diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index de3588e..2165c03 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 Task 6.1.0
 - Add _useAdditionalVariablesOnly_ parameter ([#29](https://github.com/qetza/replacetokens-task/issues/60)).
 
+Task 5.4.0
+- Add _useAdditionalVariablesOnly_ parameter ([#29](https://github.com/qetza/replacetokens-task/issues/60)).
+
 ## 5.0.8
 - Add links in README to migration documentation.
 
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/CHANGELOG.md b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/CHANGELOG.md
index fc586d0..513948b 100644
--- a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 # Changelog
+## 5.4.0
+- Add _useAdditionalVariablesOnly_ parameter ([#29](https://github.com/qetza/replacetokens-task/issues/60)).
+
 ## 5.3.3
 - Fix telemetry account hash.
 
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/index.ts b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/index.ts
index 0f8d740..8af88af 100644
--- a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/index.ts
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/index.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ interface Options {
   readonly enableRecursion: boolean;
   readonly useLegacyEmptyFeature: boolean;
   readonly useDefaultValue: boolean;
+  readonly useAdditionalVariablesOnly: boolean;
 }
 
 interface Rule {
@@ -256,8 +257,7 @@ var replaceTokensInString = function (
     if (options.enableRecursion && names.includes(name)) throw new Error("recursion cycle with token '" + name + "'.");
 
     // replace value
-    let value: string = tl.getVariable(name);
-    if (name in externalVariables) value = externalVariables[name];
+    let value: string = name in externalVariables || options.useAdditionalVariablesOnly ? externalVariables[name] : tl.getVariable(name);
 
     let usedDefaultValue: boolean = false;
     if (
@@ -549,7 +549,8 @@ async function run() {
       enableTransforms: tl.getBoolInput('enableTransforms', false),
       enableRecursion: tl.getBoolInput('enableRecursion', false),
       useLegacyEmptyFeature: tl.getBoolInput('useLegacyEmptyFeature', false),
-      useDefaultValue: tl.getBoolInput('useDefaultValue', false)
+      useDefaultValue: tl.getBoolInput('useDefaultValue', false),
+      useAdditionalVariablesOnly: tl.getBoolInput('useAdditionalVariablesOnly', false)
     };
     const transformPrefix: string = tl.getInput('transformPrefix', false) || '(';
     const transformSuffix: string = tl.getInput('transformSuffix', false) || ')';
@@ -739,6 +740,7 @@ async function run() {
     telemetryEvent.enableRecursion = options.enableRecursion;
     telemetryEvent.useLegacyEmptyFeature = options.useLegacyEmptyFeature;
     telemetryEvent.useDefaultValue = options.useDefaultValue;
+    telemetryEvent.useAdditionalVariablesOnly = options.useAdditionalVariablesOnly;
 
     // process files
     rules.forEach(rule => {
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/task.json b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/task.json
index 3d7a164..692ab2a 100644
--- a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/task.json
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/task.json
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
   "author": "Guillaume ROUCHON",
   "version": {
     "Major": 5,
-    "Minor": 3,
-    "Patch": 3
+    "Minor": 4,
+    "Patch": 0
   },
   "releaseNotes": "Migrate to Node10 handler (breaking change).<br/>Add Node16 handler.",
   "instanceNameFormat": "Replace tokens in $(targetFiles)",
@@ -251,6 +251,15 @@
       "required": false,
       "helpMarkDown": "The separtor to use in variable names for nested objects in inline variables or variable files.<br/>Example: {'My':{'Value':'Hello World!'}} will create a variable 'My.Value' with the value 'Hello World!'"
     },
+    {
+      "name": "useAdditionalVariablesOnly",
+      "type": "boolean",
+      "label": "Use only file and inline variables",
+      "defaultValue": "false",
+      "groupName": "variables",
+      "required": false,
+      "helpMarkDown": "Use only variables declared in variable files and inline variables."
+    },
     {
       "name": "enableRecursion",
       "type": "boolean",
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/telemetry.ts b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/telemetry.ts
index bb51c27..9c3ebe3 100644
--- a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/telemetry.ts
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/telemetry.ts
@@ -125,4 +125,5 @@ export class TelemetryEvent {
   enableRecursion: boolean;
   useLegacyEmptyFeature: boolean;
   useDefaultValue: boolean;
+  useAdditionalVariablesOnly: boolean;
 }
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/L0.ts b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/L0.ts
index 7352121..f7dab44 100644
--- a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/L0.ts
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/L0.ts
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ describe('ReplaceTokens v5 L0 suite', function () {
 
