diff --git a/src/xhtml.py b/src/xhtml.py
index eb0db829..fd50bb11 100644
--- a/src/xhtml.py
+++ b/src/xhtml.py
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ def xhtml_to_poezio_colors(text):
     for elem in xml.iter():
         if elem.tag == '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a':
             if 'href' in elem.attrib and elem.attrib['href'] != elem.text:
-                message += '\x19u%s\x19o (%s)' % (elem.attrib['href'], elem.text)
+                message += '\x19u%s\x19o (%s)' % (elem.attrib['href'].strip(), elem.text.strip())
             else:
                 message += '\x19u' + elem.text + '\x19o'
         elif elem.tag == '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}blockquote':
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ def xhtml_to_poezio_colors(text):
             message += '\x19i'
         elif elem.tag == '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img' and 'src' in elem.attrib:
             if 'alt' in elem.attrib:
-                message += '%s (%s)' % (elem.attrib['src'], elem.attrib['alt'])
+                message += '%s (%s)' % (elem.attrib['src'].strip(), elem.attrib['alt'].strip())
             else:
                 message += elem.attrib['src']
         elif elem.tag == '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}li':
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ def xhtml_to_poezio_colors(text):
         if (elem.text and elem.tag != '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a'
                       and elem.tag != '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}br'
                       and elem.tag != '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img'):
-            message += elem.text
+            message += elem.text.strip()
 
         if ('style' in elem.attrib and elem.tag != '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}br'
                                    and elem.tag != '{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}em'
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ def xhtml_to_poezio_colors(text):
             message += ' [' + elem.attrib['title'] + ']'
 
         if elem.tail:
-            message += elem.tail
+            message += elem.tail.strip()
     return message