diff --git a/sources/cablelist/cabletypelist.cpp b/sources/cablelist/cabletypelist.cpp
index cf57cbb3a..125087109 100644
--- a/sources/cablelist/cabletypelist.cpp
+++ b/sources/cablelist/cabletypelist.cpp
@@ -635,6 +635,22 @@ bool CableTypeList::writeFile(const QString &path, const CableTypeListData &data
 	header_lines.append(data.columns);
 	const QByteArray content = MaterialList::serializeCsv(header_lines, rows, data.separator);
 
+		//The folder may not be there yet: a fresh profile has no
+		//documents folder, and a path typed into the settings may name a
+		//folder which was never created. QSaveFile cannot write into a
+		//folder which does not exist, so without this the whole write
+		//fails and the message says nothing about the real reason.
+	const QString folder = QFileInfo(path).absolutePath();
+	if (!folder.isEmpty() && !QDir(folder).exists() && !QDir().mkpath(folder))
+	{
+		if (error) {
+			*error = QCoreApplication::translate(
+				"CableTypeList",
+				"Cannot create the folder %1 for the cable types file.").arg(folder);
+		}
+		return false;
+	}
+
 	QSaveFile file(path);
 	if (!file.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly) || file.write(content) != content.size())
 	{
diff --git a/tests/qttest/tst_cabletypelist.cpp b/tests/qttest/tst_cabletypelist.cpp
index 77f36ad35..64b781d4e 100644
--- a/tests/qttest/tst_cabletypelist.cpp
+++ b/tests/qttest/tst_cabletypelist.cpp
@@ -142,6 +142,25 @@ class tst_cabletypelist : public QObject
 							  QStringLiteral("bl")}));
 	}
 
+	//The folder a cable type file goes into may not exist yet: a fresh
+	//profile has no documents folder, and a path typed into the settings
+	//may name one which was never created. The write makes the folder
+	//rather than failing with a message which says nothing about why.
+	void aMissingFolderIsCreated()
+	{
+		const QString path = m_dir.filePath(
+			QStringLiteral("not/there/yet/qet_cable_types.csv"));
+		QVERIFY(!QFile::exists(path));
+
+		QString error;
+		QVERIFY2(CableTypeList::createFile(path, &error), qPrintable(error));
+		QVERIFY2(QFile::exists(path), "the file was not created");
+
+		CableTypeListData data;
+		QVERIFY2(load(path, &data), "the file just created could not be read");
+		QVERIFY(data.records.isEmpty());
+	}
+
 	void labelLineAloneStillGivesTheType()
 	{
 		const QString path = write(QStringLiteral("hand.csv"),