diff --git a/src/it/projects/complete-multimodule-parent-pom-direct-dependencies/pom.xml b/src/it/projects/complete-multimodule-parent-pom-direct-dependencies/pom.xml
index fbe03efd..8bc80557 100644
--- a/src/it/projects/complete-multimodule-parent-pom-direct-dependencies/pom.xml
+++ b/src/it/projects/complete-multimodule-parent-pom-direct-dependencies/pom.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
         <artifactId>flatten-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+        <configuration>
+          <flattenDependencyMode>direct</flattenDependencyMode>
+        </configuration>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
   </build>
diff --git a/src/it/projects/inherit-parent-dependency/pom.xml b/src/it/projects/inherit-parent-dependency/pom.xml
index 0396c371..094bd3f6 100644
--- a/src/it/projects/inherit-parent-dependency/pom.xml
+++ b/src/it/projects/inherit-parent-dependency/pom.xml
@@ -9,16 +9,4 @@
   </parent>
   <artifactId>resolve-properties</artifactId>
   <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
-  <build>
-    <defaultGoal>verify</defaultGoal>
-    <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
-          <artifactId>flatten-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-          <configuration>
-            <flattenDependencyMode>all</flattenDependencyMode>
-          </configuration>
-      </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/src/it/projects/parent-with-version-range/pom.xml b/src/it/projects/parent-with-version-range/pom.xml
index 5125ba3d..4dd35939 100644
--- a/src/it/projects/parent-with-version-range/pom.xml
+++ b/src/it/projects/parent-with-version-range/pom.xml
@@ -1,25 +1,13 @@
 <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
-  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
-  <parent>
-    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo.flatten.its</groupId>
-    <artifactId>parent-deps</artifactId>
-    <version>[0,2]</version>
-  </parent>
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo.flatten.its</groupId>
+        <artifactId>parent-deps</artifactId>
+        <version>[0,2]</version>
+    </parent>
 
     <artifactId>parent-with-version-range</artifactId>
     <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
-  <build>
-    <defaultGoal>verify</defaultGoal>
-    <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
-          <artifactId>flatten-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-          <configuration>
-            <flattenDependencyMode>all</flattenDependencyMode>
-          </configuration>
-      </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/DirectDependenciesInheritanceAssembler.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/DirectDependenciesInheritanceAssembler.java
index bcc878e4..db8fb195 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/DirectDependenciesInheritanceAssembler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/DirectDependenciesInheritanceAssembler.java
@@ -18,12 +18,6 @@
  */
 package org.codehaus.mojo.flatten;
 
-import javax.inject.Named;
-import javax.inject.Singleton;
-
-import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.Map;
-
 import org.apache.maven.model.Model;
 import org.apache.maven.model.ModelBase;
 import org.apache.maven.model.building.ModelBuildingRequest;
@@ -31,6 +25,11 @@
 import org.apache.maven.model.inheritance.DefaultInheritanceAssembler;
 import org.apache.maven.model.merge.MavenModelMerger;
 
+import javax.inject.Named;
+import javax.inject.Singleton;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
 /**
  * The DefaultInheritanceAssembler is encapsulating the InheritanceModelMerger.
  * The only way to override functionality needed is to define an own InheritanceAssembler
@@ -144,7 +143,7 @@ public void merge(Model target, Model source, boolean sourceDominant, Map<?, ?>
         @Override
         protected void mergeModelBase_Dependencies(
                 ModelBase target, ModelBase source, boolean sourceDominant, Map<Object, Object> context) {
-            if (flattenDependencyMode == null || flattenDependencyMode == FlattenDependencyMode.direct) {
+            if (flattenDependencyMode == FlattenDependencyMode.direct) {
                 return;
             }
             super.mergeModelBase_Dependencies(target, source, sourceDominant, context);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenDependencyMode.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenDependencyMode.java
index ef5fd2f0..46d289a2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenDependencyMode.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenDependencyMode.java
@@ -27,13 +27,18 @@
  */
 public enum FlattenDependencyMode {
     /**
-     * Flatten only the direct dependency versions. This is the default mode and compatible with
-     * Flatten Plugin prior to 1.2.0.
+     * Flatten only the direct dependency versions, excluding inherited dependencies from a parent module.
      */
     direct,
 
     /**
-     * Flatten both direct and transitive dependencies. This will examine the full dependency tree, and pull up
+     * Flatten dependencies, including inherited dependencies from a parent module.
+     * This is the default mode and compatible with Flatten Plugin prior to 1.2.0.
+     */
+    inherited,
+
+    /**
+     * Flatten both direct, inherited and transitive dependencies. This will examine the full dependency tree, and pull up
      * all transitive dependencies as a direct dependency, and setting their versions appropriately.
      *
      * This is recommended if you are releasing a library that uses dependency management to manage dependency
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenMojo.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenMojo.java
index 20342048..9e1b7fa3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/mojo/flatten/FlattenMojo.java
@@ -19,31 +19,6 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
-import javax.inject.Inject;
-import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser;
-import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory;
-
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.OutputStream;
-import java.io.StringWriter;
-import java.nio.file.Files;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.HashSet;
-import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
-import java.util.LinkedList;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Properties;
-import java.util.Queue;
-import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.stream.Collectors;
-import java.util.stream.Stream;
-
 import org.apache.maven.RepositoryUtils;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.Artifact;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.handler.manager.ArtifactHandlerManager;
@@ -99,6 +74,30 @@
 import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
 import org.xml.sax.ext.DefaultHandler2;
 
+import javax.inject.Inject;
+import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser;
+import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.LinkedList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.Queue;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
+
 /**
  * This MOJO realizes the goal <code>flatten</code> that generates the flattened POM and {@link #isUpdatePomFile()
  * potentially updates the POM file} so that the current {@link MavenProject}'s {@link MavenProject#getFile() file}
@@ -339,8 +338,16 @@ public class FlattenMojo extends AbstractFlattenMojo {
      * </thead><tbody>
      * <tr>
      * <td>direct</td>
-     * <td>Flatten only the direct dependency versions.
-     * This is the default mode and compatible with Flatten Plugin prior to 1.2.0.</td>
+     * <td><p>Flatten only the direct dependency versions, excluding inherited dependencies from a parent module.</p>
+     * <p>This was the default mode with Flatten Plugin in versions 1.4.0 up to 1.6.0.
+     * </td>
+     * </tr>
+     * <tr>
+     * <td>inherited</td>
+     * <td><p>Flatten the dependency versions, including inherited dependencies from a parent module</p>
+     * <p>This is the default mode and compatible with Flatten Plugin prior to 1.2.0, this mode was called <tt>direct</tt> between versions 1.2.0 and 1.3.0.</p>
+     * </td>
+     * </tr>
      * <tr>
      * <td>all</td>
      * <td><p>Flatten both direct and transitive dependencies. This will examine the full dependency tree, and pull up
@@ -1225,7 +1232,9 @@ protected void createFlattenedDependencies(Model effectiveModel, List<Dependency
         // List<Dependency> projectDependencies = currentProject.getOriginalModel().getDependencies();
         List<Dependency> projectDependencies = effectiveModel.getDependencies();
 
-        if (flattenDependencyMode == null | flattenDependencyMode == FlattenDependencyMode.direct) {
+        if (flattenDependencyMode == null
+                || flattenDependencyMode == FlattenDependencyMode.direct
+                || flattenDependencyMode == FlattenDependencyMode.inherited) {
             createFlattenedDependenciesDirect(projectDependencies, flattenedDependencies);
         } else if (flattenDependencyMode == FlattenDependencyMode.all) {
             try {