diff --git a/docs/devel/development.rst b/docs/devel/development.rst
index b1056cd9c..b511f9248 100644
--- a/docs/devel/development.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/development.rst
@@ -515,12 +515,12 @@ When editing is complete run one or more of::
     moin maint-reduce-revisions -q <item-name> -n help-en --test true # lists selected items, no updates
     moin maint-reduce-revisions -q <item-name> -n help-en  # updates selected items
 
-Dump all the help files::
+Dump all the English help files to the version controlled directory::
 
     moin dump-help -n en
 
-The above command may update meta files even though the data files have not changed, see #1533.
-Commit only the target data and meta files. Revert the other meta files.
+The above command may may be useful after updating one or more files. All of the files
+will be rewritten but only the changed files will be highlighted in version control.
 
 Moin Shell
 ==========
diff --git a/src/moin/cli/maint/modify_item.py b/src/moin/cli/maint/modify_item.py
index a271a4fb2..992a7bafc 100644
--- a/src/moin/cli/maint/modify_item.py
+++ b/src/moin/cli/maint/modify_item.py
@@ -117,7 +117,11 @@ def PutItem(meta_file, data_file, overwrite):
     to_kill = [WIKINAME, ]  # use target wiki name
     for key in to_kill:
         meta.pop(key, None)
-    if not overwrite:
+    if overwrite:
+        # by default, indexing.py will update meta[MTIME] with current time making global history useless
+        # we preserve the old modified time for use by indexing.py
+        flaskg.data_mtime = meta[MTIME]
+    else:
         # if we remove the REVID, it will create a new one and store under the new one
         meta.pop(REVID, None)
         meta.pop(DATAID, None)
diff --git a/src/moin/cli/maint/reduce_revisions.py b/src/moin/cli/maint/reduce_revisions.py
index e2508af06..79765dc6d 100644
--- a/src/moin/cli/maint/reduce_revisions.py
+++ b/src/moin/cli/maint/reduce_revisions.py
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@
 import click
 
 from flask import current_app as app
+from flask import g as flaskg
 from flask.cli import FlaskGroup
 
 from whoosh.query import Term, And, Regex, Not
 
-from moin.constants.keys import NAME, NAME_EXACT, NAMESPACE, REVID, WIKINAME, PARENTID, REV_NUMBER
+from moin.constants.keys import NAME, NAME_SORT, NAME_EXACT, NAMESPACE, REVID, WIKINAME, PARENTID, REV_NUMBER, MTIME
 from moin.constants.namespaces import NAMESPACE_USERPROFILES
 from moin.app import create_app, before_wiki
 
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ def cli():
 @click.option('--query', '-q', type=str, default='',
               help='Only perform the operation on items found by the given query.')
 @click.option('--namespace', '-n', type=str, default='',
-              help='Limit selection to this namespace.')
+              help='Limit selection to a namespace; use "default" for default namespace.')
 @click.option('--test', '-t', type=bool, default=0,
               help='List selected items, but do not update.')
 def ReduceRevisions(query, namespace, test):
@@ -47,11 +48,13 @@ def ReduceRevisions(query, namespace, test):
         if query:
             q = And([q, Regex(NAME_EXACT, query)])
         if namespace:
-            q = And([q, Regex(NAMESPACE, namespace)])
+            if namespace == 'default':
+                namespace = ''
+            q = And([q, Term(NAMESPACE, namespace)])
     else:
         q = Not(Term(NAMESPACE, NAMESPACE_USERPROFILES))
 
-    for current_rev in app.storage.search(q, limit=None):
+    for current_rev in app.storage.search(q, limit=None, sortedby=[NAMESPACE, NAME_SORT]):
         current_name = current_rev.meta[NAME]
         current_revid = current_rev.meta[REVID]
         current_namespace = current_rev.meta[NAMESPACE]
@@ -76,6 +79,10 @@ def ReduceRevisions(query, namespace, test):
                         changed = True
                         del meta[PARENTID]
                     if changed:
+                        # By default store_revision and whoosh will replace mtime with current time making
+                        # global history useless.
+                        # Save existing mtime which has time this revision's data was last modified.
+                        flaskg.data_mtime = meta[MTIME]
                         current_rev.item.store_revision(meta, current_rev.data, overwrite=True)
                         print("    (current rev meta data updated)")
                     continue
diff --git a/src/moin/storage/middleware/indexing.py b/src/moin/storage/middleware/indexing.py
index 97deb9d9b..c3f4a47e1 100644
--- a/src/moin/storage/middleware/indexing.py
+++ b/src/moin/storage/middleware/indexing.py
@@ -301,9 +301,9 @@ def tell(self, *args, **kw):
                 doc.set(moin_page.page_href, str(i))
                 refs_conv(doc)
                 # side effect: we update some metadata:
-                meta[ITEMLINKS] = refs_conv.get_links()
-                meta[ITEMTRANSCLUSIONS] = refs_conv.get_transclusions()
-                meta[EXTERNALLINKS] = refs_conv.get_external_links()
+                meta[ITEMLINKS] = sorted(refs_conv.get_links())
+                meta[ITEMTRANSCLUSIONS] = sorted(refs_conv.get_transclusions())
+                meta[EXTERNALLINKS] = sorted(refs_conv.get_external_links())
             doc = output_conv(doc)
             return doc
         # no way
@@ -1233,6 +1233,10 @@ def store_revision(self, meta, data, overwrite=False,
         # e.g. userdefined meta keys or stuff we do not validate. thus, we
         # just update the meta dict with the validated stuff:
         meta.update(dict(m.value.items()))
+        if hasattr(flaskg, 'data_mtime'):
+            # this is maint-reduce-revisions OR item-put CL process, restore saved time of item's last update
+            meta[MTIME] = flaskg.data_mtime
+            del flaskg.data_mtime
         # we do not want None / empty values:
         # XXX do not kick out empty lists before fixing NAME processing:
         meta = dict([(k, v) for k, v in meta.items() if v not in [None, ]])