diff --git a/src/com/fsck/k9/activity/MessageCompose.java b/src/com/fsck/k9/activity/MessageCompose.java
index 1240f2235..f195af02e 100644
--- a/src/com/fsck/k9/activity/MessageCompose.java
+++ b/src/com/fsck/k9/activity/MessageCompose.java
@@ -1352,7 +1352,7 @@ public class MessageCompose extends K9Activity implements OnClickListener,
      *         original message.
      */
     private TextBody buildText(boolean isDraft, SimpleMessageFormat messageFormat) {
-        String messageText = mMessageContentView.getText().toString();
+        String messageText = mMessageContentView.getCharacters();
 
         TextBodyBuilder textBodyBuilder = new TextBodyBuilder(messageText);
 
@@ -1374,9 +1374,11 @@ public class MessageCompose extends K9Activity implements OnClickListener,
                 textBodyBuilder.setQuotedTextHtml(mQuotedHtmlContent);
                 textBodyBuilder.setReplyAfterQuote(isReplyAfterQuote);
             }
-            if (messageFormat == SimpleMessageFormat.TEXT) {
+
+            String quotedText = mQuotedText.getCharacters();
+            if (messageFormat == SimpleMessageFormat.TEXT && quotedText.length() > 0) {
                 textBodyBuilder.setIncludeQuotedText(true);
-                textBodyBuilder.setQuotedText(mQuotedText.getText().toString());
+                textBodyBuilder.setQuotedText(quotedText);
                 textBodyBuilder.setReplyAfterQuote(isReplyAfterQuote);
             }
         }