diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/__init__.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/__init__.py
index 0573abb..375b125 100755
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/__init__.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 # Class base Transformers
-from .activatable import ActivatableTransformer
 from .base import ConfigurableTransformer
 from .convertfigures import ConvertFiguresTransformer
 from .svg2pdf import Svg2PdfTransformer
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/base.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/base.py
index e288e7e..c5a9bd7 100755
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/base.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/base.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ It exposes a convenient class to inherit from to access configurability.
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 from ..utils.config import GlobalConfigurable
+from IPython.utils.traitlets import Bool
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Classes and Functions
@@ -33,6 +34,9 @@ class ConfigurableTransformer(GlobalConfigurable):
 
     you can overwrite transform_cell to apply a transformation independently on each cell
     or __call__ if you prefer your own logic. See corresponding docstring for informations.
+
+    Disabled by default and can be enabled via the config by
+        'c.YourTransformerName.enabled = True'
     """
     
     enabled = Bool(False, config=True)
@@ -53,7 +57,11 @@ class ConfigurableTransformer(GlobalConfigurable):
 
        
     def __call__(self, nb, resources):
-        return self.call(nb,resources)
+        if self.enabled:
+            return self.call(nb,resources)
+        else:
+            return nb, resources
+
 
     def call(self, nb, resources):
         """
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/convertfigures.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/convertfigures.py
index 2af3aa8..6bfe239 100644
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/convertfigures.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/convertfigures.py
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ one format to another.
 # Imports
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-from .activatable import ActivatableTransformer
+from .base import ConfigurableTransformer
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Classes
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class ConvertFiguresTransformer(ActivatableTransformer):
+class ConvertFiguresTransformer(ConfigurableTransformer):
     """
     Converts all of the outputs in a notebook from one format to another.
     """
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/csshtmlheader.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/csshtmlheader.py
index afa6796..5c65559 100755
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/csshtmlheader.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/csshtmlheader.py
@@ -16,18 +16,18 @@ import os
 import io
 
 from pygments.formatters import HtmlFormatter
-        
+
 from IPython.utils import path
 
-from .activatable import ActivatableTransformer
+from .base import ConfigurableTransformer
 
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import Unicode
-        
+
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Classes and functions
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class CSSHTMLHeaderTransformer(ActivatableTransformer):
+class CSSHTMLHeaderTransformer(ConfigurableTransformer):
     """
     Transformer used to pre-process notebook for HTML output.  Adds IPython notebook
     front-end CSS and Pygments CSS to HTML output.
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/extractfigure.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/extractfigure.py
index bafd79d..5ee5597 100755
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/extractfigure.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/extractfigure.py
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@ notebook file.  The extracted figures are returned in the 'resources' dictionary
 
 import sys
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import Dict, Unicode
-from .activatable import ActivatableTransformer
+from .base import ConfigurableTransformer
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Classes
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class ExtractFigureTransformer(ActivatableTransformer):
+class ExtractFigureTransformer(ConfigurableTransformer):
     """
     Extracts all of the figures from the notebook file.  The extracted 
     figures are returned in the 'resources' dictionary.
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/latex.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/latex.py
index 5718b57..22cc203 100755
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/latex.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/latex.py
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@ from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import
 
 # Our own imports
 # Needed to override transformer
-from .activatable import (ActivatableTransformer)
+from .base import (ConfigurableTransformer)
 from IPython.nbconvert import filters
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Classes
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class LatexTransformer(ActivatableTransformer):
+class LatexTransformer(ConfigurableTransformer):
     """
     Converter for latex destined documents.
     """
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/sphinx.py b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/sphinx.py
index 6f18cd0..935ec12 100755
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/sphinx.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/transformers/sphinx.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ from pygments.formatters import LatexFormatter
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import Unicode, Bool
 
 # Needed to override transformer
-from .activatable import (ActivatableTransformer) #TODO
+from .base import (ConfigurableTransformer)
 
 from IPython.nbconvert.utils import console  
 
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ from IPython.nbconvert.utils import console
 # Classes and functions
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-class SphinxTransformer(ActivatableTransformer):
+class SphinxTransformer(ConfigurableTransformer):
     """
     Sphinx utility transformer.