diff --git a/include/cereal/cereal.hpp b/include/cereal/cereal.hpp
index 4b9a9c11e..a77701037 100644
--- a/include/cereal/cereal.hpp
+++ b/include/cereal/cereal.hpp
@@ -255,6 +255,20 @@ namespace cereal
           a large project from Boost to cereal.  The preferred interface for cereal is using operator(). */
       //! @{
 
+      //! Indicates this archive is not intended for loading
+      /*! This ensures compatibility with boost archive types.  If you are transitioning
+          from boost, you can check this value within a member or external serialize function
+          (i.e., Archive::is_loading::value) to disable behavior specific to loading, until 
+          you can transition to split save/load or save_minimal/load_minimal functions */
+      using is_loading = std::false_type;
+
+      //! Indicates this archive is intended for saving
+      /*! This ensures compatibility with boost archive types.  If you are transitioning
+          from boost, you can check this value within a member or external serialize function
+          (i.e., Archive::is_saving::value) to enable behavior specific to loading, until 
+          you can transition to split save/load or save_minimal/load_minimal functions */
+      using is_saving = std::true_type;
+
       //! Serializes passed in data
       /*! This is a boost compatability layer and is not the preferred way of using
           cereal.  If you are transitioning from boost, use this until you can
@@ -611,6 +625,20 @@ namespace cereal
           a large project from Boost to cereal.  The preferred interface for cereal is using operator(). */
       //! @{
 
+      //! Indicates this archive is intended for loading
+      /*! This ensures compatibility with boost archive types.  If you are transitioning
+          from boost, you can check this value within a member or external serialize function
+          (i.e., Archive::is_loading::value) to enable behavior specific to loading, until 
+          you can transition to split save/load or save_minimal/load_minimal functions */
+      using is_loading = std::true_type;
+
+      //! Indicates this archive is not intended for saving
+      /*! This ensures compatibility with boost archive types.  If you are transitioning
+          from boost, you can check this value within a member or external serialize function
+          (i.e., Archive::is_saving::value) to disable behavior specific to loading, until 
+          you can transition to split save/load or save_minimal/load_minimal functions */
+      using is_saving = std::false_type;
+
       //! Serializes passed in data
       /*! This is a boost compatability layer and is not the preferred way of using
           cereal.  If you are transitioning from boost, use this until you can