I think I'm hitting another bug with highlights: See this following example: %%% start example \setupbackend[export=yes] \definehighlight[emph][style=italic] \starttext \startparagraph Published on \dontleavehmode\emph{Dissonanze} vol. I \stopparagraph \startparagraph Published on vol. I Published on vol. I Published on vol. I Published on \dontleavehmode\emph{Dissonanze} vol. I \stopparagraph \stoptext %%% stop example Output: <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes' ?> <!-- input filename : prova --> <!-- processing date : Mon Nov 7 09:32:00 2011 --> <!-- context version : 2011.11.04 14:15 --> <!-- exporter version : 0.30 --> <document language="en" file="prova" date="Mon Nov 7 09:32:00 2011" context="2011.11.04 14:15" version="0.30" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <paragraph>Published on <highlight detail="emph">Dissonanze</highlight> vol. I</paragraph> <paragraph>Published on vol. I Published on vol. I Published on vol. I Published on <highlight detail="emph">Dissonanze</highlight>vol. I</paragraph> </document> As you can see, in the first case the space after "Dissonanze" is preserved, while in the second paragraph the space is eaten and there's no way to add it. The only thing that changes is the lenght of the paragraph. (Oh, and thanks for the previous reply). Best wishes -- Marco