diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ab6acd2..5dfdfbb 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2184,7 +2184,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "scidataflow"
-version = "0.8.9"
+version = "0.8.11"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "chrono",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6be681f..486dac7 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "scidataflow"
-version = "0.8.10"
+version = "0.8.11"
 edition = "2021"
 exclude = ["logo.png", "tests/test_data/**"]
 license = "MIT"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 273f0df..3643759 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/scidataflow) ![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/d/scidataflow) ![CI tests](https://github.com/vsbuffalo/sciflow/workflows/CI/badge.svg)
 
+
 ![SciDataFlow logo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vsbuffalo/scidataflow/main/logo.png)
 
 
diff --git a/src/lib/download.rs b/src/lib/download.rs
index 42fd17f..4bf5ac7 100644
--- a/src/lib/download.rs
+++ b/src/lib/download.rs
@@ -105,15 +105,19 @@ impl Downloads {
         let total_files = downloads.len();
         if !downloads.is_empty() {
             // Let's handle the file operations:
-            // 1) Delete the files if they exist, since if it's in the queue, it's
-            //    overwrite-safe.
+            // 1) Move all the files to temporary destinations
             // 2) Create the directory structure if it does not exist.
+            let mut temp_files = Vec::new();
             for file in downloads {
                 let path = PathBuf::from(&file.filename);
                 if path.exists() {
-                    fs::remove_file(&path)?;
+                    // rather than delete, we move the file
+                    let temp_file_path = path.with_extension(".tmp");
+                    fs::rename(&path, &temp_file_path)?;
+                    temp_files.push(temp_file_path);
                 }
 
+                // recreate the directory structure if not there
                 if let Some(parent_dir) = path.parent() {
                     if !parent_dir.exists() {
                         fs::create_dir_all(parent_dir)?;
@@ -124,7 +128,16 @@ impl Downloads {
             let downloader = DownloaderBuilder::new()
                 .style_options(self.default_style()?)
                 .build();
+
+            // download everything
             downloader.download(downloads).await;
+
+            // now remove the temp files
+            for temp_file_path in temp_files {
+                if temp_file_path.exists() {
+                    fs::remove_file(temp_file_path)?;
+                }
+            }
             if show_total {
                 let punc = if total_files > 0 { "." } else { ":" };
                 println!(
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index c3f4200..56c4ef2 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -199,6 +199,11 @@ enum Commands {
     /// Pull in all tracked files from the remote. If --urls is set,
     /// this will (re)-download all files (tracked or not) in that manifest
     /// from their URLs.
+    ///
+    /// Note that if --overwrite is set, this will append the suffix '.tmp'
+    /// to each file that will be replaced, and those files will be removed
+    /// after the download is successful. While safer, this does temporarily
+    /// increase disk usage.
     Pull {
         /// Overwrite local files if they exit.
         #[arg(long)]