diff --git a/src/mu-store.cc b/src/mu-store.cc
index 376022d6..c53a82fc 100644
--- a/src/mu-store.cc
+++ b/src/mu-store.cc
@@ -441,15 +441,12 @@ each_contact_info (MuMsgContact *contact, MsgDoc *data)
 	}
 
 	/* don't normalize e-mail address, but do lowercase it */
-	if (contact->address && strlen (contact->address)) {
-		char *lower = g_utf8_strdown (contact->address, -1);
-
-		g_strdelimit (lower, "@.", '_'); /* FIXME */
-
+	if (contact->address && contact->address[0] != '\0') {
+		char *escaped =
+			mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (contact->address);
 		data->_doc->add_term
-			(std::string (*pfxp + lower, 0,
-				      MU_STORE_MAX_TERM_LENGTH));
-		g_free (lower);
+			(std::string (*pfxp + escaped, 0, MU_STORE_MAX_TERM_LENGTH));
+		g_free (escaped);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -618,5 +615,3 @@ mu_store_foreach (MuStore *self,
 
 	return MU_OK;
 }
-
-
diff --git a/src/mu-str.c b/src/mu-str.c
index b3110a12..e110b8e3 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.c
+++ b/src/mu-str.c
@@ -299,6 +299,7 @@ mu_str_date_parse_hdwmy (const char* str)
 }
 
 
+
 char*
 mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query)
 {
@@ -334,3 +335,10 @@ mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query)
 	return query;
 }
 
+char*
+mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query)
+{
+	g_return_val_if_fail (query, NULL);
+
+	return mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (g_strdup(query));
+}
diff --git a/src/mu-str.h b/src/mu-str.h
index 2c823bc9..009b386c 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.h
+++ b/src/mu-str.h
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ char* mu_str_normalize (const char *str, gboolean downcase)
  * optionally, downcase it. this happen by changing the string; if
  * that is not desired, use mu_str_normalize. Works for accented chars
  * in Unicode Blocks 'Latin-1 Supplement' and 'Latin Extended-A'
+ *
  * 
  * @param str a valid utf8 string or NULL
  * @param downcase if TRUE, convert the string to lowercase
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@ char* mu_str_normalize_in_place (char *str, gboolean downcase);
  * replace ':' with '_', if it's not following a xapian-prefix (such
  * as 'subject:', 't:' etc, as defined in mu-msg-fields.[ch]).
  * changing is done in-place (by changing the argument string). in
- * any, case, the string will be downcased.
+ * any case, the string will be downcased.
  *
  * works for ascii strings, like e-mail addresses and message-id.
  * 
@@ -175,6 +176,20 @@ char* mu_str_normalize_in_place (char *str, gboolean downcase);
  */
 char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query);
 
+/**
+ * escape the string for use with xapian matching. in practice, if the
+ * string contains an '@', replace '@', single-'.' with '_'. Also,
+ * replace ':' with '_', if it's not following a xapian-prefix (such
+ * as 'subject:', 't:' etc, as defined in mu-msg-fields.[ch]).
+ *
+ * works for ascii strings, like e-mail addresses and message-id.
+ * 
+ * @param query a query string
+ * 
+ * @return the escaped string (free with g_free) or NULL in case of error
+ */
+char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query);
+
 /**
  * 
  * parse strings like 1h, 3w, 2m to mean '1 hour before now', '3 weeks