diff --git a/repo2docker/buildpacks/conda/install-miniconda.bash b/repo2docker/buildpacks/conda/install-miniconda.bash
index fae2bbdb..54065715 100755
--- a/repo2docker/buildpacks/conda/install-miniconda.bash
+++ b/repo2docker/buildpacks/conda/install-miniconda.bash
@@ -50,6 +50,14 @@ echo "installing notebook env:"
 cat /tmp/environment.yml
 conda env create -p ${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX} -f /tmp/environment.yml
 
+# Install jupyter-offline-notebook to allow users to download notebooks
+# after the server connection has been lost
+# This will install and enable the extension for jupyter notebook
+${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/bin/python -m pip install https://github.com/manics/jupyter-offlinenotebook/archive/7ba3520.zip
+# and this installs it for lab. Keep going if the lab version is incompatible
+# with the extension
+${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/bin/jupyter labextension install jupyter-offlinenotebook || true
+
 # empty conda history file,
 # which seems to result in some effective pinning of packages in the initial env,
 # which we don't intend.