diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f5200d4..56af073 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,27 +3,29 @@
 # easy-i18n Changelog
 
 ## [Unreleased]
+### Fixed
+- Character unescaping for '.properties' files
 
 ## [2.0.0]
-### BREAKING CHANGES
-- Translation file pattern matcher needs to be updated to <kbd>\*.*</kbd> or equivalent wildcard rule 
-- I18n key nesting will now escape every delimiter within a section layer (can be inverted via option)
+### BREAKING CHANGES
+- Translation file pattern matcher needs to be updated to <kbd>\*.*</kbd> or equivalent wildcard rule 
+- I18n key nesting will now escape every delimiter within a section layer (can be inverted via option)
 
-### Added
-- Filter functionality for translations with missing values
-- Full keyboard shortcut support inside tool-window
-- Support for dots within key nodes in YAML files
+### Added
+- Filter functionality for translations with missing values
+- Full keyboard shortcut support inside tool-window
+- Support for dots within key nodes in YAML files
 
-### Changed
-- Improve marking nodes with missing values in tree-view
-- Key completion inside editor suggests all keys without any logic
-- Translation file pattern uses wildcard matcher instead of regex
-- Improve exception handling on IO operations
-- Update Qodana to latest version
-- Allow tool-window rendering in dumb mode
+### Changed
+- Improve marking nodes with missing values in tree-view
+- Key completion inside editor suggests all keys without any logic
+- Translation file pattern uses wildcard matcher instead of regex
+- Improve exception handling on IO operations
+- Update Qodana to latest version
+- Allow tool-window rendering in dumb mode
 
-### Fixed
-- First row inside table view is not editable
+### Fixed
+- First row inside table view is not editable
 - Key focus within tree or table view after translation change
 
 ## [1.7.1]
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/marhali/easyi18n/io/properties/PropertiesMapper.java b/src/main/java/de/marhali/easyi18n/io/properties/PropertiesMapper.java
index 8ed0a8b..957cd67 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/marhali/easyi18n/io/properties/PropertiesMapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/marhali/easyi18n/io/properties/PropertiesMapper.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import de.marhali.easyi18n.model.Translation;
 import de.marhali.easyi18n.model.TranslationData;
 import de.marhali.easyi18n.util.StringUtil;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringEscapeUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang.math.NumberUtils;
 
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ public class PropertiesMapper {
                 } else if(NumberUtils.isNumber(content)) {
                     properties.put(simpleKey, NumberUtils.createNumber(content));
                 } else {
-                    properties.put(simpleKey, content);
+                    properties.put(simpleKey, StringEscapeUtils.unescapeJava(content));
                 }
             }
         }