thanks a lot in fact I have read the docs and also tried it (\n, \r,..). for every one who is interested in the details: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/Properties.html#load(ja... but my mistake was, that I had forgotten to include the blank lines (\n\ in the .properties file) for the sake of completeness, here is the example: WRONG .properties fiel entry - no paragraph will be generated | The other guy said:\n\ | "Nyeah nyeah-nee\ | /nyeah/ nyeah!" | will render as: | <p> | The other guy said: | </p> | (rest is missing, don't know why...) CORRECT .properties fiel entry | The other guy said:\n\ | \n\ | "Nyeah nyeah-nee\ | /nyeah/ nyeah!" | will render as | <p> | The other guy said: | </p> | | <blockquote> | Nyeah nyeah-nee<i>nyeah</i> nyeah!</blockquote> | the only difference is the empty line (\n\) in the correct example. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4098765#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...