diff --git a/webodf/lib/odf/OdfUtils.js b/webodf/lib/odf/OdfUtils.js
index 55b0c320..5a00de8e 100644
--- a/webodf/lib/odf/OdfUtils.js
+++ b/webodf/lib/odf/OdfUtils.js
@@ -191,23 +191,23 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
     }
     this.isCharacterElement = isCharacterElement;
     /**
-     * Determine if the node is a whitespace character element.
+     * Determine if the node is a <text:s/> character element.
      * @param {?Node} e
      * @return {!boolean}
      */
-    function isWhitespaceElement(e) {
+    function isSpaceElement(e) {
         var n = e && e.localName,
             ns,
             r = false;
         if (n) {
             ns = e.namespaceURI;
             if (ns === textns) {
-                r = n === "s" || n === "tab";
+                r = n === "s";
             }
         }
         return r;
     }
-    this.isWhitespaceElement = isWhitespaceElement;
+    this.isSpaceElement = isSpaceElement;
     /**
      * @param {!Node} node
      * @return {!Node}
@@ -255,12 +255,13 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
 
     /**
      * Walk to the left along the DOM and return true if the first thing
-     * encountered is either a non-whitespace character or a non-whitespace
-     * character element. Walking goes through grouping elements.
+     * encountered is either a non-whitespace text character or a non-space
+     * character element (i.e., any character element other than <text:s/>).
+     * Walking goes through grouping elements.
      * @param {?Node} node the first node to scan
      * @return {!boolean}
      */
-    function scanLeftForNonWhitespace(node) {
+    function scanLeftForNonSpace(node) {
         var r = false;
         while (node) {
             if (node.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE) {
@@ -272,7 +273,7 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
                     );
                 }
             } else if (isCharacterElement(node)) {
-                r = isWhitespaceElement(node) === false;
+                r = isSpaceElement(node) === false;
                 node = null;
             } else {
                 node = previousNode(node);
@@ -280,7 +281,7 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
         }
         return r;
     }
-    this.scanLeftForNonWhitespace = scanLeftForNonWhitespace;
+    this.scanLeftForNonSpace = scanLeftForNonSpace;
     /**
      * Walk to the left along the DOM and return the type of the first
      * thing encountered.
@@ -299,7 +300,7 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
             if (!isODFWhitespace(text.substr(text.length - 1, 1))) {
                 r = 1; // character found
             } else if (text.length === 1) {
-                r = scanLeftForNonWhitespace(previousNode(node)) ? 2 : 0;
+                r = scanLeftForNonSpace(previousNode(node)) ? 2 : 0;
             } else {
                 r = isODFWhitespace(text.substr(text.length - 2, 1)) ? 0 : 2;
             }
@@ -426,7 +427,7 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
                 // First whitespace after a character is significant
                 result = true;
             }
-        } else if (scanLeftForNonWhitespace(previousNode(textNode))) {
+        } else if (scanLeftForNonSpace(previousNode(textNode))) {
             // If the first character found scanning to the left is non-whitespace, this might still be significant
             result = true;
         }
@@ -449,7 +450,7 @@ odf.OdfUtils = function OdfUtils() {
      */
     this.isDowngradableSpaceElement = function(node) {
         if (node.namespaceURI === textns && node.localName === "s") {
-            return scanLeftForNonWhitespace(previousNode(node)) && scanRightForAnyCharacter(nextNode(node));
+            return scanLeftForNonSpace(previousNode(node)) && scanRightForAnyCharacter(nextNode(node));
         }
         return false;
     };
diff --git a/webodf/lib/ops/TextPositionFilter.js b/webodf/lib/ops/TextPositionFilter.js
index 1e0dc4b0..468a49a8 100644
--- a/webodf/lib/ops/TextPositionFilter.js
+++ b/webodf/lib/ops/TextPositionFilter.js
@@ -150,9 +150,9 @@ ops.TextPositionFilter = function TextPositionFilter(getRootNode) {
                     }
                 } else {
                     // check if there is a non-whitespace character or
-                    // character element in a preceding node
+                    // character element (other than text:s) in a preceding node
                     leftNode = odfUtils.previousNode(container);
-                    if (odfUtils.scanLeftForNonWhitespace(leftNode)) {
+                    if (odfUtils.scanLeftForNonSpace(leftNode)) {
                         r = FILTER_ACCEPT;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/webodf/tests/odf/OdfUtilsTests.js b/webodf/tests/odf/OdfUtilsTests.js
index 89da48b5..e13abf8d 100644
--- a/webodf/tests/odf/OdfUtilsTests.js
+++ b/webodf/tests/odf/OdfUtilsTests.js
@@ -233,6 +233,12 @@ odf.OdfUtilsTests = function OdfUtilsTests(runner) {
 
