diff --git a/src/text-editor-element.coffee b/src/text-editor-element.coffee
index 380417163..554f73cef 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-element.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-element.coffee
@@ -344,6 +344,10 @@ class TextEditorElement extends HTMLElement
     @style.height = height + "px"
     @component.measureDimensions()
 
+  disableAutoHeight: ->
+    @style.height = "100%"
+    @component.measureDimensions()
+
   getHeight: ->
     @offsetHeight
 
diff --git a/src/text-editor.coffee b/src/text-editor.coffee
index 19b7e8c86..06e58aa1e 100644
--- a/src/text-editor.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor.coffee
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
       softWrapped, @displayBuffer, @selectionsMarkerLayer, buffer, suppressCursorCreation,
       @mini, @placeholderText, lineNumberGutterVisible, largeFileMode, @config,
       @notificationManager, @packageManager, @clipboard, @viewRegistry, @grammarRegistry,
-      @project, @assert, @applicationDelegate, @pending, grammarName, ignoreInvisibles
+      @project, @assert, @applicationDelegate, @pending, grammarName, ignoreInvisibles, @autoHeight
     } = params
 
     throw new Error("Must pass a config parameter when constructing TextEditors") unless @config?
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
     @cursors = []
     @cursorsByMarkerId = new Map
     @selections = []
+    @autoHeight ?= true
 
     buffer ?= new TextBuffer
     @displayBuffer ?= new DisplayBuffer({
@@ -3152,7 +3153,11 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
 
   # Get the Element for the editor.
   getElement: ->
-    @editorElement ?= new TextEditorElement().initialize(this, atom)
+    if not @editorElement?
+      @editorElement = new TextEditorElement().initialize(this, atom)
+      if not @autoHeight
+        @editorElement.disableAutoHeight()
+    @editorElement
 
   # Essential: Retrieves the greyed out placeholder of a mini editor.
   #