diff --git a/src/DialogDrawingStyles.h b/src/DialogDrawingStyles.h
index a1aa1c96..ba8fbdf8 100644
--- a/src/DialogDrawingStyles.h
+++ b/src/DialogDrawingStyles.h
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 #include "Verbosity.h"
 #include "ui_DialogDrawingStyles.h"
 
+#include <QPointer>
+
 #include <boost/optional.hpp>
 
 class DialogSyntaxPatterns;
@@ -52,7 +54,7 @@ class DialogDrawingStyles final : public Dialog {
 	HighlightStyleModel *model_;
 	std::vector<HighlightStyle> &highlightStyles_;
 	QModelIndex deleted_;
-	DialogSyntaxPatterns *dialogSyntaxPatterns_;
+	QPointer<DialogSyntaxPatterns> dialogSyntaxPatterns_;
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.cpp b/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.cpp
index 90fbf39a..66d3bd90 100644
--- a/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.cpp
+++ b/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.cpp
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@
  * @param parent
  * @param f
  */
-DialogSyntaxPatterns::DialogSyntaxPatterns(MainWindow *window, Qt::WindowFlags f)
-	: Dialog(window, f), window_(window) {
+DialogSyntaxPatterns::DialogSyntaxPatterns(QWidget *parent, Qt::WindowFlags f)
+	: Dialog(parent, f) {
 
 	ui.setupUi(this);
 	connectSlots();
@@ -277,9 +277,13 @@ void DialogSyntaxPatterns::buttonLanguageMode_clicked() {
 void DialogSyntaxPatterns::buttonHighlightStyle_clicked() {
 	QString style = ui.comboHighlightStyle->currentText();
 	if (!style.isEmpty()) {
-		auto DrawingStyles = std::make_unique<DialogDrawingStyles>(this, Highlight::HighlightStyles, this);
-		DrawingStyles->setStyleByName(style);
-		DrawingStyles->exec();
+
+		if (!dialogDrawingStyles_) {
+			dialogDrawingStyles_ = new DialogDrawingStyles(this, Highlight::HighlightStyles, this);
+		}
+
+		dialogDrawingStyles_->setStyleByName(style);
+		dialogDrawingStyles_->show();
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.h b/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.h
index cf40e1ba..f67f143a 100644
--- a/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.h
+++ b/src/DialogSyntaxPatterns.h
@@ -6,19 +6,21 @@
 #include "Verbosity.h"
 #include "ui_DialogSyntaxPatterns.h"
 
+#include <QPointer>
+
 #include <boost/optional.hpp>
 #include <memory>
 
 class HighlightPattern;
 class HighlightPatternModel;
-class MainWindow;
 class PatternSet;
+class DialogDrawingStyles;
 
 class DialogSyntaxPatterns final : public Dialog {
 	Q_OBJECT
 
 public:
-	explicit DialogSyntaxPatterns(MainWindow *window, Qt::WindowFlags f = Qt::WindowFlags());
+	explicit DialogSyntaxPatterns(QWidget *parent = nullptr, Qt::WindowFlags f = Qt::WindowFlags());
 	~DialogSyntaxPatterns() override = default;
 
 public:
@@ -71,7 +73,7 @@ private Q_SLOTS:
 	HighlightPatternModel *model_;
 	QModelIndex deleted_;
 	QString previousLanguage_;
-	MainWindow *window_;
+	QPointer<DialogDrawingStyles> dialogDrawingStyles_;
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/MainWindow.cpp b/src/MainWindow.cpp
index 4d304541..3a05e90e 100644
--- a/src/MainWindow.cpp
+++ b/src/MainWindow.cpp
@@ -6120,9 +6120,15 @@ MainWindow *MainWindow::fromDocument(const DocumentWidget *document) {
 */
 void MainWindow::editHighlightStyles(const QString &initialStyle) {
 
-	auto DrawingStyles = std::make_unique<DialogDrawingStyles>(nullptr, Highlight::HighlightStyles, this);
-	DrawingStyles->setStyleByName(initialStyle);
-	DrawingStyles->exec();
+	if (!dialogDrawingStyles_) {
+		dialogDrawingStyles_ = new DialogDrawingStyles(nullptr, Highlight::HighlightStyles, this);
+	}
+
+	dialogDrawingStyles_->setStyleByName(initialStyle);
+
+	// TODO(eteran): do we want to take any measures to prevent
+	// more than one of these being shown?
+	dialogDrawingStyles_->show();
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/MainWindow.h b/src/MainWindow.h
index 603e0dec..c6338c83 100644
--- a/src/MainWindow.h
+++ b/src/MainWindow.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ class DialogReplace;
 class DialogShellMenu;
 class DialogWindowBackgroundMenu;
 class DialogSyntaxPatterns;
+class DialogDrawingStyles;
 class DocumentWidget;
 class TextArea;
 struct MenuData;
@@ -444,6 +445,7 @@ public Q_SLOTS:
 	QPointer<DialogColors> dialogColors_;
 	QPointer<DialogWindowBackgroundMenu> dialogWindowBackgroundMenu_;
 	QPointer<DialogSyntaxPatterns> dialogSyntaxPatterns_;
+	QPointer<DialogDrawingStyles> dialogDrawingStyles_;
 	QPointer<TextArea> lastFocus_;
 
 private: