diff --git a/umap/parametric_umap.py b/umap/parametric_umap.py
index 59a1f3da..f8768a12 100644
--- a/umap/parametric_umap.py
+++ b/umap/parametric_umap.py
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ def __getstate__(self):
             and k not in ("optimizer", "encoder", "decoder", "parametric_model")
         )
 
-    def save(self, save_location, verbose=True):
+    def save(self, save_location, verbose=True, exclude_raw_data=False):
 
         # save encoder
         if self.encoder is not None:
@@ -486,6 +486,18 @@ def save(self, save_location, verbose=True):
             if verbose:
                 print("Keras full model saved to {}".format(parametric_model_output))
 
+        # Temporarily delete the raw data in the object, before saving it,
+        # backing it up in raw_data
+        raw_data = {}
+        if exclude_raw_data:
+            if hasattr(self, "_raw_data"):
+                raw_data['root'] = self._raw_data
+                del self._raw_data
+            if hasattr(self, "knn_search_index") and hasattr(self.knn_search_index,
+                                                             "_raw_data"):
+                raw_data['knn'] = self.knn_search_index._raw_data
+                del self.knn_search_index._raw_data
+
         # # save model.pkl (ignoring unpickleable warnings)
         with catch_warnings():
             filterwarnings("ignore")
@@ -495,6 +507,13 @@ def save(self, save_location, verbose=True):
             if verbose:
                 print("Pickle of ParametricUMAP model saved to {}".format(model_output))
 
+        # Restore the original raw data to the object in memory
+        if exclude_raw_data:
+            if 'root' in raw_data:
+                self._raw_data = raw_data['root']
+            if 'knn' in raw_data:
+                self.knn_search_index._raw_data = raw_data['knn']
+
     def add_landmarks(
         self,
         X,