diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 4cdbdf5..2b38235 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ export(read_tm_all_xpt)
 export(read_trialmaster)
 export(reset_manual_correction)
 export(save_list)
+export(save_plotly)
 export(split_mixed_datasets)
 export(tibble)
 export(unify)
diff --git a/R/swimmerplot.R b/R/swimmerplot.R
index c4440ac..3b831af 100644
--- a/R/swimmerplot.R
+++ b/R/swimmerplot.R
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 #' p3 = edc_swimmerplot(.lookup, group="db0$group", aes_color="label")
 #' \dontrun{
 #' #save the plotly plot as HTML to share it
-#' htmlwidgets::saveWidget(p, "edc_swimmerplot.html", selfcontained=TRUE)
+#' save_plotly(p, "edc_swimmerplot.html")
 #' }
 #' @importFrom cli cli_abort cli_warn
 #' @importFrom dplyr between left_join mutate rename select slice
@@ -174,6 +174,34 @@ edc_swimmerplot = function(.lookup=getOption("edc_lookup"), ...,
 }
 
 
+# Helper ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#' Save a plotly to an HTML file
+#'
+#' @param p a plot object (`plotly` or `ggplot`)
+#' @param filename a file path to save the HTML file
+#' @param ... passed on to [htmlwidgets::saveWidget]
+#'
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @examples
+#' \dontrun{
+#' tm = edc_example_plot()
+#' p = edc_swimmerplot(tm$.lookup, id_lim=c(5,45))
+#' save_plotly(p, "graph/swimplots/edc_swimmerplot.html", title="My Swimmerplot")
+#' }
+save_plotly = function(p, file, ...){
+  check_installed("plotly", reason="for `save_plotly()` to work.")
+  check_installed("htmlwidgets", reason="for `save_plotly()` to work.")
+  if(inherits(p, "ggplot")) p = plotly::ggplotly(p)
+  dir.create(dirname(file), showWarnings=FALSE, recursive=TRUE)
+  wd = setwd(dirname(file))
+  on.exit(setwd(wd))
+  htmlwidgets::saveWidget(p, file=basename(file), ...)
+}
+
+
+# Utils -------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 #' @importFrom cli cli_abort
 #' @importFrom dplyr select
diff --git a/man/edc_swimmerplot.Rd b/man/edc_swimmerplot.Rd
index 8b403d7..1249bfb 100644
--- a/man/edc_swimmerplot.Rd
+++ b/man/edc_swimmerplot.Rd
@@ -54,6 +54,6 @@ p2 = edc_swimmerplot(.lookup, origin="db0$date_naissance", time_unit="weeks",
 p3 = edc_swimmerplot(.lookup, group="db0$group", aes_color="label")
 \dontrun{
 #save the plotly plot as HTML to share it
-htmlwidgets::saveWidget(p, "edc_swimmerplot.html", selfcontained=TRUE)
+save_plotly(p, "edc_swimmerplot.html")
 }
 }
diff --git a/man/save_plotly.Rd b/man/save_plotly.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c59be8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/save_plotly.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/swimmerplot.R
+\name{save_plotly}
+\alias{save_plotly}
+\title{Save a plotly to an HTML file}
+\usage{
+save_plotly(p, file, ...)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{p}{a plot object (\code{plotly} or \code{ggplot})}
+
+\item{...}{passed on to \link[htmlwidgets:saveWidget]{htmlwidgets::saveWidget}}
+
+\item{filename}{a file path to save the HTML file}
+}
+\description{
+Save a plotly to an HTML file
+}
+\examples{
+\dontrun{
+tm = edc_example_plot()
+p = edc_swimmerplot(tm$.lookup, id_lim=c(5,45))
+save_plotly(p, "graph/swimplots/edc_swimmerplot.html", title="My Swimmerplot")
+}
+}