enter = g:mkdx#list_tokens                      | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#fence_style')             | let s:defaults.tokens.fence = g:mkdx#fence_style                      | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#handle_malformed_indent') | let s:defaults.enter.malformed = g:mkdx#handle_malformed_indent       | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#link_as_img_pat')         | let s:defaults.image_extension_pattern = g:mkdx#link_as_img_pat       | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#bold_token')              | let s:defaults.tokens.bold = g:mkdx#bold_token                        | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#italic_token')            | let s:defaults.tokens.italic = g:mkdx#italic_token                    | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#list_token')              | let s:defaults.tokens.list = g:mkdx#list_token                        | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#toc_list_token')          | let s:defaults.toc.list_token = g:mkdx#toc_list_token                 | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#toc_text')                | let s:defaults.toc.text = g:mkdx#toc_text                             | endif
-if exists('g:mkdx#checkbox_initial_state')  | let s:defaults.checkbox.initial_state = g:mkdx#checkbox_initial_state | endif
-
-if (!exists('g:mkdx#settings_initialized'))
-  let g:mkdx#settings             = mkdx#MergeSettings(s:defaults, exists('g:mkdx#settings') ? g:mkdx#settings : {})
+if (!exists('g:mkdx#settings_initialized') || !exists('*dictwatcheradd'))
+  let g:mkdx#settings             = mkdx#MergeSettings(g:mkdx#defaults, exists('g:mkdx#settings') ? g:mkdx#settings : {})
   let g:mkdx#settings_initialized = 1
   call mkdx#guard_settings()
 endif
-
-function! mkdx#configure(...)
-  let g:mkdx#settings = mkdx#MergeSettings(s:defaults, get(a:000, 0, {}))
-endfunction