diff --git a/backend/open_webui/config.py b/backend/open_webui/config.py
index 79965596a2..5a9844c067 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/config.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/config.py
@@ -2713,6 +2713,12 @@ RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE = PersistentConfig(
     ),
 )
 
+ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING = PersistentConfig(
+    "ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING",
+    "rag.enable_async_embedding",
+    os.environ.get("ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING", "True").lower() == "true",
+)
+
 RAG_EMBEDDING_QUERY_PREFIX = os.environ.get("RAG_EMBEDDING_QUERY_PREFIX", None)
 
 RAG_EMBEDDING_CONTENT_PREFIX = os.environ.get("RAG_EMBEDDING_CONTENT_PREFIX", None)
diff --git a/backend/open_webui/main.py b/backend/open_webui/main.py
index 8219943408..af8e670a53 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/main.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/main.py
@@ -230,6 +230,7 @@ from open_webui.config import (
     RAG_RERANKING_MODEL_TRUST_REMOTE_CODE,
     RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE,
     RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE,
+    ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING,
     RAG_TOP_K,
     RAG_TOP_K_RERANKER,
     RAG_RELEVANCE_THRESHOLD,
@@ -884,6 +885,7 @@ app.state.config.CHUNK_OVERLAP = CHUNK_OVERLAP
 app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE = RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE
 app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL = RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL
 app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE = RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE
+app.state.config.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING = ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING
 
 app.state.config.RAG_RERANKING_ENGINE = RAG_RERANKING_ENGINE
 app.state.config.RAG_RERANKING_MODEL = RAG_RERANKING_MODEL
diff --git a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/utils.py b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/utils.py
index e8dc97209e..b041a00471 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/utils.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/utils.py
@@ -782,6 +782,7 @@ def get_embedding_function(
     key,
     embedding_batch_size,
     azure_api_version=None,
+    enable_async=True,
 ) -> Awaitable:
     if embedding_engine == "":
         # Sentence transformers: CPU-bound sync operation
@@ -816,16 +817,26 @@ def get_embedding_function(
                     query[i : i + embedding_batch_size]
                     for i in range(0, len(query), embedding_batch_size)
                 ]
-                log.debug(
-                    f"generate_multiple_async: Processing {len(batches)} batches in parallel"
-                )
 
-                # Execute all batches in parallel
-                tasks = [
-                    embedding_function(batch, prefix=prefix, user=user)
-                    for batch in batches
-                ]
-                batch_results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
+                if enable_async:
+                    log.debug(
+                        f"generate_multiple_async: Processing {len(batches)} batches in parallel"
+                    )
+                    # Execute all batches in parallel
+                    tasks = [
+                        embedding_function(batch, prefix=prefix, user=user)
+                        for batch in batches
+                    ]
+                    batch_results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
+                else:
+                    log.debug(
+                        f"generate_multiple_async: Processing {len(batches)} batches sequentially"
+                    )
+                    batch_results = []
+                    for batch in batches:
+                        batch_results.append(
+                            await embedding_function(batch, prefix=prefix, user=user)
+                        )
 
                 # Flatten results
                 embeddings = []
diff --git a/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py b/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py
index e3191eb0bd..ab93054dab 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ async def get_status(request: Request):
         "embedding_model": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL,
         "reranking_model": request.app.state.config.RAG_RERANKING_MODEL,
         "embedding_batch_size": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE,
+        "ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING": request.app.state.config.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING,
     }
 
 
@@ -258,6 +259,7 @@ async def get_embedding_config(request: Request, user=Depends(get_admin_user)):
         "embedding_engine": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE,
         "embedding_model": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL,
         "embedding_batch_size": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE,
+        "ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING": request.app.state.config.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING,
         "openai_config": {
             "url": request.app.state.config.RAG_OPENAI_API_BASE_URL,
             "key": request.app.state.config.RAG_OPENAI_API_KEY,
@@ -297,6 +299,7 @@ class EmbeddingModelUpdateForm(BaseModel):
     embedding_engine: str
     embedding_model: str
     embedding_batch_size: Optional[int] = 1
+    ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING: Optional[bool] = True
 
 
 @router.post("/embedding/update")
@@ -358,6 +361,10 @@ async def update_embedding_config(
                 form_data.embedding_batch_size
             )
 
+            request.app.state.config.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING = (
+                form_data.enable_async_embedding
+            )
+
         request.app.state.ef = get_ef(
             request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE,
             request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL,
@@ -391,6 +398,7 @@ async def update_embedding_config(
                 if request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE == "azure_openai"
                 else None
             ),
+            enable_async=request.app.state.config.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING,
         )
 
         return {
@@ -398,6 +406,7 @@ async def update_embedding_config(
             "embedding_engine": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_ENGINE,
             "embedding_model": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_MODEL,
             "embedding_batch_size": request.app.state.config.RAG_EMBEDDING_BATCH_SIZE,
+            "ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING": request.app.state.config.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING,
             "openai_config": {
                 "url": request.app.state.config.RAG_OPENAI_API_BASE_URL,
                 "key": request.app.state.config.RAG_OPENAI_API_KEY,
diff --git a/src/lib/components/admin/Settings/Documents.svelte b/src/lib/components/admin/Settings/Documents.svelte
index 5c449fc869..b837308635 100644
--- a/src/lib/components/admin/Settings/Documents.svelte
+++ b/src/lib/components/admin/Settings/Documents.svelte
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@
 	let embeddingEngine = '';
 	let embeddingModel = '';
 	let embeddingBatchSize = 1;
+	let ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING = true;
+
 	let rerankingModel = '';
 
 	let OpenAIUrl = '';
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@
 			embedding_engine: embeddingEngine,
 			embedding_model: embeddingModel,
 			embedding_batch_size: embeddingBatchSize,
+			ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING: ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING,
 			ollama_config: {
 				key: OllamaKey,
 				url: OllamaUrl
@@ -237,6 +240,7 @@
 			embeddingEngine = embeddingConfig.embedding_engine;
 			embeddingModel = embeddingConfig.embedding_model;
 			embeddingBatchSize = embeddingConfig.embedding_batch_size ?? 1;
+			ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING = embeddingConfig.ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING ?? true;
 
 			OpenAIKey = embeddingConfig.openai_config.key;
 			OpenAIUrl = embeddingConfig.openai_config.url;
@@ -927,6 +931,22 @@
 									/>
 								</div>
 							</div>
+
+							<div class="  mb-2.5 flex w-full justify-between">
+								<div class="self-center text-xs font-medium">
+									<Tooltip
+										content={$i18n.t(
+											'Runs embedding tasks concurrently to speed up processing. Turn off if rate limits become an issue.'
+										)}
+										placement="top-start"
+									>
+										{$i18n.t('Async Embedding Processing')}
+									</Tooltip>
+								</div>
+								<div class="flex items-center relative">
+									<Switch bind:state={ENABLE_ASYNC_EMBEDDING} />
+								</div>
+							</div>
 						{/if}
 					</div>