diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index f5fd05d74d9..c8082829be3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     - Support FindFullText with ACS DOIs (pull request #9)
     - Fixes groups and adds optional 2.9.2 save ordering (pull request #10)
     - Fixes bug 880 "PubMed Import broken" (pull request #11 by vegeziel)
+    - Fixes bug #959 "StringIndexOutOfBoundsException with invalid Preview text" (pull request #12 by IngvarJackal)
 2.10
     - Made IEEEXploreFetcher author parsing work again.
     - Added a few more characters in the HTML/Unicode to LaTeX conversion.
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPanel.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPanel.java
index 6a4585a0bf5..00c5d30d448 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPanel.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPanel.java
@@ -364,6 +364,8 @@ public void setEntry(BibtexEntry newEntry) {
 		try {
 			readLayout();
 			update();
+		} catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
+			throw ex;
 		} catch (Exception ex) {
 			ex.printStackTrace();
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPrefsTab.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPrefsTab.java
index a454f9c0ffa..7730700e4c8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPrefsTab.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/PreviewPrefsTab.java
@@ -163,20 +163,30 @@ public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
 		test1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
 			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
 				getTestEntry();
-				PreviewPanel testPanel = new PreviewPanel(null, entry, null , new MetaData(), layout1.getText());
-				testPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 350));
-				JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, testPanel, Globals.lang("Preview"),
-					JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
+				try {
+					PreviewPanel testPanel = new PreviewPanel(null, entry, null , new MetaData(), layout1.getText());
+					testPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 350));
+					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, testPanel, Globals.lang("Preview"),
+						JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
+				} catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
+					ex.printStackTrace();
+					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Parsing error: illegal backslash expression.\n" + ex.getMessage() + "\nLook at stderr for details.", "Parsing error", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
+				}
 			}
 		});
 
 		test2.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
 			public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
 				getTestEntry();
-				PreviewPanel testPanel = new PreviewPanel(null, entry, null, new MetaData(), layout2.getText());
-				testPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 350));
-				JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, new JScrollPane(testPanel),
-                                        Globals.lang("Preview"), JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
+				try {
+					PreviewPanel testPanel = new PreviewPanel(null, entry, null, new MetaData(), layout2.getText());
+					testPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 350));
+					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, new JScrollPane(testPanel),
+	                                        Globals.lang("Preview"), JOptionPane.PLAIN_MESSAGE);
+				} catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
+					ex.printStackTrace();
+					JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Parsing error: illegal backslash expression.\n" + ex.getMessage() + "\nLook at stderr for details.", "Parsing error", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
+				}
 			}
 		});
 	}
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/export/layout/LayoutHelper.java b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/export/layout/LayoutHelper.java
index d4152be838a..f08a97911de 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/export/layout/LayoutHelper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/sf/jabref/export/layout/LayoutHelper.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 import java.io.Reader;
 import java.util.Vector;
 
+import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
+
 
 /**
  * Helper class to get a Layout object.
@@ -62,8 +64,8 @@ public LayoutHelper(Reader in)
     }
 
     public Layout getLayoutFromText(String classPrefix) throws Exception
-    {
-        parse();
+    {    	
+    	parse();
 
         StringInt si;
 
@@ -76,7 +78,7 @@ public Layout getLayoutFromText(String classPrefix) throws Exception
                 si.s = si.s.trim().toLowerCase();
             }
         }
-
+        
         Layout layout = new Layout(parsedEntries, classPrefix);
 
         return layout;
@@ -288,7 +290,7 @@ else if (c == '"') {
         return null;
     }
 
-    private Object parse() throws IOException {
+    private Object parse() throws IOException, StringIndexOutOfBoundsException {
 		skipWhitespace();
 
 		int c;
@@ -344,10 +346,11 @@ private Object parse() throws IOException {
     /**
 	 * 
 	 */
-    private void parseField() throws IOException
+    private void parseField() throws IOException, StringIndexOutOfBoundsException
     {
         int c;
         StringBuffer buffer = null;
+        char firstLetter = ' ';
         String name;
 
         while (!_eof)
@@ -365,11 +368,21 @@ private void parseField() throws IOException
 
                 //System.out.println("\n#" + (char) c);
                 name = buffer != null ? buffer.toString() : "";
-
+                
+                try {
+                	firstLetter = name.charAt(0);
+                } catch (StringIndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
+                	StringBuilder lastFive = new StringBuilder(10); 
+                	for (StringInt entry : parsedEntries.subList(Math.max(0, parsedEntries.size()-6), parsedEntries.size()-1)) {
+                		lastFive.append(entry.s);
+                	}
+                	throw new StringIndexOutOfBoundsException("Backslash parsing error near " + "\'" + lastFive.toString().replace("\n", " ") +  "\'");
+                }
+                
                 //System.out.println("NAME:" + name);
                 buffer = null;
-
-                if (name.charAt(0) == 'b')
+                
+                if (firstLetter == 'b')
                 {
                     if (name.equalsIgnoreCase("begin"))
                     {
@@ -385,7 +398,7 @@ else if (name.equalsIgnoreCase("begingroup"))
                         return;                    
                     }
                 }
-                else if (name.charAt(0) == 'f')
+                else if (firstLetter == 'f')
                 {
                     if (name.equalsIgnoreCase("format"))
                     {
@@ -422,7 +435,7 @@ else if (name.equalsIgnoreCase("filepath"))
                         return;
                     }
                 }
-                else if (name.charAt(0) == 'e')
+                else if (firstLetter == 'e')
                 {
                     if (name.equalsIgnoreCase("end"))
                     {