diff --git a/packages/app-cli/tests/models_BaseItem.js b/packages/app-cli/tests/models_BaseItem.js
index 040a92c6a..b9e8c0b0b 100644
--- a/packages/app-cli/tests/models_BaseItem.js
+++ b/packages/app-cli/tests/models_BaseItem.js
@@ -105,7 +105,11 @@ describe('models_BaseItem', function() {
 	}));
 
 	it('should serialize and unserialize properties that contain new lines', asyncTest(async () => {
-		const note = await Note.save({ title: 'note', source_url: '\nhttps://joplinapp.org/\n' });
+		const sourceUrl = `
+https://joplinapp.org/ \\n
+`;
+
+		const note = await Note.save({ title: 'note', source_url: sourceUrl });
 
 		const noteBefore = await Note.load(note.id);
 		const serialized = await Note.serialize(noteBefore);
@@ -113,4 +117,18 @@ describe('models_BaseItem', function() {
 
 		expect(noteAfter).toEqual(noteBefore);
 	}));
+
+	it('should not serialize the note title and body', asyncTest(async () => {
+		const note = await Note.save({ title: 'my note', body: `one line
+two line
+three line \\n no escape` });
+
+		const noteBefore = await Note.load(note.id);
+		const serialized = await Note.serialize(noteBefore);
+		expect(serialized.indexOf(`my note
+
+one line
+two line
+three line \\n no escape`)).toBe(0);
+	}));
 });
diff --git a/packages/lib/models/BaseItem.js b/packages/lib/models/BaseItem.js
index e88798d28..3125dee99 100644
--- a/packages/lib/models/BaseItem.js
+++ b/packages/lib/models/BaseItem.js
@@ -260,7 +260,13 @@ class BaseItem extends BaseModel {
 			propValue = `${propValue}`;
 		}
 
-		return propValue.replace(/\n/g, '\\n').replace(/\r/g, '\\r');
+		if (propName === 'body') return propValue;
+
+		return propValue
+			.replace(/\\n/g, '\\\\n')
+			.replace(/\\r/g, '\\\\r')
+			.replace(/\n/g, '\\n')
+			.replace(/\r/g, '\\r');
 	}
 
 	static unserialize_format(type, propName, propValue) {
@@ -281,7 +287,14 @@ class BaseItem extends BaseModel {
 			propValue = Database.formatValue(ItemClass.fieldType(propName), propValue);
 		}
 
-		return typeof propValue === 'string' ? propValue.replace(/\\n/g, '\n').replace(/\\r/g, '\r') : propValue;
+		if (propName === 'body') return propValue;
+
+		return typeof propValue === 'string' ? propValue
+			.replace(/\\n/g, '\n')
+			.replace(/\\r/g, '\r')
+			.replace(/\\\n/g, '\\n')
+			.replace(/\\\r/g, '\\r')
+			: propValue;
 	}
 
 	static async serialize(item, shownKeys = null) {