diff --git a/doc/src/declarative/whatsnew.qdoc b/doc/src/declarative/whatsnew.qdoc
index 622566ca3c9a2387ce08d09f1ef127b5b1e9d936..2ae46714b6b5cab3b89d964121056bd0412468fa 100644
--- a/doc/src/declarative/whatsnew.qdoc
+++ b/doc/src/declarative/whatsnew.qdoc
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ Text improvements:
  - a \c doLayout method was added to trigger the layout from Javascript.
  - now automatically switch to StyledText instead of RichText if textFormat is set to AutoText.
 
+TextEdit:
+ - the default value of the textFormat property is now PlainText instead of AutoText.
+
 PathView now has a \c currentItem property
 
 ListView and GridView:
diff --git a/examples/declarative/righttoleft/textalignment/textalignment.qml b/examples/declarative/righttoleft/textalignment/textalignment.qml
index 13abca1fb1a4dd1ba8e16dc6bd49016827c726f2..a7af6f1b55e63c27c879eb988eee9ae6642e6c81 100644
--- a/examples/declarative/righttoleft/textalignment/textalignment.qml
+++ b/examples/declarative/righttoleft/textalignment/textalignment.qml
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@ Rectangle {
             font.pixelSize: 24
             cursorVisible: true
             wrapMode: TextEdit.WordWrap
+            textFormat: TextEdit.RichText
             horizontalAlignment: root.horizontalAlignment
             LayoutMirroring.enabled: root.mirror
             Rectangle {
diff --git a/examples/declarative/text/textselection/textselection.qml b/examples/declarative/text/textselection/textselection.qml
index a25d0df621b88ffc2f43969a7a385780d6b1505a..2e8268d8ee438ee91f3522f0d77326119740395c 100644
--- a/examples/declarative/text/textselection/textselection.qml
+++ b/examples/declarative/text/textselection/textselection.qml
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ Rectangle {
                 height: flick.height
                 focus: true
                 wrapMode: TextEdit.Wrap
+                textFormat: TextEdit.RichText
 
                 onCursorRectangleChanged: flick.ensureVisible(cursorRectangle)
 
diff --git a/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit.cpp b/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit.cpp
index 9e76c21fb84cfdc93e32f056662c56d388b7d9eb..107da166eac8b580055fd3f4dd19ed95c02cdd64 100644
--- a/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit.cpp
+++ b/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit.cpp
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ void QQuickTextEdit::setText(const QString &text)
     \o TextEdit.RichText
     \endlist
 
-    The default is TextEdit.AutoText.  If the text format is TextEdit.AutoText the text edit
+    The default is TextEdit.PlainText.  If the text format is TextEdit.AutoText the text edit
     will automatically determine whether the text should be treated as
     rich text.  This determination is made using Qt::mightBeRichText().
 
@@ -1633,6 +1633,7 @@ void QQuickTextEditPrivate::init()
     control = new QQuickTextControl(document, q);
     control->setView(q);
     control->setTextInteractionFlags(Qt::LinksAccessibleByMouse | Qt::TextSelectableByKeyboard | Qt::TextEditable);
+    control->setAcceptRichText(false);
 
