diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java
index 58900b9af..18cba2080 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/SeparatorBasedImporter.java
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+
 import org.json.JSONObject;
 
 import au.com.bytecode.opencsv.CSVParser;
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ public class SeparatorBasedImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
         
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "guessCellValueTypes", false);
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "processQuotes", true);
+        JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "quoteCharacter", String.valueOf(CSVParser.DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER));
 
         return options;
     }
@@ -98,9 +101,15 @@ public class SeparatorBasedImporter extends TabularImportingParserBase {
         boolean processQuotes = JSONUtilities.getBoolean(options, "processQuotes", true);
         boolean strictQuotes = JSONUtilities.getBoolean(options, "strictQuotes", false);
         
+        Character quote = CSVParser.DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER;
+        String quoteCharacter = JSONUtilities.getString(options, "quoteCharacter", null);
+        if (quoteCharacter != null && quoteCharacter.trim().length() == 1) {
+            quote = quoteCharacter.trim().charAt(0);
+        }
+        
         final CSVParser parser = new CSVParser(
             sep,
-            CSVParser.DEFAULT_QUOTE_CHARACTER,
+            quote,
             (char) 0, // we don't want escape processing
             strictQuotes,
             CSVParser.DEFAULT_IGNORE_LEADING_WHITESPACE,
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java
index ba9145541..5d714ad98 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/importers/TsvCsvImporterTests.java
@@ -487,6 +487,33 @@ public class TsvCsvImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(1).value, "data2");
     }
 
+
+    @Test(dataProvider = "CSV-TSV-AutoDetermine")
+    public void customQuoteCharacter(String sep){
+        //create input to test with
+        String inputSeparator =  sep == null ? "\t" : sep;
+        String input = "'col1'" + inputSeparator + "'col2'" + inputSeparator + "'col3'\n" +
+                       "'data1'" + inputSeparator + "'data2'" + inputSeparator + "'data3'";
+        
+        
+        try {
+            prepareOptions(sep, -1, 0, 0, 1, false, false, "'");
+            parseOneFile(SUT, new StringReader(input));
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Assert.fail("Exception during file parse",e);
+        }
+        
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.size(), 3);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.get(0).getName(), "col1");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.get(1).getName(), "col2");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.columnModel.columns.get(2).getName(), "col3");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.size(), 1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.size(), 3);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(0).value, "data1");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(1).value, "data2");
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.get(0).cells.get(2).value, "data3");
+    }
+    
     //---------------------read tests------------------------
     @Test
     public void readCsvWithProperties() {
@@ -543,11 +570,18 @@ public class TsvCsvImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         };
     }
     
+    protected void prepareOptions(
+            String sep, int limit, int skip, int ignoreLines,
+            int headerLines, boolean guessValueType, boolean ignoreQuotes) {
+        prepareOptions(sep, limit, skip, ignoreLines, headerLines, guessValueType, ignoreQuotes, "\"");
+    }
+
     protected void prepareOptions(
         String sep, int limit, int skip, int ignoreLines,
-        int headerLines, boolean guessValueType, boolean ignoreQuotes) {
+        int headerLines, boolean guessValueType, boolean ignoreQuotes, String quoteCharacter) {
         
