diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/chat/ChatWidget.ui b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/chat/ChatWidget.ui
index ff0b9bef4..cfb99c205 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/chat/ChatWidget.ui
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/chat/ChatWidget.ui
@@ -259,25 +259,6 @@ border-image: url(:/images/closepressed.png)
          </property>
         </widget>
        </item>
-       <item row="2" column="0" colspan="2">
-        <widget class="QTextEdit" name="chatTextEdit">
-         <property name="sizePolicy">
-          <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="Expanding">
-           <horstretch>0</horstretch>
-           <verstretch>0</verstretch>
-          </sizepolicy>
-         </property>
-         <property name="minimumSize">
-          <size>
-           <width>0</width>
-           <height>30</height>
-          </size>
-         </property>
-         <property name="contextMenuPolicy">
-          <enum>Qt::CustomContextMenu</enum>
-         </property>
-        </widget>
-       </item>
        <item row="0" column="0">
         <widget class="QLabel" name="typingpixmapLabel">
          <property name="minimumSize">
@@ -300,6 +281,25 @@ border-image: url(:/images/closepressed.png)
          </property>
         </widget>
        </item>
+       <item row="2" column="0" colspan="2">
+        <widget class="MimeTextEdit" name="chatTextEdit">
+         <property name="sizePolicy">
+          <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="Expanding">
+           <horstretch>0</horstretch>
+           <verstretch>0</verstretch>
+          </sizepolicy>
+         </property>
+         <property name="minimumSize">
+          <size>
+           <width>0</width>
+           <height>30</height>
+          </size>
+         </property>
+         <property name="contextMenuPolicy">
+          <enum>Qt::CustomContextMenu</enum>
+         </property>
+        </widget>
+       </item>
       </layout>
      </widget>
     </widget>
@@ -725,6 +725,11 @@ border-image: url(:/images/closepressed.png)
    <header location="global">gui/common/HashBox.h</header>
    <container>1</container>
   </customwidget>
+  <customwidget>
+   <class>MimeTextEdit</class>
+   <extends>QTextEdit</extends>
+   <header location="global">gui/common/MimeTextEdit.h</header>
+  </customwidget>
  </customwidgets>
  <resources>
   <include location="../images.qrc"/>
diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/MimeTextEdit.cpp b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/MimeTextEdit.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e6a69dccb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/MimeTextEdit.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/****************************************************************
+ * This file is distributed under the following license:
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2010, RetroShare Team
+ *
+ *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ *  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ *  as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+ *  of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *  GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+ *  Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
+ ****************************************************************/
+
+#include <QMimeData>
+#include <QTextDocumentFragment>
+#include "MimeTextEdit.h"
+#include "util/HandleRichText.h"
+
+MimeTextEdit::MimeTextEdit(QWidget *parent)
+	: QTextEdit(parent)
+{
+}
+
+bool MimeTextEdit::canInsertFromMimeData(const QMimeData* source) const
+{
+#if QT_VERSION >= 0x040700
+	// embedded images are not supported before QT 4.7.0
+//	if (source != NULL) {
+//		if (source->hasImage()) {
+//			return true;
+//		}
+//	}
+#endif
+
+	return QTextEdit::canInsertFromMimeData(source);
+}
+
+void MimeTextEdit::insertFromMimeData(const QMimeData* source)
+{
+#if QT_VERSION >= 0x040700
+	// embedded images are not supported before QT 4.7.0
+//	if (source != NULL) {
+//		if (source->hasImage()) {
+//			// insert as embedded image
+//			QImage image = qvariant_cast<QImage>(source->imageData());
+//			if (image.isNull() == false) {
+//				QString	encodedImage;
+//				if (RsHtml::makeEmbeddedImage(image, encodedImage, 640*480)) {
+//					QTextDocumentFragment fragment = QTextDocumentFragment::fromHtml(encodedImage);
+//					this->textCursor().insertFragment(fragment);
+//					return;
+//				}
+//			}
+//		}
+//	}
+#endif
+
+	return QTextEdit::insertFromMimeData(source);
+}
diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/MimeTextEdit.h b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/MimeTextEdit.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6617ba501
--- /dev/null
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/common/MimeTextEdit.h
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/****************************************************************
+ * This file is distributed under the following license:
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2012, RetroShare Team
+ *
+ *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ *  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ *  as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+ *  of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *  GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ *  Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+ *  Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
+ ****************************************************************/
+
+#ifndef MIMETEXTEDIT_H
+#define MIMETEXTEDIT_H
+
+#include <QTextEdit>
+
+class MimeTextEdit : public QTextEdit
+{
+	Q_OBJECT
+
+public:
+	MimeTextEdit(QWidget *parent = 0);
+
+protected:
+	virtual bool canInsertFromMimeData(const QMimeData* source) const;
+	virtual void insertFromMimeData(const QMimeData* source);
+
+};
+
+#endif // MIMETEXTEDIT_H
diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/msgs/MessageComposer.ui b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/msgs/MessageComposer.ui
index b03abe4c4..ca46e8114 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/gui/msgs/MessageComposer.ui
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/gui/msgs/MessageComposer.ui
@@ -640,7 +640,7 @@
           </widget>
          </item>
          <item row="6" column="0">
-          <widget class="QTextEdit" name="msgText">
+          <widget class="MimeTextEdit" name="msgText">
            <property name="sizePolicy">
             <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="MinimumExpanding">
              <horstretch>4</horstretch>
@@ -950,6 +950,11 @@
    <header location="global">gui/common/HashBox.h</header>
    <container>1</container>
   </customwidget>
+  <customwidget>
+   <class>MimeTextEdit</class>
+   <extends>QTextEdit</extends>
+   <header location="global">gui/common/MimeTextEdit.h</header>
+  </customwidget>
   <customwidget>
    <class>FriendSelectionWidget</class>
    <extends>QWidget</extends>
diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro b/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro
index 4514faaf4..7f154ec01 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro
@@ -378,6 +378,7 @@ HEADERS +=  rshare.h \
             gui/common/LinkTextBrowser.h \
             gui/common/UserNotify.h \
             gui/common/HeaderFrame.h \
+            gui/common/MimeTextEdit.h \
             gui/style/RSStyle.h \
             gui/style/StyleDialog.h \
             gui/MessagesDialog.h \
@@ -639,6 +640,7 @@ SOURCES +=  main.cpp \
             gui/common/LinkTextBrowser.cpp \
             gui/common/UserNotify.cpp \
             gui/common/HeaderFrame.cpp \
+            gui/common/MimeTextEdit.cpp \
             gui/style/RSStyle.cpp \
             gui/style/StyleDialog.cpp \
             gui/settings/rsharesettings.cpp \