diff --git a/src/gen/plug/docbackend/docbackend.py b/src/gen/plug/docbackend/docbackend.py
index 08df27f31..51856192c 100644
--- a/src/gen/plug/docbackend/docbackend.py
+++ b/src/gen/plug/docbackend/docbackend.py
@@ -278,6 +278,8 @@ class DocBackend(object):
                 is <b>text</b><i><b> here</b> not</i>
                overwrite this method if this complexity is not needed. 
         """
+        #unicode text must be sliced correctly
+        text = unicode(text)
         FIRST = 0
         LAST = 1
         tagspos = {}