         whenGetStringOption("separator", options, sep);
+        whenGetStringOption("quoteCharacter", options, quoteCharacter);
         whenGetIntegerOption("limit", options, limit);
         whenGetIntegerOption("skipDataLines", options, skip);
         whenGetIntegerOption("ignoreLines", options, ignoreLines);
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/langs/translation-en.json b/main/webapp/modules/core/langs/translation-en.json
index b04e73197..98047ee75 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/langs/translation-en.json
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/langs/translation-en.json
@@ -153,7 +153,8 @@
         "tabs": "tabs (TSV)",
         "custom": "custom",
         "escape": "Escape special characters with \\",
-        "quotation-mark": "Quotation marks are used<br/>to enclose cells containing<br/>column separators",
+        "use-quote": "Use character",
+        "quote-delimits-cells": "to enclose cells containing column separators",
         "click-xml": "Click on the first XML element corresponding to the first record to load."
     },
     "core-dialogs": {
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.html b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.html
index d615c83b2..1add776a3 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.html
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.html
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@
         <td><label for="$limit" id="or-import-load"></label></td>
         <td><input bind="limitInput" type="text" class="lightweight" size="2" value="0" />
           <label for="$limit" id="or-import-rows2"></label></td></tr>
+
+      <tr><td width="1%"><input type="checkbox" bind="processQuoteMarksCheckbox" id="$quotes" /></td>
+        <td><label for="$quotes" id="or-import-quote"></label></td>
+        <td><input bind="quoteCharacterInput" type="text" class="lightweight" maxlength="1" size="2" value="&quot;" id="$quoteCharacter" />
+          <label for="$quoteCharacter" id="or-import-quote-character"></label></td></tr>
+
     </table></div></td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
@@ -54,9 +60,7 @@
     <td><div class="grid-layout layout-tightest"><table>
       <tr><td width="1%"><input type="checkbox" bind="guessCellValueTypesCheckbox" id="$guess" /></td>
         <td><label for="$guess" id="or-import-parseCell"></label></td></tr>
-      <tr><td width="1%"><input type="checkbox" bind="processQuoteMarksCheckbox" id="$quotes" /></td>
-        <td><label for="$quotes" id="or-import-quote"></label></td></tr>
-    </table></div></td>
+         </table></div></td>
     
     <td><div class="grid-layout layout-tightest"><table>
       <tr><td width="1%"><input type="checkbox" bind="storeBlankRowsCheckbox" id="$store-blank-rows" /></td>
@@ -69,4 +73,4 @@
         <td><label for="$include-file-sources" id="or-import-source"></label></td></tr>
     </table></div></td>
   </tr>
-</table></div>
\ No newline at end of file
+</table></div>
diff --git a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.js b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.js
index a8c1a6ea8..0cc8637ee 100644
--- a/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.js
+++ b/main/webapp/modules/core/scripts/index/parser-interfaces/separator-based-parser-ui.js
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ Refine.SeparatorBasedParserUI.prototype.getOptions = function() {
 
   options.guessCellValueTypes = this._optionContainerElmts.guessCellValueTypesCheckbox[0].checked;
   options.processQuotes = this._optionContainerElmts.processQuoteMarksCheckbox[0].checked;
+  if (options.processQuotes) {
+    options.quoteCharacter = this._optionContainerElmts.quoteCharacterInput[0].value;
+  }
 
   options.storeBlankCellsAsNulls = this._optionContainerElmts.storeBlankCellsAsNullsCheckbox[0].checked;
   options.includeFileSources = this._optionContainerElmts.includeFileSourcesCheckbox[0].checked;
@@ -143,7 +146,8 @@ Refine.SeparatorBasedParserUI.prototype._initialize = function() {
   $('#or-import-load').text($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["load-at-most"]);
   $('#or-import-rows2').text($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["rows-data"]);
   $('#or-import-parseCell').html($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["parse-cell"]);
-  $('#or-import-quote').html($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["quotation-mark"]);
+  $('#or-import-quote').html($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["use-quote"]);
+  $('#or-import-quote-character').html($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["quote-delimits-cells"]);
   $('#or-import-blank').text($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["store-blank"]);
   $('#or-import-null').text($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["store-nulls"]);
   $('#or-import-source').html($.i18n._('core-index-parser')["store-source"]);
@@ -187,6 +191,7 @@ Refine.SeparatorBasedParserUI.prototype._initialize = function() {
   }
   if (this._config.processQuotes) {
     this._optionContainerElmts.processQuoteMarksCheckbox.prop("checked", true);
+    this._optionContainerElmts.quoteCharacterInput[0].value = this._config.quoteCharacter;
   }
 
   if (this._config.storeBlankCellsAsNulls) {