diff --git a/app/controllers/protocols_controller.rb b/app/controllers/protocols_controller.rb
index 05c55fad1..70c22b2b9 100644
--- a/app/controllers/protocols_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/protocols_controller.rb
@@ -700,16 +700,17 @@ class ProtocolsController < ApplicationController
 
     step['components'].each do |key,value|
     element_string = nil
-    if counter <= 1
-      # here i made an if to distinguish the first step from the others,
-      # because the first step
-      # sometimes has index values as keys instead of hashes, for no good reason
-      key = value if value.class == Hash
-    end
+
+
+    # sometimes there are random index values as keys
+    # instead of hashes, this is a workaround to that buggy json format
+    key = value if value.class == Hash
+
     if whitelist_simple.include?(key['component_type_id'])
 
       case key['component_type_id']
       when '1'
+
         if !key['data'].nil? && key['data'] != ''
           element_string = '<br>' + (key['data']) + '<br>'
           if @import_object['steps'][step_pos.to_s]['description']
@@ -718,7 +719,8 @@ class ProtocolsController < ApplicationController
             @import_object['steps'][step_pos.to_s]['description'] = element_string
           end
         else
-          @import_object['steps'][step_pos.to_s]['description'] ||= 'Description missing!'
+
+          @import_object['steps'][step_pos.to_s]['description'] = 'Description missing!'
         end
       when '6'
         if !key['data'].nil? && key['data'] != ''
diff --git a/app/views/protocols/import_export/_import_json_protocol_preview_modal.html.erb b/app/views/protocols/import_export/_import_json_protocol_preview_modal.html.erb
index 8a479cc19..c717d2b6e 100644
--- a/app/views/protocols/import_export/_import_json_protocol_preview_modal.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/protocols/import_export/_import_json_protocol_preview_modal.html.erb
@@ -121,11 +121,11 @@ CGI.parse(URI.parse(request.referrer).query).fetch("type") %>
                   <% title=nil %>
                   <% step["components"].each do |key1,value1| #finding section (title of step) %>
 
-                  <% if counter <=1 %>
+
                   <% if value1.class==Hash %>
                   <% key1=value1 %>
                   <% end %>
-                  <% end %>
+
                   <%  if(key1["component_type_id"]=="6") %>
                   <% if(!key1["data"].nil? && key1["data"]!="") %>
                   <% title ||=key1["data"] %>
@@ -146,14 +146,14 @@ CGI.parse(URI.parse(request.referrer).query).fetch("type") %>
                   <div data-val="description" class="ql-editor">
 
                     <% step["components"].each do |key,value|  %>
-                    <% if counter<=1 %>
+
                     <%#here i made an if to distinguish the first step from the
                     others, because the first step #sometimes has index values as keys instead of
                     hashes, you might see this elsewhere %>
                     <% if value.class==Hash %>
                     <% key=value %>
                     <% end %>
-                    <% end %>
+
                     <% # the below blocks of code output the various attributes if they exist and arent null or "" from the json object %>
                     <% if whitelist_simple.include?(key["component_type_id"]) && key["data"]!="" && key["data"] %>
                     <br>