         r.shouldBe(t, "t.isDowngradable", "true");
     }
+    function isDowngradableWhitespace_DowngradesFirstSpaceAfterTab() {
+        t.doc = createDocument("<text:p><text:tab>  </text:tab><text:s> </text:s>b</text:p>");
+        t.isDowngradable = t.odfUtils.isDowngradableSpaceElement(t.doc.childNodes[1]);
+
+        r.shouldBe(t, "t.isDowngradable", "true");
+    }
     function isDowngradableWhitespace_DoesNotDowngradeTrailingSpace() {
         t.doc = createDocument("<text:p>a<text:s> </text:s></text:p>");
         t.isDowngradable = t.odfUtils.isDowngradableSpaceElement(t.doc.childNodes[1]);
@@ -271,6 +277,7 @@ odf.OdfUtilsTests = function OdfUtilsTests(runner) {
             getImageElements_ReturnTwoImages,
 
             isDowngradableWhitespace_DowngradesFirstSpaceAfterChar,
+            isDowngradableWhitespace_DowngradesFirstSpaceAfterTab,
             isDowngradableWhitespace_DoesNotDowngradeTrailingSpace,
             isDowngradableWhitespace_DoesNotDowngradeLeading,
             isDowngradableWhitespace_DoesNotDowngradeAfterSpace
diff --git a/webodf/tests/ops/OdtDocumentTests.js b/webodf/tests/ops/OdtDocumentTests.js
index 5f1af0c1..8f3c750b 100644
--- a/webodf/tests/ops/OdtDocumentTests.js
+++ b/webodf/tests/ops/OdtDocumentTests.js
@@ -500,6 +500,9 @@ ops.OdtDocumentTests = function OdtDocumentTests(runner) {
         testCursorPositions("<text:p><text:span>|<text:s> </text:s>|</text:span></text:p>");
         // TODO behaviour is different from README_cursorpositions
         // cursorPositionsTest("<text:p> <text:span>|A| |</text:span> <text:s></text:s>| <text:span><text:s> </text:s>|B|</text:span> </text:p>");
+        testCursorPositions("<text:p>|<text:tab>    </text:tab>|<text:s> </text:s>|<text:s> </text:s>|</text:p>");
+        testCursorPositions("<text:p>|<text:tab>    </text:tab>| |<text:s> </text:s>|</text:p>");
+        testCursorPositions("<text:p>|a| | <text:s> </text:s>|   </text:p>");
     }
     function testAvailablePositions_DrawElements() {
         testCursorPositions("<text:p>|<draw:frame text:anchor-type=\"as-char\"><draw:image><office:binary-data>data</office:binary-data></draw:image></draw:frame>|</text:p>");
diff --git a/webodf/tests/ops/operationtests.xml b/webodf/tests/ops/operationtests.xml
index 65d4a50d..6a34f81f 100644
--- a/webodf/tests/ops/operationtests.xml
+++ b/webodf/tests/ops/operationtests.xml
@@ -172,7 +172,6 @@
   </ops>
   <after><office:text><text:p>a b</text:p></office:text></after>
  </test>
-
  <test name="InsertText_withSameCursor_AfterSpace2">
   <before><office:text><text:p>a<text:s> </text:s></text:p><text:p/></office:text></before>
   <ops>
@@ -288,6 +287,17 @@
   </ops>
   <after><office:text><text:p>a bc</text:p></office:text></after>
  </test>
+ <test name="InsertText_AfterSpaceAndTab_InNewParagraph">
+  <before><office:text><text:p/></office:text></before>
+  <ops>
+   <op optype="SplitParagraph" position="0"/>
+   <op optype="InsertText" position="1" text="&#x9;  "/>
+   <op optype="SplitParagraph" position="4"/>
+   <op optype="InsertText" position="5" text="U"/>
+   <op optype="RemoveText" position="0" length="1"/>
+  </ops>
+  <after><office:text><text:p><text:tab>&#x9;</text:tab> <text:s> </text:s></text:p><text:p>U</text:p></office:text></after>
+ </test>
  <test name="RemoveSpace">
   <before><office:text><text:p><text:s> </text:s></text:p></office:text></before>
   <ops>