diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_customfields.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_customfields.inc.php
index e9028b8034..68e637cf79 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_customfields.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_customfields.inc.php
@@ -203,6 +203,14 @@ class etemplate_widget_customfields extends etemplate_widget_transformer
 					$fields_with_vals[]=$lname;
 				}
 		}
+		// need to encode values/select-options to keep their order
+		foreach($customfields as &$data)
+		{
+			if (!empty($data['values']))
+			{
+				etemplate_widget_menupopup::fix_encoded_options($data['values']);
+			}
+		}
 		if($fields != $customfields)
 		{
 			// This widget has different settings from global
diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php
index 6f3fae2439..2448a40307 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate_widget_menupopup.inc.php
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ class etemplate_widget_menupopup extends etemplate_widget
 			// so check here, as we re-index
 			// Duplicates might happen if app programmer isn't paying attention and
 			// either uses the same ID in the template, or adds the options twice
-			if(is_numeric($value) && (!is_array($label) || is_array($label) && !array_key_exists('value',$label)))
+			if(!is_array($label) || is_array($label) && !array_key_exists('value',$label))
 			{
 				$check_value = (string)(is_array($label) && array_key_exists('value', $label) ? $label['value'] : $value);
 				if((string)$value === $check_value)