diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/protocols/import_export/import.js.erb b/app/assets/javascripts/protocols/import_export/import.js.erb
index 644eb4130..c76a0155c 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/protocols/import_export/import.js.erb
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/protocols/import_export/import.js.erb
@@ -232,18 +232,31 @@ function importProtocolFromFile(
   function displayTinyMceAssetInDescription(node, folder, stepGuid) {
     if (node.children('descriptionAssets').length === 0) {
       var description = node.children('description').html();
-      return description.replace(/\[~tiny_mce_id:([0-9a-zA-Z]+)\]/,
-                                 '<strong>Can\'t import image</strong>');
+      return $('<div></div>').html(
+        description.replace(/\[~tiny_mce_id:([0-9a-zA-Z]+)\]/,
+                                   '<strong>Can\'t import image</strong>')
+                   .replace('<!--[CDATA[  ', '')
+                   .replace('  ]]--&gt;', '')
+                   .replace('  ]]-->','')
+                   .replace('  ]]&gt;', '')
+      ).html();
     }
     var description = node.children('description').html();
     node.find('descriptionAssets > tinyMceAsset').each(function(i, element) {
       var match = '[~tiny_mce_id:' + element.getAttribute('tokenId') + ']';
-      var assetBytes = getAssetBytes(folder, stepGuid, element.getAttribute('fileref'));
+      var assetBytes = getAssetBytes(folder,
+                                     stepGuid,
+                                     element.getAttribute('fileref'));
       var image_tag = "<img style='max-width:300px; max-height:300px;' src='data:" + element.children[1].innerHTML + ";base64," + assetBytes + "' />"
       description = description.replace(match, image_tag); // replace the token with image
     }).bind(this);
     // I know is crazy but is the only way I found to pass valid HTML
-    return $('<div></div>').html(description.replace('<!--[CDATA[', '').replace(']]&gt;', '')).html();
+    return $('<div></div>').html(
+      description.replace('<!--[CDATA[  ', '')
+                 .replace('  ]]--&gt;', '')
+                 .replace('  ]]-->','')
+                 .replace('  ]]&gt;', '')
+    ).html();
   }
 
   /* Navigation functions */
diff --git a/app/utilities/protocols_exporter.rb b/app/utilities/protocols_exporter.rb
index 5c4a98ab9..fec668511 100644
--- a/app/utilities/protocols_exporter.rb
+++ b/app/utilities/protocols_exporter.rb
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ module ProtocolsExporter
     protocol_xml = "<eln xmlns=\"http://www.scinote.net\" version=\"1.0\">\n"
     protocol_xml << "<protocol id=\"#{protocol.id}\" " \
                     "guid=\"#{get_guid(protocol.id)}\">\n"
-    protocol_xml << "<name>#{protocol_name}</name>\n"
+    protocol_xml << "<name><![CDATA[  #{protocol_name}  ]]></name>\n"
     protocol_xml << "<authors>#{protocol.authors}</authors>\n"
     protocol_xml << "<description>#{protocol.description}</description>\n"
     protocol_xml << "<created_at>#{protocol.created_at.as_json}</created_at>\n"
@@ -80,9 +80,10 @@ module ProtocolsExporter
         step_xml = "<step id=\"#{step.id}\" guid=\"#{step_guid}\" " \
                    "position=\"#{step.position}\">\n"
         step_xml << "<name>#{step.name}</name>\n"
-        step_xml << "<description><![CDATA[#{
+        # uses 2 spaces to make more difficult to remove user data on import
+        step_xml << "<description><!--[CDATA[  #{
         Nokogiri::HTML::DocumentFragment.parse(step.description).to_s
-        }]]></description>\n"
+        }  ]]--></description>\n"
 
         if tiny_mce_asset_present?(step)
           step_xml << get_tiny_mce_assets(step.description)
diff --git a/app/utilities/protocols_importer.rb b/app/utilities/protocols_importer.rb
index bf9292a69..fe9000469 100644
--- a/app/utilities/protocols_importer.rb
+++ b/app/utilities/protocols_importer.rb
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ module ProtocolsImporter
       tiny_mce_img.save!
       description.gsub!("[~tiny_mce_id:#{tiny_mce_img_json['tokenId']}]",
                         "[~tiny_mce_id:#{tiny_mce_img.id}]")
+                 .gsub!('  ]]--&gt;', '')
 
     end
     description
@@ -171,5 +172,6 @@ module ProtocolsImporter
   def populate_rte_legacy(step_json)
     return unless step_json['description'] && step_json['description'].present?
     step_json['description'].gsub(Constants::TINY_MCE_ASSET_REGEX, '')
+                            .gsub('  ]]--&gt;', '')
   end
 end