diff --git a/forms/TreeDropdownField.php b/forms/TreeDropdownField.php
index b4d2247d8..c5d260fdb 100755
--- a/forms/TreeDropdownField.php
+++ b/forms/TreeDropdownField.php
@@ -183,8 +183,10 @@ class TreeDropdownField extends FormField {
 		
 		$obj->markPartialTree();
 		
-		if($forceValues = $this->value) {
-			if(($values = preg_split('/,\s*/', $forceValues)) && count($values)) foreach($values as $value) {
+		// allow to pass values to be selected within the ajax request
+		if( isset($_REQUEST['forceValue']) || $this->value ) {
+			$forceValue = ( isset($_REQUEST['forceValue']) ? $_REQUEST['forceValue'] : $this->value);
+			if(($values = preg_split('/,\s*/', $forceValue)) && count($values)) foreach($values as $value) {
 				$obj->markToExpose($this->objectForKey($value));
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/javascript/TreeSelectorField.js b/javascript/TreeSelectorField.js
index 623b566de..34ad925db 100755
--- a/javascript/TreeSelectorField.js
+++ b/javascript/TreeSelectorField.js
@@ -171,9 +171,10 @@ TreeDropdownField.prototype = {
 	},
 	
 	ajaxGetTree: function(after) {
-		var ajaxURL = this.helperURLBase() + 'tree/';
+		var ajaxURL = this.helperURLBase() + 'tree?';
 		ajaxURL += $('SecurityID') ? '&SecurityID=' + $('SecurityID').value : '';
 		if($('Form_EditForm_Locale')) ajaxURL += "&locale=" + $('Form_EditForm_Locale').value;
+		if ( this.inputTag.value ) ajaxURL += '&forceValue=' + this.inputTag.value;
 		if (this.search() != null) ajaxURL += "&search=" + this.search(); 
 		new Ajax.Request(ajaxURL, {
 			method : 'get',