diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 4757012..9fdcf6c 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 https://github.com/josdejong/jsoneditor
 
 
+## not yet published, version 7.0.5
+
+- Fix #794: fix discrepancy between valid JSON numbers and valid JavaScript
+  numbers (i.e. `+2` is a valid in JavaScript but not in JSON).
+
+
 ## 2019-09-11, version 7.0.4
 
 - Fixed #723: schema error popup and color picker not always fully visible.
diff --git a/src/js/util.js b/src/js/util.js
index bbbf21d..08b27dc 100644
--- a/src/js/util.js
+++ b/src/js/util.js
@@ -1330,23 +1330,33 @@ export function sortObjectKeys (object, direction) {
  * @private
  */
 export function parseString (str) {
-  const lower = str.toLowerCase()
-  const num = Number(str) // will nicely fail with '123ab'
-  const numFloat = parseFloat(str) // will nicely fail with '  '
-
   if (str === '') {
     return ''
-  } else if (lower === 'null') {
-    return null
-  } else if (lower === 'true') {
-    return true
-  } else if (lower === 'false') {
-    return false
-  } else if (!isNaN(num) && !isNaN(numFloat)) {
-    return num
-  } else {
-    return str
   }
+
+  const lower = str.toLowerCase()
+  if (lower === 'null') {
+    return null
+  }
+  if (lower === 'true') {
+    return true
+  }
+  if (lower === 'false') {
+    return false
+  }
+
+  try {
+    // will nicely fail for strings like '123ab', '  ', and '+1'
+    const num = JSON.parse(str)
+    if (typeof num === 'number' && !isNaN(num)) {
+      return num
+    }
+  }
+  catch (err) {
+    // no need to handle this error, it was just to try parsing into a number
+  }
+
+  return str
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/util.test.js b/test/util.test.js
index 7f8e77f..8f967d9 100644
--- a/test/util.test.js
+++ b/test/util.test.js
@@ -393,10 +393,18 @@ describe('util', () => {
   it('should parse a string', () => {
     assert.strictEqual(parseString('foo'), 'foo')
     assert.strictEqual(parseString('234foo'), '234foo')
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString('  234'), 234)
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString('234  '), 234)
     assert.strictEqual(parseString('2.3'), 2.3)
     assert.strictEqual(parseString('null'), null)
     assert.strictEqual(parseString('true'), true)
     assert.strictEqual(parseString('false'), false)
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString('+1'), '+1')
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString(' '), ' ')
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString(''), '')
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString('"foo"'), '"foo"')
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString('"2"'), '"2"')
+    assert.strictEqual(parseString('\'foo\''), '\'foo\'')
   })
 
   it('should find a unique name', () => {