diff --git a/data/widgets/options.xml b/data/widgets/options.xml
index 1dbae829c..eea4d2f2d 100644
--- a/data/widgets/options.xml
+++ b/data/widgets/options.xml
@@ -418,10 +418,10 @@
                  pref="scripts.show_run_script_alert" />
 	  <hbox>
             <label text="@.image_format_alerts" />
-            <check id="gif_options_alert" text="gif" pref="gif.show_alert" />
-            <check id="jpeg_options_alert" text="jpeg" pref="jpeg.show_alert" />
-            <check id="svg_options_alert" text="svg" pref="svg.show_alert" />
-            <check id="tga_options_alert" text="tga" pref="tga.show_alert" />
+            <check id="gif_options_alert" text="!gif" pref="gif.show_alert" />
+            <check id="jpeg_options_alert" text="!jpeg" pref="jpeg.show_alert" />
+            <check id="svg_options_alert" text="!svg" pref="svg.show_alert" />
+            <check id="tga_options_alert" text="!tga" pref="tga.show_alert" />
 	  </hbox>
           <separator horizontal="true" />
 	  <hbox>
diff --git a/src/app/i18n/xml_translator.cpp b/src/app/i18n/xml_translator.cpp
index 487d26aa5..f724567fa 100644
--- a/src/app/i18n/xml_translator.cpp
+++ b/src/app/i18n/xml_translator.cpp
@@ -21,12 +21,14 @@ std::string XmlTranslator::operator()(const TiXmlElement* elem,
   const char* value = elem->Attribute(attrName);
   if (!value)
     return std::string();
-  else if (value[0] == '@') {
+  else if (value[0] == '@') {   // Translate string
     if (value[1] == '.')
       return Strings::instance()->translate((m_stringIdPrefix + (value+1)).c_str());
     else
       return Strings::instance()->translate(value+1);
   }
+  else if (value[0] == '!')     // Raw string
+    return std::string(value+1);
   else
     return std::string(value);
 }
diff --git a/src/gen/check_strings.cpp b/src/gen/check_strings.cpp
index 1dbd5dfd0..50d91dc99 100644
--- a/src/gen/check_strings.cpp
+++ b/src/gen/check_strings.cpp
@@ -210,7 +210,8 @@ public:
         }
       }
     }
-    else if (has_alpha_char(text) &&
+    else if (text[0] != '!' &&
+             has_alpha_char(text) &&
              !is_email(text)) {
       std::cerr << elem->GetDocument()->Value() << ":"
                 << elem->Row() << ":"