diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3e8992bfad..3cc92e74fc 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -626,6 +626,11 @@
           "default": true,
           "description": "Displays a code lens above function definitions showing the number of times the function is referenced in the workspace. Large workspaces should disable this setting due to high performance impact."
         },
+        "powershell.analyzeOpenDocumentsOnly": {
+          "type": "boolean",
+          "default": false,
+          "description": "Only search for references within open documents. Enable this in large workspaces if memory is limited."
+        },
         "powershell.bugReporting.project": {
           "type": "string",
           "default": "https://github.com/PowerShell/vscode-powershell",
diff --git a/src/settings.ts b/src/settings.ts
index 3405de1d77..8378d0437f 100644
--- a/src/settings.ts
+++ b/src/settings.ts
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ export interface ISettings {
     cwd?: string;
     notebooks?: INotebooksSettings;
     enableReferencesCodeLens?: boolean;
+    analyzeOpenDocumentsOnly?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface IStartAsLoginShellSettings {
@@ -273,6 +274,8 @@ export function load(): ISettings {
             configuration.get<string>("cwd", undefined),
         enableReferencesCodeLens:
             configuration.get<boolean>("enableReferencesCodeLens", true),
+        analyzeOpenDocumentsOnly:
+            configuration.get<boolean>("analyzeOpenDocumentsOnly", true),
     };
 }