diff --git a/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/03_Forms/03_Form_Templates.md b/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/03_Forms/03_Form_Templates.md
index 7a4bf0c9f..64fae0889 100644
--- a/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/03_Forms/03_Form_Templates.md
+++ b/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/03_Forms/03_Form_Templates.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ can be rendered out using custom templates using `setTemplate`.
 	$field = new TextField(..);
 	$field->setTemplate('MyCustomTextField');
 
-Both `MyCustomTemplate.ss` and `MyCustomTextField.ss` should be located in **mysite/templates/Includes/**
+Both `MyCustomTemplate.ss` and `MyCustomTextField.ss` should be located in **mysite/templates/forms/** or the same directory as the core.
 
 <div class="notice" markdown="1">
 It's recommended to copy the contents of the template you're going to replace and use that as a start. For instance, if
@@ -66,4 +66,4 @@ well as the available syntax, see the [Templates](../templates) documentation.
 ## API Documentation
 
 * [api:Form]
-* [api:FormField]
\ No newline at end of file
+* [api:FormField]
diff --git a/forms/Form.php b/forms/Form.php
index 9d4385fba..eee8f1b86 100644
--- a/forms/Form.php
+++ b/forms/Form.php
@@ -1404,6 +1404,7 @@ class Form extends RequestHandler {
 		if(is_object($data)) $this->record = $data;
 
 		// dont include fields without data
+		/** @var FormField[] $dataFields */
 		$dataFields = $this->Fields()->dataFields();
 		if($dataFields) foreach($dataFields as $field) {
 			$name = $field->getName();
@@ -1436,15 +1437,31 @@ class Form extends RequestHandler {
 					$val = $data[$name];
 				}
 				// If field is in array-notation we need to access nested data
-				else if(strpos($name,'[')) {
-					// First encode data using PHP's method of converting nested arrays to form data
-					$flatData = urldecode(http_build_query($data));
-					// Then pull the value out from that flattened string
-					preg_match('/' . addcslashes($name,'[]') . '=([^&]*)/', $flatData, $matches);
+				else if(preg_match_all('/(.*)\[(.*)\]/U', $name, $matches)) {
+					//discard first match which is just the whole string
+					array_shift($matches);
 
-					if (isset($matches[1])) {
-						$exists = true;
-						$val = $matches[1];
+					$keys = array_pop($matches);
+					$name = array_shift($matches);
+					$name = array_shift($name);
+
+					if (array_key_exists($name, $data)) {
+						$tmpData = &$data[$name];
+						// drill down into the data array looking for the corresponding value
+						foreach ($keys as $arrayKey) {
+							if ($arrayKey !== '') {
+								$tmpData = &$tmpData[$arrayKey];
+							} else {
+								//empty square brackets means new array
+								if (is_array($tmpData)) {
+									$tmpData = array_shift($tmpData);
+								}
+							}
+						}
+						if ($tmpData) {
+							$val = $tmpData;
+							$exists = true;
+						}
 					}
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/tests/forms/FormTest.php b/tests/forms/FormTest.php
index 3ec2a9490..910bbc0ce 100644
--- a/tests/forms/FormTest.php
+++ b/tests/forms/FormTest.php
@@ -58,10 +58,10 @@ class FormTest extends FunctionalTest {
 		$form->loadDataFrom($requestData);
 
 		$fields = $form->Fields();
-		$this->assertEquals($fields->fieldByName('key1')->Value(), 'val1');
-		$this->assertEquals($fields->fieldByName('namespace[key2]')->Value(), 'val2');
-		$this->assertEquals($fields->fieldByName('namespace[key3][key4]')->Value(), 'val4');
-		$this->assertEquals($fields->fieldByName('othernamespace[key5][key6][key7]')->Value(), 'val7');
+		$this->assertEquals('val1', $fields->fieldByName('key1')->Value());
+		$this->assertEquals('val2', $fields->fieldByName('namespace[key2]')->Value());
+		$this->assertEquals('val4', $fields->fieldByName('namespace[key3][key4]')->Value());
+		$this->assertEquals('val7', $fields->fieldByName('othernamespace[key5][key6][key7]')->Value());
 	}
 
 	public function testSubmitReadonlyFields() {
diff --git a/tests/forms/HtmlEditorFieldTest.php b/tests/forms/HtmlEditorFieldTest.php
index 726666cfd..6804334ec 100644
--- a/tests/forms/HtmlEditorFieldTest.php
+++ b/tests/forms/HtmlEditorFieldTest.php
@@ -15,6 +15,20 @@ class HtmlEditorFieldTest extends FunctionalTest {
 
 	protected $extraDataObjects = array('HtmlEditorFieldTest_Object');
 
+	public function testCasting() {
+		// Test special characters
+		$inputText = "These are some unicodes: ä, ö, & ü";
+		$field = new HTMLEditorField("Test", "Test");
+		$field->setValue($inputText);
+		$this->assertContains('These are some unicodes: &auml;, &ouml;, &amp; &uuml;', $field->Field());
+
+		// Test shortcodes
+		$inputText = "Shortcode: [file_link id=4]";
+		$field = new HTMLEditorField("Test", "Test");
+		$field->setValue($inputText);
+		$this->assertContains('Shortcode: [file_link id=4]', $field->Field());
+	}
+
 	public function testBasicSaving() {
 		$obj = new HtmlEditorFieldTest_Object();
 		$editor   = new HtmlEditorField('Content');
diff --git a/tests/forms/TextareaFieldTest.php b/tests/forms/TextareaFieldTest.php
index 7d52da04d..531ec3f6d 100644
--- a/tests/forms/TextareaFieldTest.php
+++ b/tests/forms/TextareaFieldTest.php
@@ -2,6 +2,20 @@
 
 class TextareaFieldTest extends SapphireTest {
 
+	public function testCasting() {
+		// Test special characters
+		$inputText = "These are some unicodes: ä, ö, & ü";
+		$field = new TextareaField("Test", "Test");
+		$field->setValue($inputText);
+		$this->assertContains('These are some unicodes: &auml;, &ouml;, &amp; &uuml;', $field->Field());
+
+		// Test shortcodes
+		$inputText = "Shortcode: [file_link id=4]";
+		$field = new TextareaField("Test", "Test");
+		$field->setValue($inputText);
+		$this->assertContains('Shortcode: [file_link id=4]', $field->Field());
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Quick smoke test to ensure that text with unicodes is being displayed properly in readonly fields.
 	 */