diff --git a/src/TemplateData.js b/src/TemplateData.js
index b37615235..2c0c0aacd 100755
--- a/src/TemplateData.js
+++ b/src/TemplateData.js
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class TemplateData {
     let folders = parsed.dir ? parsed.dir.split("/") : [];
     folders.push(parsed.name);
 
-    return folders.join(".");
+    return folders;
   }
 
   async getAllGlobalData() {
@@ -271,21 +271,27 @@ class TemplateData {
     let dataFileConflicts = {};
 
     for (let j = 0, k = files.length; j < k; j++) {
-      let objectPathTarget = await this.getObjectPathForDataFile(files[j]);
       let data = await this.getDataValue(files[j], rawImports);
+      let objectPathTarget = this.getObjectPathForDataFile(files[j]);
+
+      // Since we're joining directory paths and an array is not useable as an objectkey since two identical arrays are not double equal,
+      // we can just join the array by a forbidden character ("/"" is chosen here, since it works on Linux, Mac and Windows).
+      // If at some point this isn't enough anymore, it would be possible to just use JSON.stringify(objectPathTarget) since that
+      // is guaranteed to work but is signifivcantly slower.
+      let objectPathTargetString = objectPathTarget.join("/");
 
       // if two global files have the same path (but different extensions)
       // and conflict, let’s merge them.
-      if (dataFileConflicts[objectPathTarget]) {
+      if (dataFileConflicts[objectPathTargetString]) {
         debugWarn(
-          `merging global data from ${files[j]} with an already existing global data file (${dataFileConflicts[objectPathTarget]}). Overriding existing keys.`
+          `merging global data from ${files[j]} with an already existing global data file (${dataFileConflicts[objectPathTargetString]}). Overriding existing keys.`
         );
 
         let oldData = lodashget(globalData, objectPathTarget);
         data = TemplateData.mergeDeep(this.config, oldData, data);
       }
 
-      dataFileConflicts[objectPathTarget] = files[j];
+      dataFileConflicts[objectPathTargetString] = files[j];
       debug(
         `Found global data file ${files[j]} and adding as: ${objectPathTarget}`
       );
diff --git a/test/TemplateDataTest.js b/test/TemplateDataTest.js
index 3ba4ab8f9..62e424a7d 100644
--- a/test/TemplateDataTest.js
+++ b/test/TemplateDataTest.js
@@ -461,6 +461,29 @@ test("Parent directory for data (Issue #337)", async (t) => {
   });
 });
 
+test("Dots in datafile path (Issue #1242)", async (t) => {
+  let eleventyConfig = new TemplateConfig({
+    dataTemplateEngine: false,
+    dir: {
+      input: "./test/stubs-1242/",
+      data: "_data/",
+    },
+  });
+  let dataObj = new TemplateData("./test/stubs-1242/", eleventyConfig);
+  dataObj.setInputDir("./test/stubs-1242/");
+
+  let data = await dataObj.getData();
+
+  t.deepEqual(data, {
+    "xyz.dottest": {
+      hi: "bye",
+      test: {
+        abc: 42,
+      },
+    },
+  });
+});
+
 test("addGlobalData values", async (t) => {
   let eleventyConfig = new TemplateConfig();
   eleventyConfig.userConfig.addGlobalData("myFunction", () => "fn-value");
diff --git a/test/stubs-1242/_data/xyz.dottest.json b/test/stubs-1242/_data/xyz.dottest.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6c820361c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/stubs-1242/_data/xyz.dottest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "hi": "bye"
+}
diff --git a/test/stubs-1242/_data/xyz.dottest/test.json b/test/stubs-1242/_data/xyz.dottest/test.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6f996357
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/stubs-1242/_data/xyz.dottest/test.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "abc": 42
+}
diff --git a/test/stubs-1242/empty.md b/test/stubs-1242/empty.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb