diff --git a/lib/exdoc.ex b/lib/exdoc.ex
index 0b898b84c..7754cf6f6 100644
--- a/lib/exdoc.ex
+++ b/lib/exdoc.ex
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 defmodule ExDoc do
   require Erlang.file, as: F
 
-  def generate_docs(path, formatter // ExDoc.HTMLFormatter) do
+  def generate_docs(path, output_path // "output", formatter // ExDoc.HTMLFormatter) do
     docs = ExDoc.Retriever.get_docs find_files(path), File.expand_path(path)
-    copy_index_files
-    copy_css_files
-    copy_javascript_files
-    copy_image_files
-    generate_seach_index docs
-    Enum.map docs, formatter.format_docs(&1)
+    copy_index_files output_path
+    copy_css_files output_path
+    copy_javascript_files output_path
+    copy_image_files output_path
+    generate_seach_index docs, output_path
+    Enum.map docs, formatter.format_docs(&1, output_path)
   end
 
   ####
@@ -28,20 +28,20 @@ defmodule ExDoc do
     List.reverse(path) ++ '/**/*.beam'
   end
 
-  defp copy_index_files do
-    copy_file "../templates", "output", "index.html"
+  defp copy_index_files(output_path) do
+    copy_file "../templates", output_path, "index.html"
   end
 
-  defp copy_css_files do
-    copy_files "*.css", "../templates/css", "output/css"
+  defp copy_css_files(output_path) do
+    copy_files "*.css", "../templates/css", "#{output_path}/css"
   end
 
-  defp copy_javascript_files do
-    copy_files "*.js", "../templates/js", "output/js"
+  defp copy_javascript_files(output_path) do
+    copy_files "*.js", "../templates/js", "#{output_path}/js"
   end
 
-  defp copy_image_files do
-    copy_files "*.png", "../templates/i", "output/i"
+  defp copy_image_files(output_path) do
+    copy_files "*.png", "../templates/i", "#{output_path}/i"
   end
 
   defp copy_files(wildcard, input_path, output_path) do
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ defmodule ExDoc do
     F.copy "#{input_path}/#{file}", "#{output_path}/#{file}"
   end
 
-  defp generate_seach_index(docs) do
-    output_path = File.expand_path "output/panel"
+  defp generate_seach_index(docs, base_output_path) do
+    output_path = File.expand_path "#{base_output_path}/panel"
     F.make_dir output_path
     names = Enum.map docs, get_names(&1)
     content = generate_html_from_names names
diff --git a/lib/exdoc/html_formatter.ex b/lib/exdoc/html_formatter.ex
index 89b984b8b..a6a83d74f 100644
--- a/lib/exdoc/html_formatter.ex
+++ b/lib/exdoc/html_formatter.ex
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 defmodule ExDoc.HTMLFormatter do
-  def format_docs({name,{ moduledoc, docs }}) do
+  def format_docs({name,{ moduledoc, docs }}, output_path) do
     docs = generate_html_for_docs(docs)
     moduledoc = generate_html_for_moduledoc(moduledoc)
     function_docs = Enum.filter_map docs, fn(x, do: filter_by_type(x, :def)), fn(x, do: get_content(x))
@@ -48,8 +48,4 @@ defmodule ExDoc.HTMLFormatter do
   defp template_path() do
     File.expand_path("../../templates", __FILE__)
   end
-
-  defp output_path() do
-    File.expand_path "output"
-  end
 end
diff --git a/test/exdoc/html_formatter_test.exs b/test/exdoc/html_formatter_test.exs
index 3024c68e4..9e7f36c1d 100644
--- a/test/exdoc/html_formatter_test.exs
+++ b/test/exdoc/html_formatter_test.exs
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ defmodule ExDoc.HTMLFormatterTest do
   end
 
   defp output_dir do
-    File.expand_path "output"
+    File.expand_path "test/tmp/output"
   end
 
   test "format_docs generate only the module name when there's no more info" do
-    ExDoc.HTMLFormatter.format_docs({"XPTOModule", {{1, nil}, []}})
+    ExDoc.HTMLFormatter.format_docs({"XPTOModule", {{1, nil}, []}}, output_dir)
 
     content = File.read!("#{output_dir}/XPTOModule.html")
     assert Regex.match?(%r/<title>XPTOModule<\/title>/, content)
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ defmodule ExDoc.HTMLFormatterTest do
     file = "#{input_path}/CompiledWithDocs.beam"
 
     [docs] = ExDoc.Retriever.get_docs [file], input_path
-    ExDoc.HTMLFormatter.format_docs(docs)
+    ExDoc.HTMLFormatter.format_docs(docs, output_dir)
 
     content = File.read!("#{output_dir}/CompiledWithDocs.html")
     assert Regex.match?(%r/<title>CompiledWithDocs<\/title>/, content)
diff --git a/test/exdoc_test.exs b/test/exdoc_test.exs
index 9db2aaa78..eb462a115 100644
--- a/test/exdoc_test.exs
+++ b/test/exdoc_test.exs
@@ -41,4 +41,10 @@ defmodule ExDocTest do
     assert Regex.match?(%r/<li class='level_0 closed'>.*'..\/ExDocTest\.Nested\.html'.*ExDocTest\.Nested.*<\/li>/m, content)
     assert Regex.match?(%r/<li class='level_1 closed'>.*'..\/ExDocTest\.Nested\.html#example\/2'.*example\/2.*<\/li>/m, content)
   end
+
+  test "generate_docs generates in specified output directory" do
+    ExDoc.generate_docs "tmp", "#{output_dir}/docs"
+
+    assert :filelib.is_file("#{output_dir}/docs/CompiledWithDocs.html")
+  end
 end