diff --git a/Orange/widgets/settings.py b/Orange/widgets/settings.py
index 6381e0a0e13..68e1060fcb6 100644
--- a/Orange/widgets/settings.py
+++ b/Orange/widgets/settings.py
@@ -424,7 +424,9 @@ def write_defaults_file(self, settings_file):
         ----------
         settings_file : file-like object
         """
-        pickle.dump(self.defaults, settings_file, -1)
+        defaults = dict(self.defaults)
+        defaults[VERSION_KEY] = self.widget_class.settings_version
+        pickle.dump(defaults, settings_file, -1)
 
     def _get_settings_filename(self):
         """Return the name of the file with default settings for the widget"""
@@ -628,7 +630,15 @@ def _migrate_contexts(self, contexts):
     def write_defaults_file(self, settings_file):
         """Call the inherited method, then add global context to the pickle."""
         super().write_defaults_file(settings_file)
-        pickle.dump(self.global_contexts, settings_file, -1)
+
+        def add_version(context):
+            context = copy.copy(context)
+            context.values = dict(context.values)
+            context.values[VERSION_KEY] = self.widget_class.settings_version
+            return context
+
+        pickle.dump([add_version(context) for context in self.global_contexts],
+                    settings_file, -1)
 
     def pack_data(self, widget):
         """Call the inherited method, then add local contexts to the dict."""
diff --git a/Orange/widgets/tests/test_context_handler.py b/Orange/widgets/tests/test_context_handler.py
index 538f1b00e8b..0b492c7962d 100644
--- a/Orange/widgets/tests/test_context_handler.py
+++ b/Orange/widgets/tests/test_context_handler.py
@@ -163,6 +163,24 @@ def test_pack_settings_stores_version(self):
         for c in settings["context_settings"]:
             self.assertIn(VERSION_KEY, c.values)
 
+    def test_write_defaults_stores_version(self):
+        handler = ContextHandler()
+        handler.bind(SimpleWidget)
+        widget = SimpleWidget()
+        widget.current_context = None
+        widget.context_settings = [DummyContext() for _ in range(3)]
+        handler.update_defaults(widget)
+
+        f = BytesIO()
+        f.close = lambda: None
+        with patch("builtins.open", Mock(return_value=f)):
+            handler.write_defaults()
+            f.seek(0)
+            pickle.load(f)  # settings
+            contexts = pickle.load(f)
+            for c in contexts:
+                self.assertEqual(c.values.get("__version__", 0xBAD), 1)
+
 
 class TestSettingsPrinter(TestCase):
     def test_formats_contexts(self):
diff --git a/Orange/widgets/tests/test_settings_handler.py b/Orange/widgets/tests/test_settings_handler.py
index 575c4740b54..6f4667b7c2d 100644
--- a/Orange/widgets/tests/test_settings_handler.py
+++ b/Orange/widgets/tests/test_settings_handler.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ def test_write_defaults(self):
         fd, settings_file = mkstemp(suffix='.ini')
 
         handler = SettingsHandler()
+        handler.widget_class = SimpleWidget
         handler.defaults = {'a': 5, 'b': {1: 5}}
         handler._get_settings_filename = lambda: settings_file
         handler.write_defaults()
@@ -64,7 +65,9 @@ def test_write_defaults(self):
             default_settings = pickle.load(f)
         os.close(fd)
 
-        self.assertEqual(handler.defaults, default_settings)
+        self.assertEqual(default_settings.pop(VERSION_KEY, -0xBAD),
+                         handler.widget_class.settings_version,)
+        self.assertEqual(default_settings, handler.defaults)
 
         os.remove(settings_file)
 
@@ -327,7 +330,10 @@ def override_default_settings(self, widget, defaults=None):
         h.widget_class = widget
         h.defaults = defaults
         filename = h._get_settings_filename()
-        h.write_defaults()
+
+        os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(filename), exist_ok=True)
+        with open(filename, "wb") as f:
+            pickle.dump(defaults, f)
 
         yield