diff --git a/lib/Search/FilterStringParser.php b/lib/Search/FilterStringParser.php
index 3d484e268..ab2afd012 100644
--- a/lib/Search/FilterStringParser.php
+++ b/lib/Search/FilterStringParser.php
@@ -47,11 +47,23 @@ class FilterStringParser {
 		if (empty($filter)) {
 			return $query;
 		}
-		$tokens = preg_split('/\s(?=([^"]*"[^"]*")*[^"]*$)/', $filter);
-		foreach ($tokens as $token) {
+		/**
+		 * Match search tokens that are separated by spaces
+		 * do not match spaces that are surrounded by single or double quotes
+		 * in order to still match quotes
+		 * e.g.:
+		 * - test
+		 * - test:query
+		 * - test:<123
+		 * - test:"1 2 3"
+		 * - test:>="2020-01-01"
+		 */
+		$searchQueryExpression = '/((\w+:(<|<=|>|>=)?)?("([^"\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^"\\\\]*)*)"|\'([^\'\\\\]*(?:\\\\.[^\'\\\\]*)*)\')|[^\s]+)/';
+		preg_match_all($searchQueryExpression, $filter, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0);
+		foreach ($matches as $match) {
+			$token = $match[0];
 			if (!$this->parseFilterToken($query, $token)) {
-				$token = ($token[0] === '"' && $token[mb_strlen($token) - 1] === '"') ? mb_substr($token, 1, -1): $token;
-				$query->addTextToken($token);
+				$query->addTextToken($this->removeQuotes($token));
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -81,27 +93,31 @@ class FilterStringParser {
 						($orEquals ? SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL : 0)
 					);
 				}
-				$value = ($value[0] === '"' && $value[mb_strlen($value) - 1] === '"') ? mb_substr($value, 1, -1): $value;
-
-				$query->addDuedate(new DateQueryParameter('date',	$comparator, $value));
+				$query->addDuedate(new DateQueryParameter('date', $comparator, $this->removeQuotes($value)));
 				return true;
 			case 'title':
-				$query->addTitle(new StringQueryParameter('title', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $param));
+				$query->addTitle(new StringQueryParameter('title', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $this->removeQuotes($param)));
 				return true;
 			case 'description':
-				$query->addDescription(new StringQueryParameter('description', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $param));
+				$query->addDescription(new StringQueryParameter('description', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $this->removeQuotes($param)));
 				return true;
 			case 'list':
-				$query->addStack(new StringQueryParameter('list', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $param));
+				$query->addStack(new StringQueryParameter('list', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $this->removeQuotes($param)));
 				return true;
 			case 'tag':
-				$query->addTag(new StringQueryParameter('tag', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $param));
+				$query->addTag(new StringQueryParameter('tag', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $this->removeQuotes($param)));
 				return true;
 			case 'assigned':
-				$query->addAssigned(new StringQueryParameter('assigned', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $param));
+				$query->addAssigned(new StringQueryParameter('assigned', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, $this->removeQuotes($param)));
 				return true;
 		}
 
 		return false;
 	}
+
+	protected function removeQuotes(string $token): string {
+		$token = ($token[0] === '"' && $token[mb_strlen($token) - 1] === '"') ? mb_substr($token, 1, -1): $token;
+		$token = ($token[0] === '\'' && $token[mb_strlen($token) - 1] === '\'') ? mb_substr($token, 1, -1): $token;
+		return $token;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/unit/Search/FilterStringParserTest.php b/tests/unit/Search/FilterStringParserTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..91c94163c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/Search/FilterStringParserTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+<?php
+/*
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) 2021 Julius Härtl <jus@bitgrid.net>
+ *
+ * @author Julius Härtl <jus@bitgrid.net>
+ *
+ * @license GNU AGPL version 3 or any later version
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 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 Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ */
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace OCA\Deck\Search;
+
+use OCA\Deck\Search\Query\DateQueryParameter;
+use OCA\Deck\Search\Query\SearchQuery;
+use OCA\Deck\Search\Query\StringQueryParameter;
+use OCP\IL10N;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Assert;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+class FilterStringParserTest extends TestCase {
+	private $l10n;
+	private $parser;
+
+	public function setUp(): void {
+		$this->l10n = $this->createMock(IL10N::class);
+		$this->parser = new FilterStringParser($this->l10n);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseEmpty() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse(null);
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseTextTokens() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse('a b c');
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		$expected->addTextToken('a');
+		$expected->addTextToken('b');
+		$expected->addTextToken('c');
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseTextToken() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse('abc');
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		$expected->addTextToken('abc');
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseTextTokenQuotes() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse('a b c "a b c" tag:abc tag:"a b c" tag:\'d e f\'');
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		$expected->addTextToken('a');
+		$expected->addTextToken('b');
+		$expected->addTextToken('c');
+		$expected->addTextToken('a b c');
+		$expected->addTag(new StringQueryParameter('tag', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'abc'));
+		$expected->addTag(new StringQueryParameter('tag', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'a b c'));
+		$expected->addTag(new StringQueryParameter('tag', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'd e f'));
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseTagComparatorNotSupported() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse('tag:<"a tag"');
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		$expected->addTag(new StringQueryParameter('tag', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, '<"a tag"'));
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseTextTokenQuotesSingle() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse('a b c \'a b c\'');
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		$expected->addTextToken('a');
+		$expected->addTextToken('b');
+		$expected->addTextToken('c');
+		$expected->addTextToken('a b c');
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function testParseTextTokenQuotesWrong() {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse('"a b" c"');
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		$expected->addTextToken('a b');
+		$expected->addTextToken('c"');
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+
+	public function dataParseDate() {
+		return [
+			['date:today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'today')], []],
+			['date:>today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_MORE, 'today')], []],
+			['date:>=today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_MORE_EQUAL, 'today')], []],
+			['date:<today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_LESS, 'today')], []],
+			['date:<=today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_LESS_EQUAL, 'today')], []],
+			['date:<+today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_LESS, '+today')], []],
+			['date:<>today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_LESS, '>today')], []],
+			['date:=today', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, '=today')], []],
+			['date:today todo', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'today')], ['todo']],
+			['date:"last day of next month" todo', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'last day of next month')], ['todo']],
+			['date:"last day of next month" "todo task" task', [new DateQueryParameter('date', SearchQuery::COMPARATOR_EQUAL, 'last day of next month')], ['todo task', 'task']],
+		];
+	}
+	/**
+	 * @dataProvider dataParseDate
+	 */
+	public function testParseDate($query, $dates, array $tokens) {
+		$result = $this->parser->parse($query);
+		$expected = new SearchQuery();
+		foreach ($dates as $date) {
+			$expected->addDuedate($date);
+		}
+		foreach ($tokens as $token) {
+			$expected->addTextToken($token);
+		}
+		Assert::assertEquals($expected, $result);
+	}
+}