diff --git a/src/main/frontend/format/block.cljs b/src/main/frontend/format/block.cljs
index a1244e32b..9d52d2ee2 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/format/block.cljs
+++ b/src/main/frontend/format/block.cljs
@@ -141,6 +141,9 @@
       (update "created_at" util/safe-parse-int)
       (update "last_modified_at" util/safe-parse-int)))
 
+(defonce non-parsing-properties
+  (atom #{"background_color"}))
+
 (defn extract-properties
   [[_ properties] _start-pos _end-pos]
   (let [properties (into {} properties)
@@ -155,14 +158,25 @@
                    (distinct))
         properties (->> properties
                         (medley/map-kv (fn [k v]
-                                         (let [k' (and k (string/trim (string/lower-case k)))
-                                               v' (and v (string/trim v))
-                                               v' (if (and k' v'
-                                                           (contains? config/markers k')
-                                                           (util/safe-parse-int v'))
-                                                    (util/safe-parse-int v')
-                                                    (text/split-page-refs-without-brackets v'))]
-                                           [k' v'])))
+                                         (let [v (string/trim v)]
+                                           (cond
+                                             (and (= "\"" (first v) (last v))) ; wrapped in ""
+                                             [(string/lower-case k) (string/trim (subs v 1 (dec (count v))))]
+
+                                             (contains? @non-parsing-properties (string/lower-case k))
+                                             [(string/lower-case k) v]
+
+                                             :else
+                                             (let [k' (and k (string/trim (string/lower-case k)))
+                                                   v' v
+                                                   ;; built-in collections
+                                                   comma? (contains? #{"tags" "alias"} k)
+                                                   v' (if (and k' v'
+                                                               (contains? config/markers k')
+                                                               (util/safe-parse-int v'))
+                                                        (util/safe-parse-int v')
+                                                        (text/split-page-refs-without-brackets v' comma?))]
+                                               [k' v'])))))
                         (->schema-properties))]
     {:properties properties
      :page-refs page-refs}))
diff --git a/src/main/frontend/handler/editor.cljs b/src/main/frontend/handler/editor.cljs
index 2fecf28ca..d3444f78b 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/handler/editor.cljs
+++ b/src/main/frontend/handler/editor.cljs
@@ -427,9 +427,10 @@
    (save-block-if-changed! block value nil))
   ([{:block/keys [uuid content meta file page dummy? format repo pre-block? content ref-pages ref-blocks] :as block}
     value
-    {:keys [indent-left? custom-properties remove-properties rebuild-content? chan chan-callback]
+    {:keys [indent-left? init-properties custom-properties remove-properties rebuild-content? chan chan-callback]
      :or {rebuild-content? true
           custom-properties nil
+          init-properties nil
           remove-properties nil}
      :as opts}]
    (let [repo (or repo (state/get-current-repo))
@@ -464,8 +465,9 @@
          text-properties (text/extract-properties value)
          old-hidden-properties (select-keys (:block/properties block) text/hidden-properties)
          properties (merge old-hidden-properties
-                           custom-properties
-                           text-properties)
+                           init-properties
+                           text-properties
+                           custom-properties)
          remove-properties (->
                             (set/difference (set (keys (:block/properties block)))
                                             (set (keys text-properties))
@@ -1138,7 +1140,7 @@
       (when-not (:block/pre-block? block)
         (let [{:block/keys [content properties]} block]
           (cond
-            (and (get properties key)
+            (and (string? (get properties key))
                  (= (string/trim (get properties key)) value))
             nil
 
@@ -1415,7 +1417,7 @@
     ;; maybe we shouldn't save the block/file in "will-unmount" event?
     (save-block-if-changed! block new-value
                             (merge
-                             {:custom-properties properties}
+                             {:init-properties properties}
                              opts))))
 
 (defn save-block!
diff --git a/src/main/frontend/text.cljs b/src/main/frontend/text.cljs
index ad90d622a..28b8d4e11 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/text.cljs
+++ b/src/main/frontend/text.cljs
@@ -24,35 +24,38 @@
       (subs s 2 (- (count s) 2))
       s)))
 
-;; E.g "Foo Bar \"Bar Baz\""
-(defn sep-by-comma-or-quote
+;; E.g "Foo Bar"
+(defn sep-by-comma
   [s]
   (when s
     (some->>
-     (string/split s #"[\"|\,|，]{1}")
+     (string/split s #"[\,|，]{1}")
      (remove string/blank?)
      (map string/trim))))
 
 (defn split-page-refs-without-brackets
-  [s]
-  (if (and (string? s)
-           (or (re-find #"[\"|\,|，|#]+" s)
-               (re-find page-ref-re s)))
-    (let [result (->> (string/split s page-ref-re-2)
-                      (remove string/blank?)
-                      (mapcat (fn [s]
-                                (if (page-ref? s)
-                                  [(page-ref-un-brackets! s)]
-                                  (sep-by-comma-or-quote s))))
-                      (distinct))]
-      (if (or (coll? result)
-              (and (string? result)
-                   (string/starts-with? result "#")))
-        (let [result (if coll? result [result])
-              result (map (fn [s] (string/replace s #"^#+" "")) result)]
-          (set result))
-        (first result)))
-    s))
+  ([s]
+   (split-page-refs-without-brackets s false))
+  ([s comma?]
+   (if (and (string? s)
+            ;; Either a page ref, a tag or a comma separated collection
+            (or (re-find page-ref-re s)
+                (re-find (if comma? #"[\,|，|#]+" #"#") s)))
+     (let [result (->> (string/split s page-ref-re-2)
+                       (remove string/blank?)
+                       (mapcat (fn [s]
+                                 (if (page-ref? s)
+                                   [(page-ref-un-brackets! s)]
+                                   (sep-by-comma s))))
+                       (distinct))]
+       (if (or (coll? result)
+               (and (string? result)
+                    (string/starts-with? result "#")))
+         (let [result (if coll? result [result])
+               result (map (fn [s] (string/replace s #"^#+" "")) result)]
+           (set result))
+         (first result)))
+     s)))
 
 (defn extract-level-spaces
   [text format]
diff --git a/src/test/frontend/text_test.cljs b/src/test/frontend/text_test.cljs
index d60a55d52..8171175a6 100644
--- a/src/test/frontend/text_test.cljs
+++ b/src/test/frontend/text_test.cljs
@@ -19,13 +19,12 @@
     "[single bracket]" "[single bracket]"
     "no brackets" "no brackets"))
 
-(deftest sep-by-comma-or-quote
+(deftest sep-by-comma
   []
-  (are [x y] (= (text/sep-by-comma-or-quote x) y)
+  (are [x y] (= (text/sep-by-comma x) y)
     "foo,bar" ["foo" "bar"]
     "foo, bar" ["foo" "bar"]
     "foo bar" ["foo bar"]
-    "foo \"bar\"" ["foo" "bar"]
     "[[foo]] [[bar]]" ["[[foo]] [[bar]]"]
     "[[foo]],[[bar]]" ["[[foo]]", "[[bar]]"]
     "[[foo]], [[bar]]" ["[[foo]]", "[[bar]]"]