diff --git a/plugins/tools/defaulttool/referenceimagestool/KisReferenceImageCollection.cpp b/plugins/tools/defaulttool/referenceimagestool/KisReferenceImageCollection.cpp
index 2e21125e87..7df30e4e45 100644
--- a/plugins/tools/defaulttool/referenceimagestool/KisReferenceImageCollection.cpp
+++ b/plugins/tools/defaulttool/referenceimagestool/KisReferenceImageCollection.cpp
@@ -1,113 +1,115 @@
 /*
  *  Copyright (c) 2018 Jouni Pentikäinen <joupent@gmail.com>
  *
  *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  *  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  *  (at your option) any later version.
  *
  *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  *  GNU General Public License for more details.
  *
  *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
  */
 #include "KisReferenceImageCollection.h"
 
 #include <QIODevice>
 #include <QMessageBox>
 
 #include <libs/store/KoStore.h>
 #include <KisReferenceImage.h>
 #include <libs/store/KoStoreDevice.h>
 
 const QString METADATA_FILE = "reference_images.xml";
 
 KisReferenceImageCollection::KisReferenceImageCollection(const QVector<KisReferenceImage *> &references)
     : references(references)
 {}
 
 const QVector<KisReferenceImage*> &KisReferenceImageCollection::referenceImages() const
 {
     return references;
 }
 
 bool KisReferenceImageCollection::save(QIODevice *io)
 {
     QScopedPointer<KoStore> store(KoStore::createStore(io, KoStore::Write, "application/x-krita-reference-images]", KoStore::Zip));
     if (store.isNull()) return false;
 
     QDomDocument doc;
     QDomElement root = doc.createElement("referenceimages");
     doc.insertBefore(root, QDomNode());
 
+    std::sort(references.begin(), references.end(), KoShape::compareShapeZIndex);
+
     int nextId = 0;
     Q_FOREACH(KisReferenceImage *reference, references) {
         reference->saveXml(doc, root, nextId++);
 
         if (reference->embed()) {
             bool ok = reference->saveImage(store.data());
             if (!ok) return false;
         }
     }
 
     if (!store->open(METADATA_FILE)) {
         return false;
     }
 
     KoStoreDevice xmlDev(store.data());
     xmlDev.write(doc.toByteArray());
     xmlDev.close();
     store->close();
 
     return true;
 }
 
 bool KisReferenceImageCollection::load(QIODevice *io)
 {
     QScopedPointer<KoStore> store(KoStore::createStore(io, KoStore::Read, "application/x-krita-reference-images", KoStore::Zip));
     if (!store || store->bad()) {
         return false;
     }
 
     if (!store->hasFile(METADATA_FILE) || !store->open(METADATA_FILE)) {
         return false;
     }
 
     QByteArray xml = store->device()->readAll();
     store->close();
 
     QDomDocument doc;
     doc.setContent(xml);
     QDomElement root = doc.documentElement();
 
     QStringList failures;
 
     QDomElement element = root.firstChildElement("referenceimage");
     while (!element.isNull()) {
         KisReferenceImage *reference = KisReferenceImage::fromXml(element);
 
         if (reference->loadImage(store.data())) {
             references.append(reference);
         } else {
             failures << (reference->embed() ? reference->internalFile() : reference->filename());
             delete reference;
         }
         element = element.nextSiblingElement("referenceimage");
     }
 
     if (!failures.isEmpty()) {
         QMessageBox::warning(
                 0,
                 i18nc("@title:window", "Krita"),
                 i18n("The following reference images could not be loaded:\n%1", failures.join('\n')),
                 QMessageBox::Ok, QMessageBox::Ok
         );
 
     }
 
     return true;
 }