     // QQuickTextControl follows the default text color
     // defined by the platform, declarative text
diff --git a/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit_p_p.h b/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit_p_p.h
index 909fd954494a547b4f3cc80e43da84004b8aaf7a..9886abaab1e7be9770b613214a6fa79174d085bf 100644
--- a/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit_p_p.h
+++ b/src/quick/items/qquicktextedit_p_p.h
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public:
       persistentSelection(true), requireImplicitWidth(false), selectByMouse(false), canPaste(false),
       hAlignImplicit(true), rightToLeftText(false), useImageFallback(false),
       textMargin(0.0), lastSelectionStart(0), lastSelectionEnd(0), cursorComponent(0), cursor(0),
-      format(QQuickTextEdit::AutoText), document(0), wrapMode(QQuickTextEdit::NoWrap),
+      format(QQuickTextEdit::PlainText), document(0), wrapMode(QQuickTextEdit::NoWrap),
       mouseSelectionMode(QQuickTextEdit::SelectCharacters),
       lineCount(0), yoff(0), nodeType(NodeIsNull), texture(0)
     {
diff --git a/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/data/horizontalAlignment_RightToLeft.qml b/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/data/horizontalAlignment_RightToLeft.qml
index 4cd92367ece544b44c7cd15d511f6cf55ad97b2a..2163838488c621ba06e92a77f3bba0b496e834f4 100644
--- a/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/data/horizontalAlignment_RightToLeft.qml
+++ b/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/data/horizontalAlignment_RightToLeft.qml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Rectangle {
             anchors.fill: parent
             text: top.text
             focus: true
+            textFormat: TextEdit.AutoText
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/tst_qquicktextedit.cpp b/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/tst_qquicktextedit.cpp
index 9cc904eef393ed1eb902ed7208761d4f9c7f12e2..fc7b0329cb8f199769273e7575e9166aaee00e40 100644
--- a/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/tst_qquicktextedit.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/qtquick2/qquicktextedit/tst_qquicktextedit.cpp
@@ -336,6 +336,71 @@ void tst_qquicktextedit::text()
         QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { text: \"" + richText.at(i) + "\" }";
         QDeclarativeComponent texteditComponent(&engine);
         texteditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
+
+        QQuickTextEdit *textEditObject = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(texteditComponent.create());
+
+        QVERIFY(textEditObject != 0);
+
+        QString expected = richText.at(i);
+        expected.replace(QRegExp("\\\\(.)"),"\\1");
+        QCOMPARE(textEditObject->text(), expected);
+        QCOMPARE(textEditObject->length(), expected.length());
+    }
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < standard.size(); i++)
+    {
+        QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { textFormat: TextEdit.RichText; text: \"" + standard.at(i) + "\" }";
+        QDeclarativeComponent texteditComponent(&engine);
+        texteditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
+        QQuickTextEdit *textEditObject = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(texteditComponent.create());
+
+        QVERIFY(textEditObject != 0);
+
+        QString actual = textEditObject->text();
+        QString expected = standard.at(i);
+        actual.remove(QRegExp(".*<body[^>]*>"));
+        actual.remove(QRegExp("(<[^>]*>)+"));
+        expected.remove("\n");
+        QCOMPARE(actual.simplified(), expected);
+        QCOMPARE(textEditObject->length(), expected.length());
+    }
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < richText.size(); i++)
+    {
+        QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { textFormat: TextEdit.RichText; text: \"" + richText.at(i) + "\" }";
+        QDeclarativeComponent texteditComponent(&engine);
+        texteditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
+        QQuickTextEdit *textEditObject = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(texteditComponent.create());
+
+        QVERIFY(textEditObject != 0);
+        QString actual = textEditObject->text();
+        QString expected = richText.at(i);
+        actual.replace(QRegExp(".*<body[^>]*>"),"");
+        actual.replace(QRegExp("(<[^>]*>)+"),"<>");
+        expected.replace(QRegExp("(<[^>]*>)+"),"<>");
+        QCOMPARE(actual.simplified(),expected.simplified());
+
+        expected.replace("<>", " ");
+        QCOMPARE(textEditObject->length(), expected.simplified().length());
+    }
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < standard.size(); i++)
+    {
+        QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { textFormat: TextEdit.AutoText; text: \"" + standard.at(i) + "\" }";
+        QDeclarativeComponent texteditComponent(&engine);
+        texteditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
+        QQuickTextEdit *textEditObject = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(texteditComponent.create());
+
+        QVERIFY(textEditObject != 0);
+        QCOMPARE(textEditObject->text(), standard.at(i));
+        QCOMPARE(textEditObject->length(), standard.at(i).length());
+    }
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < richText.size(); i++)
+    {
+        QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { textFormat: TextEdit.AutoText; text: \"" + richText.at(i) + "\" }";
+        QDeclarativeComponent texteditComponent(&engine);
+        texteditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
         QQuickTextEdit *textEditObject = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(texteditComponent.create());
 
         QVERIFY(textEditObject != 0);
@@ -409,7 +474,7 @@ void tst_qquicktextedit::width()
 
         int documentWidth = ceil(document.idealWidth());
 
-        QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { text: \"" + richText.at(i) + "\" }";
+        QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { textFormat: TextEdit.RichText; text: \"" + richText.at(i) + "\" }";
         QDeclarativeComponent texteditComponent(&engine);
         texteditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
         QQuickTextEdit *textEditObject = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(texteditComponent.create());
@@ -2467,7 +2532,7 @@ void tst_qquicktextedit::getText()
     QFETCH(int, end);
     QFETCH(QString, expectedText);
 
-    QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { text: \"" + text + "\" }";
+    QString componentStr = "import QtQuick 2.0\nTextEdit { textFormat: TextEdit.AutoText; text: \"" + text + "\" }";
     QDeclarativeComponent textEditComponent(&engine);
     textEditComponent.setData(componentStr.toLatin1(), QUrl());
     QQuickTextEdit *textEdit = qobject_cast<QQuickTextEdit*>(textEditComponent.create());