diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f7424427..22b51d03 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 ### Added
 - **paragraph:** Add hyperlinks to a paragraph, closes [#5](https://github.com/connium/simple-odf/issues/5)
 - **paragraph:** Add images to a paragraph, closes [#7](https://github.com/connium/simple-odf/issues/7)
+- **paragraph:** Replace tab character with tab element, closes [#10](https://github.com/connium/simple-odf/issues/10)
+- **paragraph:** Replace sequence of space characters with space element, closes [#10](https://github.com/connium/simple-odf/issues/10)
 
 ### Changed
 - **general:** Full rewrite of the public API to use the terminology of the Open Document Format
diff --git a/src/OdfElementName.ts b/src/OdfElementName.ts
index 1abbd743..15ad0792 100644
--- a/src/OdfElementName.ts
+++ b/src/OdfElementName.ts
@@ -18,4 +18,6 @@ export enum OdfElementName {
   TextList = "text:list",
   TextListItem = "text:list-item",
   TextParagraph = "text:p",
+  TextSpace = "text:s",
+  TextTabulation = "text:tab",
 }
diff --git a/src/text/OdfTextElement.ts b/src/text/OdfTextElement.ts
index 8d57c208..aa03021c 100644
--- a/src/text/OdfTextElement.ts
+++ b/src/text/OdfTextElement.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import { OdfElement } from "../OdfElement";
 import { OdfElementName } from "../OdfElementName";
 
+const SPACE = " ";
+
 /**
  * This class represents text in a paragraph.
  *
@@ -43,16 +45,113 @@ export class OdfTextElement extends OdfElement {
       return;
     }
 
-    const lines = this.text.split("\n");
+    let str = "";
+    for (let index = 0; index < this.text.length; index++) {
+      const currentChar = this.text.charAt(index);
+      switch (currentChar) {
+        case SPACE:
+          str += currentChar;
 
-    for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
-      if (i > 0) {
-        const lineBreak = document.createElement(OdfElementName.TextLineBreak);
-        parent.appendChild(lineBreak);
+          const count = this.findNextNonSpaceCharacter(this.text, index) - 1;
+          if (count > 0) {
+            this.appendTextNode(document, parent, str);
+            this.appendSpaceNode(document, parent, count);
+            str = "";
+            index += count;
+          }
+          break;
+        case "\n":
+          this.appendTextNode(document, parent, str);
+          this.appendLineBreakNode(document, parent);
+          str = "";
+          break;
+        case "\t":
+          this.appendTextNode(document, parent, str);
+          this.appendTabNode(document, parent);
+          str = "";
+          break;
+        default:
+          str += currentChar;
+          break;
       }
+    }
+
+    this.appendTextNode(document, parent, str);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Creates a text node with the provided text and appends it to the parent element.
+   *
+   * @param {Document} document The XML document
+   * @param {Element} parent The parent node
+   * @param {string} text The text value of the text node
+   * @since 0.3.0
+   */
+  private appendTextNode(document: Document, parent: Element, text: string): void {
+    if (text.length === 0) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const textNode = document.createTextNode(text);
+    parent.appendChild(textNode);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Creates a space node representing the specified number of space characters and appends it to the parent element.
+   * If a single space character should be represented, the `c` attribute is omitted.
+   *
+   * @param {Document} document The XML document
+   * @param {Element} parent The parent node
+   * @param {number} count The number of space characters the node should represent
+   * @since 0.3.0
+   */
+  private appendSpaceNode(document: Document, parent: Element, count: number): void {
+    const space = document.createElement(OdfElementName.TextSpace);
+    parent.appendChild(space);
+
+    if (count > 1) {
+      space.setAttribute("c", count.toString(10));
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Creates a tabulation node and appends it to the parent element.
+   *
+   * @param {Document} document The XML document
+   * @param {Element} parent The parent node
+   * @since 0.3.0
+   */
+  private appendTabNode(document: Document, parent: Element): void {
+    const tabulation = document.createElement(OdfElementName.TextTabulation);
+    parent.appendChild(tabulation);
+  }
 
-      const textNode = document.createTextNode(lines[i]);
-      parent.appendChild(textNode);
+  /**
+   * Creates a line break node and appends it to the parent element.
+   *
+   * @param {Document} document The XML document
+   * @param {Element} parent The parent node
+   * @since 0.3.0
+   */
+  private appendLineBreakNode(document: Document, parent: Element): void {
+    const lineBreak = document.createElement(OdfElementName.TextLineBreak);
+    parent.appendChild(lineBreak);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Finds the next non-space character and returns the number of space characters that occur before.
+   *
+   * @param {string} text The text to search in
+   * @param {number} offset The index at which to start the search
+   * @returns {number} The number of space characters before the next non-space character
+   * @since 0.3.0
+   */
+  private findNextNonSpaceCharacter(text: string, offset: number): number {
+    for (let index = offset; index < text.length; index++) {
+      if (text.charAt(index) !== SPACE) {
+        return index - offset;
+      }
     }
+    return text.length - offset;
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/text/Paragraph.spec.ts b/test/text/Paragraph.spec.ts
index 157f72f4..1c480886 100644
--- a/test/text/Paragraph.spec.ts
+++ b/test/text/Paragraph.spec.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ describe(Paragraph.name, () => {
     expect(document.toString()).toMatch(/<text:p>some text<text:line-break\/>some more text<\/text:p>/);
   });
 
+  it("replace tab with tabulation", () => {
+    document.addParagraph("some\ttabbed\t\ttext");
+
+    expect(document.toString()).toMatch(/<text:p>some<text:tab\/>tabbed<text:tab\/><text:tab\/>text<\/text:p>/);
+  });
+
+  it("replace sequence of spaces with space node", () => {
+    document.addParagraph(" some  spacey   text    ");
+
+    /* tslint:disable-next-line:max-line-length */
+    expect(document.toString()).toMatch(/<text:p> some <text:s\/>spacey <text:s c="2"\/>text <text:s c="3"\/><\/text:p>/);
+  });
+
   describe("#addHyperlink", () => {
     it("append a linked text", () => {
       document.addParagraph("some text").addHyperlink(" some linked text", "http://example.org/");