diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/__init__.py b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/__init__.py
index cddf0ecd7b..925fecd693 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/__init__.py
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ class Widget(QWidget):
             return g.value()
         elif isinstance(g, (QLineEdit, QTextEdit)):
             func = getattr(g, 'toPlainText', getattr(g, 'text', None))()
-            ans = unicode(func)
+            ans = unicode(func).strip()
             if not ans:
                 ans = None
             return ans
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/search_and_replace.py b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/search_and_replace.py
index 88446344ec..c2241ff8eb 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/search_and_replace.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/search_and_replace.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import re
 
+from PyQt4.Qt import QLineEdit, QTextEdit
+
 from calibre.gui2.convert.search_and_replace_ui import Ui_Form
 from calibre.gui2.convert import Widget
 from calibre.gui2 import error_dialog
@@ -72,3 +74,13 @@ class SearchAndReplaceWidget(Widget, Ui_Form):
                              _('Invalid regular expression: %s')%err, show=True)
                 return False
         return True
+    
+    def get_vaule(self, g):
+        if isinstance(g, (QLineEdit, QTextEdit)):
+            func = getattr(g, 'toPlainText', getattr(g, 'text', None))()
+            ans = unicode(func)
+            if not ans:
+                ans = None
+            return ans
+        else:
+            return Widget.get_value(self, g)