Symptoms

RTF control in K2 4.6.9 - 4.6.11 eliminates space symbols when data is pasted into control from Word or from SharePoint and contains some non standard formatting/tags. Once this data saved into SQL SmartObject some spaces may be lost in the text.
 

Diagnoses

This issue only happens if source text has some non-standard formatting (e.g. when source text is taken from SharePoint list and data contains some non-standard SharePoint specific DIVs/HTML tags) or if text is being pasted from Microsoft Word and user click cancel in the dialog which suggests to remove Word specific formatting before pasting (one which says "The content you are trying to paste has MS Word formatting. Would you like to clean it?"). This known issue (internal ID 555779) and in upcoming K2 4.7 release this problem is solved and spaces do not disappear even when Cancel button is clicked in abovementioned dialogue.
 

Resolution

Consider upgrading to 4.7 after its release or educate your end-users to always click OK in the clean Word formatting prompt upon paste into RTF control as it is best practice to do so anyway. Also make sure that any text you paste or transfer into RTF control via SmartForms rules does not contain non-standard tags/formatting which may cause similar issues.