diff --git a/src/mu-str.c b/src/mu-str.c
index 950a9f8d..bf0e597b 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.c
+++ b/src/mu-str.c
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ mu_str_from_list (const GSList *lst, char sepa)
 }
 
 GSList*
-mu_str_to_list (const char *str, char sepa)
+mu_str_to_list (const char *str, char sepa, gboolean strip)
 {
 	GSList *lst;
 	gchar **strs, **cur;
@@ -413,8 +413,14 @@ mu_str_to_list (const char *str, char sepa)
 	sep[0] = sepa;
 	strs = g_strsplit (str, sep, -1);
 
-	for (cur = strs, lst = NULL; cur && *cur; ++cur)
-		lst = g_slist_prepend (lst, g_strdup(*cur));
+	for (cur = strs, lst = NULL; cur && *cur; ++cur) {
+		char *elm;
+		elm = g_strdup(*cur);
+		if (strip)
+			elm = g_strstrip (elm);
+		
+		lst = g_slist_prepend (lst, elm);
+	}
 		
 	lst = g_slist_reverse (lst);
 	g_strfreev (strs);
diff --git a/src/mu-str.h b/src/mu-str.h
index 175cb51b..98bc1828 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.h
+++ b/src/mu-str.h
@@ -277,14 +277,15 @@ char* mu_str_from_list (const GSList *lst, char sepa);
 
 
 /**
- * convert a #sepa-separated list of strings in to a GSList
+ * convert a #se0pa-separated list of strings in to a GSList
  * 
  * @param str a #sepa-separated list of strings
  * @param the separator character
+ * @param remove leading/trailing whitespace from the string
  *
  * @return a newly allocated GSList (free with mu_str_free_list)
  */
-GSList* mu_str_to_list (const char *str, char sepa);
+GSList* mu_str_to_list (const char *str, char sepa, gboolean strip);
 
 
 /**