diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 034d99986a0..24bd0cf333c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ inserting new citations in a OpenOffic/LibreOffice document. [#6957](https://git
 - We fixed an issue where modifications to the Custom preview layout in the preferences were not saved [#6447](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/6447)
 - We fixed an issue where errors from imports were not shown to the user [#7084](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/pull/7084)
 - We fixed an issue where the EndNote XML Import would fail on empty keywords tags [forum#2387](https://discourse.jabref.org/t/importing-in-unknown-format-fails-to-import-xml-library-from-bookends-export/2387)
+- We fixed an issue where the color of groups of type "free search expression" not persisting after restarting the application [#6999](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/6999)
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/GroupsParser.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/GroupsParser.java
index 3669a781867..9ce459a4829 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/GroupsParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/importer/util/GroupsParser.java
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ public static GroupTreeNode importGroups(List<String> orderedData, Character key
     /**
      * Re-create a group instance from a textual representation.
      *
-     * @param s           The result from the group's toString() method.
+     * @param s The result from the group's toString() method.
      * @return New instance of the encoded group.
      * @throws ParseException If an error occurred and a group could not be created, e.g. due to a malformed regular expression.
      */
@@ -278,9 +278,11 @@ private static AbstractGroup searchGroupFromString(String s) {
         boolean regExp = Integer.parseInt(tok.nextToken()) == 1;
         // version 0 contained 4 additional booleans to specify search
         // fields; these are ignored now, all fields are always searched
-        return new SearchGroup(name,
+        SearchGroup searchGroup = new SearchGroup(name,
                 GroupHierarchyType.getByNumberOrDefault(context), expression, caseSensitive, regExp
         );
+        addGroupDetails(tok, searchGroup);
+        return searchGroup;
     }
 
     private static void addGroupDetails(QuotedStringTokenizer tokenizer, AbstractGroup group) {