diff --git a/doc/api/hooks_server-side.md b/doc/api/hooks_server-side.md
index 6ef65cc54..962c6e123 100644
--- a/doc/api/hooks_server-side.md
+++ b/doc/api/hooks_server-side.md
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ Things in context:
 
 1. Pad object
 
-This hook will allow a plug-in developer to include more properties and attributes to support during HTML Export.  An Array should be returned.
+This hook will allow a plug-in developer to include more properties and attributes to support during HTML Export. An Array should be returned. If a value in this array is a string, the exported HTML will contain tags like `<tag_name>` for the content where attributes are `['tag_name', 'true']`; if a value in this array is a pair `['tag_name', 'value']`, the exported HTML will contain tags like `<span data-tag_name="value">` for the content where attributes are `['tag_name', 'value']`.
 
 Example:
 ```
@@ -368,6 +368,15 @@ exports.exportHtmlAdditionalTags = function(hook, pad, cb){
 };
 ```
 
+Example when attributes are stores as `['color', 'red']` on the attribute pool:
+```
+// Add the props to be supported in export
+exports.exportHtmlAdditionalTags = function(hook, pad, cb){
+  var padId = pad.id;
+  cb([["color", "red"], ["color", "blue"]]);
+};
+```
+
 ## userLeave
 Called from src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
 
diff --git a/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js b/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js
index 9e1ba1249..53469c9b9 100644
--- a/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js
+++ b/src/node/utils/ExportHtml.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ var async = require("async");
 var Changeset = require("ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/Changeset");
 var padManager = require("../db/PadManager");
 var ERR = require("async-stacktrace");
+var _ = require('underscore');
 var Security = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/security');
 var hooks = require('ep_etherpad-lite/static/js/pluginfw/hooks');
 var _analyzeLine = require('./ExportHelper')._analyzeLine;
@@ -78,8 +79,15 @@ function getHTMLFromAtext(pad, atext, authorColors)
   var props = ['heading1', 'heading2', 'bold', 'italic', 'underline', 'strikethrough'];
 
   hooks.aCallAll("exportHtmlAdditionalTags", pad, function(err, newProps){
+    // newProps can be simply a string (which means it is stored as attribute in the form of ['tag', 'true'])
+    // or it can be a pair of values in an Array (for the case when it is stored as ['tag', 'value']).
+    // The later scenario will generate HTML with tags like <span data-tag="value">
     newProps.forEach(function (propName, i){
-      tags.push(propName);
+      if (_.isArray(propName)) {
+        tags.push('span data-' + propName[0] + '="' + propName[1] + '"');
+      } else {
+        tags.push(propName);
+      }
       props.push(propName);
     });
   });
@@ -130,7 +138,12 @@ function getHTMLFromAtext(pad, atext, authorColors)
   // this pad, and if yes puts its attrib id->props value into anumMap
   props.forEach(function (propName, i)
   {
-    var propTrueNum = apool.putAttrib([propName, true], true);
+    var attrib = [propName, true];
+    if (_.isArray(propName)) {
+      // propName can be in the form of ['color', 'red']
+      attrib = propName;
+    }
+    var propTrueNum = apool.putAttrib(attrib, true);
     if (propTrueNum >= 0)
     {
       anumMap[propTrueNum] = i;
@@ -154,6 +167,11 @@ function getHTMLFromAtext(pad, atext, authorColors)
 
       var property = props[i];
 
+      // we are not insterested on properties in the form of ['color', 'red']
+      if (_.isArray(property)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+
       if(property.substr(0,6) === "author"){
         return stripDotFromAuthorID(property);
       }
@@ -165,6 +183,11 @@ function getHTMLFromAtext(pad, atext, authorColors)
       return false;
     }
 
+    function isSpanWithData(i){
+      var property = props[i];
+      return _.isArray(property);
+    }
+
     function emitOpenTag(i)
     {
       openTags.unshift(i);
@@ -186,8 +209,9 @@ function getHTMLFromAtext(pad, atext, authorColors)
     {
       openTags.shift();
       var spanClass = getSpanClassFor(i);
+      var spanWithData = isSpanWithData(i);
 
-      if(spanClass){
+      if(spanClass || spanWithData){
         assem.append('</span>');
       } else {
         assem.append('</');