diff --git a/doc/CMakeLists.txt b/doc/CMakeLists.txt
index 3b88c4ab85a..d7386f263ba 100644
--- a/doc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/doc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -68,10 +68,10 @@ add_custom_target(
 
 add_custom_target(
   content
-  # Copy the .rst files in doc/ to the rst folder
+  # Copy all files in doc/ to the rst folder
   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E env
   ZEPHYR_BUILD=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
-  ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} scripts/extract_content.py ${RST_OUT} doc
+  ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} scripts/extract_content.py -a ${RST_OUT} doc
   # Copy the .rst files in samples/ and boards/ to the rst folder
   COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E env
   ZEPHYR_BUILD=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
diff --git a/doc/scripts/extract_content.py b/doc/scripts/extract_content.py
index e4cf1969ee4..d694f1abfe4 100755
--- a/doc/scripts/extract_content.py
+++ b/doc/scripts/extract_content.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 # Very quick script to move docs from different places into the doc directory
 # to fix the website and external links
 
+import argparse
 import errno
 import filecmp
 import fnmatch
@@ -37,14 +38,15 @@ def copy_if_different(src, dst):
         return
     shutil.copyfile(src, dst)
 
-def get_rst_files(dest, dir):
+def get_files(all, dest, dir):
     matches = []
     for root, dirnames, filenames in os.walk('%s/%s' %(ZEPHYR_BASE, dir)):
         if ZEPHYR_BUILD:
             if os.path.normpath(root).startswith(os.path.normpath(ZEPHYR_BUILD)):
                 # Build folder, skip it
                 continue
-        for filename in fnmatch.filter(filenames, '*.rst'):
+
+        for filename in fnmatch.filter(filenames, '*' if all else '*.rst'):
             matches.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
     for file in matches:
         frel = file.replace(ZEPHYR_BASE,"").strip("/")
@@ -54,6 +56,11 @@ def get_rst_files(dest, dir):
 
         copy_if_different(file, os.path.join(dest, frel))
 
+        # Inspect only .rst files for directives referencing other files
+        # we'll need to copy (as configured in the DIRECTIVES variable)
+        if not fnmatch.fnmatch(file, "*.rst"):
+            continue
+
         try:
             with open(file, encoding="utf-8") as f:
                 content = f.readlines()
@@ -92,15 +99,22 @@ def get_rst_files(dest, dir):
 
 def main():
 
-    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
-        print("usage: {} <dest> <org dirs>", file=sys.stderr)
-        sys.exit(1)
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Recursively copy .rst files '
+                                     'from the origin folder(s) to the '
+                                     'destination folder, plus files referenced '
+                                     'in those .rst files by a configurable '
+                                     'list of directives: {}.'.format(DIRECTIVES))
 
-    dest = sys.argv[1]
-    content_dirs = sys.argv[2:]
+    parser.add_argument('-a', '--all', action='store_true', help='Copy all files '
+                        '(recursively) in the specified source folder(s).')
+    parser.add_argument('dest', nargs=1)
+    parser.add_argument('src', nargs='+')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
 
-    for d in content_dirs:
-        get_rst_files(dest, d)
+    dest = args.dest[0]
+
+    for d in args.src:
+        get_files(args.all, dest, d)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()