diff --git a/app.go b/app.go
index 3818010..43d816b 100644
--- a/app.go
+++ b/app.go
@@ -413,6 +413,10 @@ func (a *Application) setDefaults(context *ParseContext) error {
 			if flag.name == "help" {
 				return nil
 			}
+
+			if flag.name == "version" {
+				return nil
+			}
 			flagElements[flag.name] = element
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/app_test.go b/app_test.go
index 3e35fe5..27c95e5 100644
--- a/app_test.go
+++ b/app_test.go
@@ -434,3 +434,14 @@ func TestCmdValidation(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err = c.Parse([]string{"cmd", "--a", "A"})
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 }
+
+func TestVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	c := newTestApp()
+	c.Flag("config", "path to config file").Default("config.yaml").ExistingFile()
+	c.Version("1.0.0")
+
+	// the pre-action for version should be executed without running validation
+	// for ExistingFile
+	_, err := c.Parse([]string{"--version"})
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+}