diff --git a/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js b/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js
index 151a18068..25cb1f8cc 100644
--- a/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js
+++ b/src/static/js/ace2_inner.js
@@ -1622,9 +1622,17 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
         lines = ccData.lines;
         var lineAttribs = ccData.lineAttribs;
         var linesWrapped = ccData.linesWrapped;
+        var scrollToTheLeftNeeded = false;
 
         if (linesWrapped > 0)
         {
+          if(!browser.ie){
+            // chrome decides in it's infinite wisdom that its okay to put the browsers visisble window in the middle of the span
+            // an outcome of this is that the first chars of the string are no longer visible to the user..  Yay chrome..
+            // Move the browsers visible area to the left hand side of the span
+            // Firefox isn't quite so bad, but it's still pretty quirky.
+            var scrollToTheLeftNeeded = true;
+          }
           // console.log("Editor warning: " + linesWrapped + " long line" + (linesWrapped == 1 ? " was" : "s were") + " hard-wrapped into " + ccData.numLinesAfter + " lines.");
         }
 
@@ -1692,6 +1700,10 @@ function Ace2Inner(){
       //console.log("removed: "+id);
     });
 
+    if(scrollToTheLeftNeeded){ // needed to stop chrome from breaking the ui when long strings without spaces are pasted
+      $("#innerdocbody").scrollLeft(0);
+    }
+
     p.mark("findsel");
     // if the nodes that define the selection weren't encountered during
     // content collection, figure out where those nodes are now.