diff --git a/src/dsp_tools/commands/excel2xml/excel2xml_lib.py b/src/dsp_tools/commands/excel2xml/excel2xml_lib.py
index 9b9d0deff..829026ab0 100644
--- a/src/dsp_tools/commands/excel2xml/excel2xml_lib.py
+++ b/src/dsp_tools/commands/excel2xml/excel2xml_lib.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import copy
 import dataclasses
 import datetime
 import difflib
@@ -1402,29 +1403,38 @@ def make_text_prop(
             # write the text into the tag, without validation
             value_.text = str(val.value)
         else:
-            escaped_text = _escape_reserved_chars(str(val.value))
-            # transform named entities (=character references) to numeric entities, e.g.   ->  
-            num_ent = numeric_entities(escaped_text)
-            pseudo_xml = f"<ignore-this>{num_ent}</ignore-this>"
             try:
-                parsed = etree.fromstring(pseudo_xml)
-                value_.text = parsed.text  # everything before the first child tag
-                value_.extend(list(parsed))  # all (nested) children of the pseudo-xml
-            except etree.XMLSyntaxError as err:
-                msg = (
-                    "The XML tags contained in a richtext property (encoding=xml) must be well-formed. "
-                    "The special characters <, > and & are only allowed to construct a tag. "
-                )
+                value_ = _add_richtext_to_etree_element(str(val.value), value_)
+            except BaseError as err:
                 if calling_resource:
-                    msg += f"The error occurred in resource {calling_resource}, property {name}"
-                msg += f"\nOriginal error message: {err.msg}"
-                msg += f"\nEventual line/column numbers are relative to this text: {pseudo_xml}"
-                raise BaseError(msg) from None
+                    err.message += f"The error occurred in resource {calling_resource}, property {name}"
+                raise err from None
         prop_.append(value_)
 
     return prop_
 
 
+def _add_richtext_to_etree_element(richtext: str, element: etree._Element) -> etree._Element:
+    new_element = copy.deepcopy(element)
+    escaped_text = _escape_reserved_chars(richtext)
+    # transform named entities (=character references) to numeric entities, e.g. &nbsp; -> &#160;
+    num_ent = numeric_entities(escaped_text)
+    pseudo_xml = f"<ignore-this>{num_ent}</ignore-this>"
+    try:
+        parsed = etree.fromstring(pseudo_xml)
+    except etree.XMLSyntaxError as err:
+        msg = (
+            "The XML tags contained in a richtext property (encoding=xml) must be well-formed. "
+            "The special characters <, > and & are only allowed to construct a tag. "
+        )
+        msg += f"\nOriginal error message: {err.msg}"
+        msg += f"\nEventual line/column numbers are relative to this text: {pseudo_xml}"
+        raise BaseError(msg) from None
+    new_element.text = parsed.text  # everything before the first child tag
+    new_element.extend(list(parsed))  # all (nested) children of the pseudo-xml
+    return new_element
+
+
 def _escape_reserved_chars(text: str) -> str:
     """
     From richtext strings (encoding="xml"), escape the reserved characters <, > and &,
@@ -1834,7 +1844,7 @@ def make_video_segment(  # noqa: D417 (undocumented-param)
     Creates an empty `<video-segment>` element, with the attributes as specified by the arguments.
 
     Args:
-        The arguments correspond 1:1 to the attributes of the <video-segment> element.
+        The arguments correspond 1:1 to the attributes of the `<video-segment>` element.
 
     Returns:
         The video-segment element, without any children, but with the attributes
diff --git a/src/dsp_tools/commands/xmlupload/models/deserialise/deserialise_value.py b/src/dsp_tools/commands/xmlupload/models/deserialise/deserialise_value.py
index 1c7ae00c7..617448541 100644
--- a/src/dsp_tools/commands/xmlupload/models/deserialise/deserialise_value.py
+++ b/src/dsp_tools/commands/xmlupload/models/deserialise/deserialise_value.py
@@ -38,16 +38,13 @@ def __init__(self, node: etree._Element, valtype: str, default_ontology: str) ->
             XmlUploadError: If an upload fails
         """
         # get the property name which is in format namespace:propertyname, p.ex. rosetta:hasName
-        tmp_prop_name = node.attrib["name"].split(":")
-        if len(tmp_prop_name) > 1:
-            if tmp_prop_name[0]:
-                self.name = node.attrib["name"]
-            else:
-                # replace an empty namespace with the default ontology name
-                self.name = f"{default_ontology}:{tmp_prop_name[1]}"
+        if ":" not in node.attrib["name"]:
+            self.name = f"knora-api:{node.attrib['name']}"
         else:
-            self.name = f"knora-api:{tmp_prop_name[0]}"
-        listname = node.attrib.get("list")  # safe the list name if given (only for lists)
+            prefix, name = node.attrib["name"].split(":")
+            # replace an empty namespace with the default ontology name
+            self.name = node.attrib["name"] if prefix else f"{default_ontology}:{name}"
+        listname = node.attrib.get("list")  # save the list name if given (only for lists)
         self.valtype = valtype
         self.values = []