diff --git a/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py b/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py
index 47cbbac..44634fa 100644
--- a/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py
+++ b/src/nmreval/io/graceeditor.py
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ class GraceEditor:
         return s
 
     def parse(self, filename: str | pathlib.Path):
+        self.clear()
         self.file = pathlib.Path(filename)
 
         # we start always with the header
@@ -354,8 +355,8 @@ class GraceHeader(list):
 class GraceProperties(list):
     _RE_ENTRY = re.compile(r'(?!.*(on|off)$)'  # ignore lines that end with on or off
                            r'@\s*(?P<graph>[gs]\d+)?\s*'  # @ maybe followed by g0 or s12 
-                           r'(?P<key>[\w\s]*)\s+'   # key: stops at last space unless comma-separated values 
-                           r'(?P<val>(?:\s*[\d\w.+-]+\s*,)*\s*[\\{}\"\w.+\- ]+)',  # one value, maybe more with commas
+                           r'(?P<key>[\w\s]*\w)*\s+'   # key: stops at last space unless comma-separated values 
+                           r'(?P<val>(?<!^)(?:\s*[\d\w.+-]+\s*,)*\s*[\S ]+)',  # one value, maybe more with commas
                            re.IGNORECASE | re.VERBOSE)
     _RE_ONOFF = re.compile(r'@\s(?P<graph>[gs]\d+)*\s*(?P<val>[\w\s]*)\s+(on|off)')
 
@@ -730,7 +731,11 @@ class GraceRegion(list):
 
 
 def _convert_to_value(parse_string):
-    tuples = parse_string.split(',')
+    if re.match(r'\".*\"', parse_string):
+        tuples = [parse_string]
+    else:
+        tuples = parse_string.split(',')
+
     for i, v in enumerate(tuples):
         v = v.strip()