diff --git a/src/App/PropertyUnits.cpp b/src/App/PropertyUnits.cpp
index 6a4ca6d942..858735c41d 100644
--- a/src/App/PropertyUnits.cpp
+++ b/src/App/PropertyUnits.cpp
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ void PropertyQuantity::setPyObject(PyObject *value)
 	Base::Quantity quant;
 
     if (PyString_Check(value)) 
-		quant = Quantity::parse(PyString_AsString(value));
+        quant = Quantity::parse(QString::fromLatin1(PyString_AsString(value)));
     else if (PyFloat_Check(value))
         quant = Quantity(PyFloat_AsDouble(value),_Unit);
     else if (PyInt_Check(value))
diff --git a/src/Base/Quantity.cpp b/src/Base/Quantity.cpp
index 7091a3b0e7..8bdc1b5661 100644
--- a/src/Base/Quantity.cpp
+++ b/src/Base/Quantity.cpp
@@ -284,10 +284,11 @@ int QuantityLexer(void);
 #endif // DOXYGEN_SHOULD_SKIP_THIS
 }
 
-Quantity Quantity::parse(const char* buffer)
+Quantity Quantity::parse(const QString &string)
 {
+    
     // parse from buffer
-    QuantityParser::YY_BUFFER_STATE my_string_buffer = QuantityParser::yy_scan_string (buffer);
+    QuantityParser::YY_BUFFER_STATE my_string_buffer = QuantityParser::yy_scan_string (string.toUtf8().data());
     // set the global return variables
     QuantResult = Quantity(DOUBLE_MIN);
     // run the parser
diff --git a/src/Base/Quantity.h b/src/Base/Quantity.h
index a9666206e6..b99abefd78 100644
--- a/src/Base/Quantity.h
+++ b/src/Base/Quantity.h
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public:
     //double getUserPrefered(QString &unitString) const;
     //std::string getUserString(void)const;
 
-    static Quantity parse(const char* buffer);
+    static Quantity parse(const QString &string);
 
     /// returns the unit of the quantity
 	const Unit & getUnit(void) const{return _Unit;}
diff --git a/src/Base/QuantityParser.l b/src/Base/QuantityParser.l
index c67b9fee81..fd1f9b5dd3 100644
--- a/src/Base/QuantityParser.l
+++ b/src/Base/QuantityParser.l
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ ID       [a-z][a-z0-9]*
 
  "nm"       yylval = Quantity::NanoMetre;           return UNIT; // nano meter
  "ym"       yylval = Quantity::MicroMetre;          return UNIT; // micro meter
+ "\xC2\xB5m"yylval = Quantity::MicroMetre;          return UNIT; // micro meter    (greek micro in UTF8)
  "mm"       yylval = Quantity::MilliMetre;          return UNIT; // milli meter    (internal standard length)
  "cm"       yylval = Quantity::CentiMetre;          return UNIT; // centi meter
  "dm"       yylval = Quantity::DeciMetre;           return UNIT; // deci meter
diff --git a/src/Base/QuantityPyImp.cpp b/src/Base/QuantityPyImp.cpp
index 5e5a9f9dae..d848aff1dc 100644
--- a/src/Base/QuantityPyImp.cpp
+++ b/src/Base/QuantityPyImp.cpp
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ int QuantityPy::PyInit(PyObject* args, PyObject* kwd)
     const char* string;
     if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args,"s", &string)) {
         try {
-            *self = Quantity::parse(string);
+            *self = Quantity::parse(QString::fromLatin1(string));
         }catch(const Base::Exception& e) {
             PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ImportError, e.what());
             return-1;
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ PyObject* QuantityPy::getValueAs(PyObject *args)
             const char* string;
             if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args,"s", &string)) {
                     
-                quant = Quantity::parse(string);
+                quant = Quantity::parse(QString::fromLatin1(string));
                 
             }else{
                 PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "Either three floats, tuple or Vector expected");
diff --git a/src/Base/UnitPyImp.cpp b/src/Base/UnitPyImp.cpp
index ff3b6d7d1a..9567bd3945 100644
--- a/src/Base/UnitPyImp.cpp
+++ b/src/Base/UnitPyImp.cpp
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ int UnitPy::PyInit(PyObject* args, PyObject* kwd)
     const char* string;
     if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args,"s", &string)) {
             
-        *self = Quantity::parse(string).getUnit();
+        *self = Quantity::parse(QString::fromLatin1(string)).getUnit();
         return 0;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Base/UnitsApiPy.cpp b/src/Base/UnitsApiPy.cpp
index da761a5e26..5d1a8b5b92 100644
--- a/src/Base/UnitsApiPy.cpp
+++ b/src/Base/UnitsApiPy.cpp
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ PyObject* UnitsApi::sParseQuantity(PyObject * /*self*/, PyObject *args,PyObject
 
 	Quantity rtn;
     try {
-		rtn = Quantity::parse(pstr);
+        rtn = Quantity::parse(QString::fromLatin1(pstr));
 	}
     catch (const Base::Exception&) {
         PyErr_Format(PyExc_IOError, "invalid unit expression \n");
diff --git a/src/Gui/InputField.cpp b/src/Gui/InputField.cpp
index e74a15efd4..d45429bbe2 100644
--- a/src/Gui/InputField.cpp
+++ b/src/Gui/InputField.cpp
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ void InputField::newInput(const QString & text)
 {
     Quantity res;
     try{
-        res = Quantity::parse(text.toAscii());
+        res = Quantity::parse(text);
     }catch(Base::Exception &e){
         ErrorText = e.what();
         this->setToolTip(QString::fromAscii(ErrorText.c_str()));
diff --git a/src/Mod/Sketcher/Gui/TaskSketcherGeneral.cpp b/src/Mod/Sketcher/Gui/TaskSketcherGeneral.cpp
index 68caaef6ca..879e4bbe47 100644
--- a/src/Mod/Sketcher/Gui/TaskSketcherGeneral.cpp
+++ b/src/Mod/Sketcher/Gui/TaskSketcherGeneral.cpp
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ void TaskSketcherGeneral::toggleGridView(bool on)
 
 void TaskSketcherGeneral::setGridSize(const QString& val)
 {
-    float gridSize = (float) Base::Quantity::parse(val.toAscii()).getValue();
+    float gridSize = (float) Base::Quantity::parse(val).getValue();
     if (gridSize > 0)
         sketchView->GridSize.setValue(gridSize);
 }