diff --git a/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/GraphMenu.java b/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/GraphMenu.java
index 63c7f6d363cf52b5e257d0ad66812ec5ab706bd4..941b80ec7784e6ce9405ce226424b7b2f658883d 100644
--- a/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/GraphMenu.java
+++ b/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/components/GraphMenu.java
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ public class GraphMenu extends JMenu
     // add user plots from the command line JVM option
     if(System.getProperty("userplot") != null)
     {
-      String plots[] = System.getProperty("userplot").split("\\s");
+      String plots[] = System.getProperty("userplot").split("[\\s:]");
       try
       {
         for(int i=0;i<plots.length; i++)