           tr.stdout.should.include('telemetry sent');
           tr.stdout.should.match(
-            /\[\{"account":"494d0aad9d06c4ddb51d5300620122ce55366a9382b3cc2835ed5f0e2e67b4d0","pipeline":"b98ed03d3eec376dcc015365c1a944e3ebbcc33d30e3261af3f4e4abb107aa82","host":"server","os":"Windows","actionOnMissing":"warn","encoding":"auto","keepToken":false,"pattern":"#\\\\{\\\\s\*\(\(\?:\(\?!#\\\\{\)\(\?!\\\\s\*\\\\}#\)\.\)\*\)\\\\s\*\\\\}#","result":"success","rules":1,"rulesWithInputWildcard":0,"rulesWithNegativePattern":0,"rulesWithOutputPattern":0,"tokenPrefix":"#{","tokenSuffix":"}#","variableFiles":0,"verbosity":"normal","writeBOM":true,"useLegacyPattern":false,"enableTransforms":false,"transformPrefix":"\(","transformSuffix":"\)","transformPattern":"\\\\s\*\(\.\*\)\\\\\(\\\\s\*\(\(\?:\(\?!\\\\\(\)\(\?!\\\\s\*\\\\\)\)\.\)\*\)\\\\s\*\\\\\)\\\\s\*","defaultValue":"","tokenPattern":"default","actionOnNoFiles":"continue","inlineVariables":0,"enableRecursion":false,"useLegacyEmptyFeature":false,"useDefaultValue":false,"duration":\d+(?:\.\d+)?,"tokenReplaced":1,"tokenFound":1,"defaultValueReplaced":0,"fileProcessed":1,"transformExecuted":0,"eventType":"TokensReplaced","application":"replacetokens-task","version":"5.0.0"}]/
+            /\[\{"account":"494d0aad9d06c4ddb51d5300620122ce55366a9382b3cc2835ed5f0e2e67b4d0","pipeline":"b98ed03d3eec376dcc015365c1a944e3ebbcc33d30e3261af3f4e4abb107aa82","host":"server","os":"Windows","actionOnMissing":"warn","encoding":"auto","keepToken":false,"pattern":"#\\\\{\\\\s\*\(\(\?:\(\?!#\\\\{\)\(\?!\\\\s\*\\\\}#\)\.\)\*\)\\\\s\*\\\\}#","result":"success","rules":1,"rulesWithInputWildcard":0,"rulesWithNegativePattern":0,"rulesWithOutputPattern":0,"tokenPrefix":"#{","tokenSuffix":"}#","variableFiles":0,"verbosity":"normal","writeBOM":true,"useLegacyPattern":false,"enableTransforms":false,"transformPrefix":"\(","transformSuffix":"\)","transformPattern":"\\\\s\*\(\.\*\)\\\\\(\\\\s\*\(\(\?:\(\?!\\\\\(\)\(\?!\\\\s\*\\\\\)\)\.\)\*\)\\\\s\*\\\\\)\\\\s\*","defaultValue":"","tokenPattern":"default","actionOnNoFiles":"continue","inlineVariables":0,"enableRecursion":false,"useLegacyEmptyFeature":false,"useDefaultValue":false,"useAdditionalVariablesOnly":false,"duration":\d+(?:\.\d+)?,"tokenReplaced":1,"tokenFound":1,"defaultValueReplaced":0,"fileProcessed":1,"transformExecuted":0,"eventType":"TokensReplaced","application":"replacetokens-task","version":"5.0.0"}]/
           );
         },
         tr,
@@ -1583,5 +1583,28 @@ describe('ReplaceTokens v5 L0 suite', function () {
         done
       );
     });
+
+    it('should replace only with file or inline variables when specified', function (done: Mocha.Done) {
+      // arrange
+      let tp = path.join(__dirname, 'externalVariables', 'L0_UseAdditionalVariablesOnly.js');
+      let tr: ttm.MockTestRunner = new ttm.MockTestRunner(tp);
+
+      process.env['__inputpath__'] = copyData('variables.json', 'useonlyexternalvariables.json');
+      process.env['__variablespath__'] = path.join(data, 'externalvariables1.json');
+
+      // act
+      tr.run();
+
+      // assert
+      runValidation(
+        () => {
+          tr.succeeded.should.equal(true, 'task succeeded');
+
+          assertFilesEqual(process.env['__inputpath__'], path.join(data, 'variables.useadditionalvariablesonly.expected.json'), 'replaced output');
+        },
+        tr,
+        done
+      );
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/_data/variables.useadditionalvariablesonly.expected.json b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/_data/variables.useadditionalvariablesonly.expected.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56ebe7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/_data/variables.useadditionalvariablesonly.expected.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+  "var1": "var1_value",
+  "var2": ""
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/externalVariables/L0_UseAdditionalVariablesOnly.ts b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/externalVariables/L0_UseAdditionalVariablesOnly.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ec40b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV5/tests/externalVariables/L0_UseAdditionalVariablesOnly.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import ma = require('azure-pipelines-task-lib/mock-answer');
+import tmrm = require('azure-pipelines-task-lib/mock-run');
+import path = require('path');
+
+const taskPath = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', 'index.js');
+const tmr: tmrm.TaskMockRunner = new tmrm.TaskMockRunner(taskPath);
+
+// variables
+process.env['VAR1'] = 'variables';
+process.env['VAR2'] = 'variables';
+
+// inputs
+tmr.setInput('enableTelemetry', 'false');
+tmr.setInput('targetFiles', 'input.json');
+tmr.setInput('writeBOM', 'true');
+tmr.setInput('variableFiles', 'variables.ext');
+tmr.setInput('useAdditionalVariablesOnly', 'true');
+
+// sdk answers
+let answers = {
+  checkPath: {},
+  findMatch: {
+    'input.json': [process.env['__inputpath__']],
+    'variables.ext': [process.env['__variablespath__']]
+  },
+  stats: {},
+  exist: {}
+};
+answers['stats'][process.env['__inputpath__']] = {
+  isDirectory: false
+};
+answers['stats'][process.env['__variablespath__']] = {
+  isDirectory: false
+};
+answers['exist'][process.env['__inputpath__']] = true;
+answers['exist'][process.env['__variablespath__']] = true;
+
+tmr.setAnswers(answers);
+
+// act
+tmr.run();
diff --git a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV6/task.json b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV6/task.json
index 6be1870..e320fa1 100644
--- a/tasks/ReplaceTokensV6/task.json
+++ b/tasks/ReplaceTokensV6/task.json
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@
       "defaultValue": false,
       "visibleRule": "additionalVariables != \"\"",
       "label": "Use only additional variables",
-      "helpMarkDown": "Use only variables declared in additionalVariables. Default: false"
+      "helpMarkDown": "Use only variables declared in additional variables. Default: false"
     },
     {
       "name": "escapeType",