diff --git a/Common/GmshMessage.cpp b/Common/GmshMessage.cpp
index 02feed5553ea4cf49697932649c3c16aa43a60b3..d6a2b9183b590bb93d7ba0e297a094d7eeb24d0b 100644
--- a/Common/GmshMessage.cpp
+++ b/Common/GmshMessage.cpp
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ void Msg::ExchangeOnelabParameter(const std::string &key,
   std::vector<onelab::number> ps;
   _onelabClient->get(ps, name);
   bool noRange = true, noChoices = true, noLoop = true, noGraph = true;
-  if(ps.size()){ 
+  if(ps.size()){
     if(ps[0].getReadOnly())
       ps[0].setValue(val[0]); // use value from gmsh
     else
@@ -697,6 +697,34 @@ void Msg::ExchangeOnelabParameter(const std::string &key,
 #endif
 }
 
+void Msg::ImportPhysicalsAsOnelabRegions()
+{
+#if defined(HAVE_ONELAB)
+  if(_onelabClient){
+    std::map<int, std::vector<GEntity*> > groups[4];
+    GModel::current()->getPhysicalGroups(groups);
+    for(int dim = 0; dim < 3; dim++){
+      for(std::map<int, std::vector<GEntity*> >::iterator it = groups[dim].begin();
+          it != groups[dim].end(); it++){
+        // create "read-only" onelab region
+        std::string name = GModel::current()->getPhysicalName(dim, it->first);
+        std::ostringstream num;
+        num << it->first;
+        if(name.empty())
+          name = std::string("Physical") +
+            ((dim == 3) ? "Volume" : (dim == 2) ? "Surface" :
+             (dim == 1) ? "Line" : "Point") + num.str();
+        name.insert(0, "Gmsh/Physical groups/");
+        onelab::region p(name, num.str());
+        p.setDimension(dim);
+        p.setReadOnly(true);
+        _onelabClient->set(p);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+#endif
+}
+
 void Msg::FinalizeOnelab()
 {
 #if defined(HAVE_ONELAB)
diff --git a/Common/GmshMessage.h b/Common/GmshMessage.h
index d6ede43e89f788dd5bc6d9dab15d373274d2a5c4..18dafee6d349403bd555674442b4548845811288 100644
--- a/Common/GmshMessage.h
+++ b/Common/GmshMessage.h
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ class Msg {
                                       std::vector<double> &val,
                                       std::map<std::string, std::vector<double> > &fopt,
                                       std::map<std::string, std::vector<std::string> > &copt);
+  static void ImportPhysicalsAsOnelabRegions();
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/Common/OpenFile.cpp b/Common/OpenFile.cpp
index b5d8afd98fe4d29fbd4986127dd6a17c7d4de412..1044a5bc8938a7ddb35b66f712be1bc574f6cd0f 100644
--- a/Common/OpenFile.cpp
+++ b/Common/OpenFile.cpp
@@ -425,6 +425,8 @@ int MergeFile(std::string fileName, bool warnIfMissing)
   }
 #endif
 
+  Msg::ImportPhysicalsAsOnelabRegions();
+
   if(!status) Msg::Error("Error loading '%s'", fileName.c_str());
   Msg::StatusBar(2, true, "Done reading '%s'", fileName.c_str());
 
diff --git a/Fltk/onelabWindow.cpp b/Fltk/onelabWindow.cpp
index efb98fe20acca9b617d4ba85d4acbf655e715902..6a0ad4b8b071ed4392e3dc1570671de9a0f124dd 100644
--- a/Fltk/onelabWindow.cpp
+++ b/Fltk/onelabWindow.cpp
@@ -673,31 +673,6 @@ static void updateOnelabGraphs()
     drawContext::global()->draw();
 }
 
-static void importPhysicalGroups(onelab::client *c, GModel *m)
-{
-  std::map<int, std::vector<GEntity*> > groups[4];
-  m->getPhysicalGroups(groups);
-  for(int dim = 0; dim < 3; dim++){
-    for(std::map<int, std::vector<GEntity*> >::iterator it = groups[dim].begin();
-        it != groups[dim].end(); it++){
-      // create "read-only" onelab region
-      std::string name = m->getPhysicalName(dim, it->first);
-      std::ostringstream num;
-      num << it->first;
-      if(name.empty())
-        name = std::string("Physical") +
-          ((dim == 3) ? "Volume" : (dim == 2) ? "Surface" :
-           (dim == 1) ? "Line" : "Point") + num.str();
-      name.insert(0, "Gmsh/Physical groups/");
-      onelab::region p(name, num.str());
-      p.setDimension(dim);
-      p.setReadOnly(true);
-      //p.setVisible(false);
-      c->set(p);
-    }
-  }
-}
-
 static void runGmshClient(const std::string &action)
 {
   onelab::server::citer it = onelab::server::instance()->findClient("Gmsh");
@@ -712,7 +687,6 @@ static void runGmshClient(const std::string &action)
     // first pass is special to prevent model reload, as well as
     // remeshing if a mesh file already exists on disk
     modelName = GModel::current()->getName();
-    importPhysicalGroups(c, GModel::current());
     if(!StatFile(mshFileName))
       onelab::server::instance()->setChanged(false, "Gmsh");
   }
@@ -724,7 +698,6 @@ static void runGmshClient(const std::string &action)
       // the model name has changed
       modelName = GModel::current()->getName();
       geometry_reload_cb(0, 0);
-      importPhysicalGroups(c, GModel::current());
     }
   }
   else if(action == "compute"){
@@ -735,7 +708,6 @@ static void runGmshClient(const std::string &action)
       // changed
       modelName = GModel::current()->getName();
       geometry_reload_cb(0, 0);
-      importPhysicalGroups(c, GModel::current());
       if(FlGui::instance()->onelab->meshAuto()){
         mesh_3d_cb(0, 0);
         CreateOutputFile(mshFileName, CTX::instance()->mesh.fileFormat);