diff --git a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectRootDocManager.coffee b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectRootDocManager.coffee
index b331c38aa6..973d2b2ed6 100644
--- a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectRootDocManager.coffee
+++ b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectRootDocManager.coffee
@@ -35,11 +35,15 @@ module.exports = ProjectRootDocManager =
 	setRootDocFromName: (project_id, rootDocName, callback = (error) ->) ->
 		ProjectEntityHandler.getAllDocPathsFromProjectById project_id, (error, docPaths) ->
 			return callback(error) if error?
+			# strip off leading and trailing quotes from rootDocName
+			rootDocName = rootDocName.replace(/^\'|\'$/g,"")
+			# prepend a slash for the root folder if not present
+			rootDocName = "/#{rootDocName}" if rootDocName[0] isnt '/'
 			# find the root doc from the filename
 			root_doc_id = null
 			for doc_id, path of docPaths
 				# docpaths have a leading / so allow matching "folder/filename" and "/folder/filename"
-				if path == rootDocName or path == "/#{rootDocName}"
+				if path == rootDocName
 					root_doc_id = doc_id
 			# try a basename match if there was no match 
 			if !root_doc_id
diff --git a/services/web/test/unit/coffee/Project/ProjectRootDocManagerTests.coffee b/services/web/test/unit/coffee/Project/ProjectRootDocManagerTests.coffee
index d65b92043a..47c2973e9f 100644
--- a/services/web/test/unit/coffee/Project/ProjectRootDocManagerTests.coffee
+++ b/services/web/test/unit/coffee/Project/ProjectRootDocManagerTests.coffee
@@ -133,6 +133,25 @@ describe 'ProjectRootDocManager', ->
 				@ProjectEntityUpdateHandler.setRootDoc.calledWith(@project_id, "doc-id-3")
 					.should.equal true
 
+		describe "when there is a suitable root doc but the filename is in quotes", ->
+			beforeEach (done)->
+				@docPaths =
+					"doc-id-1": "/chapter1.tex"
+					"doc-id-2": "/main.tex"
+					"doc-id-3": "/nested/chapter1a.tex"
+					"doc-id-4": "/nested/chapter1b.tex"
+				@ProjectEntityHandler.getAllDocPathsFromProjectById = sinon.stub().callsArgWith(1, null, @docPaths)
+				@ProjectEntityUpdateHandler.setRootDoc = sinon.stub().callsArgWith(2)
+				@ProjectRootDocManager.setRootDocFromName @project_id, "'main.tex'", done
+
+			it "should check the docs of the project", ->
+				@ProjectEntityHandler.getAllDocPathsFromProjectById.calledWith(@project_id)
+					.should.equal true
+
+			it "should set the root doc to main.tex", ->
+				@ProjectEntityUpdateHandler.setRootDoc.calledWith(@project_id, "doc-id-2")
+					.should.equal true
+
 		describe "when there is no suitable root doc", ->
 			beforeEach (done)->
 				@docPaths =