diff --git a/R/options.R b/R/options.R
index 4b1ad88..e26ccc9 100644
--- a/R/options.R
+++ b/R/options.R
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ analysisOptionsFromJASPfile <- function(file) {
   return(options)
 }
 
-parsePreloadDataFromDescriptionQml <- function(analysisName) {
+parseDescriptionQmlFromAnalysisName <- function(analysisName) {
 
   modulePath <- getModulePathFromRFunction(analysisName)
   if (isBinaryPackage(modulePath)) {
@@ -188,23 +188,116 @@ parsePreloadDataFromDescriptionQml <- function(analysisName) {
     return(TRUE)
   }
 
-  # some more parsing of QML with regex, mostly to make Joris cry
-  raw <- trimws(readLines(pathToDescriptionQml))
-  idx <- grep(sprintf("\\s*func\\s*:\\s*\"%s\"", analysisName), raw)
+  return(parseDescriptionQmlFromPath(pathToDescriptionQml))
+}
 
-  if (length(idx) == 0) {
-    warning("Analysis ", analysisName, " not found in Description.qml. Assuming the module preloads data.")
-    return(TRUE)
+# some code to test the function below on all Description.qml files in jasp
+# dirs <- list.dirs("~/github/jasp/jasp-desktop/Modules", recursive = FALSE)
+# qmls <- file.path(dirs, "inst", "Description.qml")
+# qmls <- Filter(file.exists, qmls)
+# nms <- basename(dirname(dirname(qmls)))
+# names(qmls) <- nms
+# results <- vector("list", length(nms))
+# names(results) <- nms
+# for (nm in nms) {
+#   cat(nm, "\n")
+#   results[[nm]] <- jaspTools:::parseDescriptionQmlFromPath(qmls[[nm]])
+# }
+parseDescriptionQmlFromPath <- function(pathToDescriptionQml) {
+
+  raw <- trimws(readLines(pathToDescriptionQml))
+  raw <- raw[raw != ""]
+  # drop import statements
+  raw <- raw[!startsWith(raw, "import")]
+  # ensure that everything is on a newline
+  raw <- trimws(unlist(strsplit(raw, ";", fixed = TRUE), use.names = FALSE))
+  # remove any whitespace
+  raw <- gsub("\\s", "", raw)
+  # transform "Description{}" to c("Description", "{", "})
+  raw <- trimws(unlist(strsplit(raw, "(?=\\{)", perl = TRUE), use.names = FALSE))
+  raw <- trimws(unlist(strsplit(raw, "(?=\\})", perl = TRUE), use.names = FALSE))
+  # "qsTr(\"bla\")" -> "\"bla\""
+  raw <- gsub('qsTr\\("(.*)"\\)', "\\1", raw)
+
+  result <- list()
+  subResults <- NULL
+  subNames   <- character(0L)
+  depth <- 0L
+  skipUntilClose <- FALSE
+  skipCount <- 0L
+
+  groupsToskip <- c("GroupTitle", "Separator", "Timer")
+  for (i in seq_along(raw)) {
+
+    if (!skipUntilClose) {
+
+      hasColon <- grepl(":", raw[i], fixed = TRUE)
+      if (!hasColon && grepl("{", raw[i + 1], fixed = TRUE)) {
+
+        if (any(vapply(groupsToskip, function(x) identical(raw[i], x), FUN.VALUE = logical(1L)))) {
+          skipUntilClose <- TRUE
+          next
+        }
+
+        depth <- depth + 1L
+        subNames[[depth]] <- raw[i]
+        subResult <- list()
+        subResults[[depth]] <- list()
+
+      } else if (hasColon) {
+
+        match <- regexec("([^:]+):(.*)", raw[i])
+        parts <- regmatches(raw[i], match)[[1]]
+        key <- parts[2]
+        value <- parts[3]
+        # remove quotes at the start and end of the string
+        value <- gsub("^[\"']|[\"']$", "", value)
+
+        subResults[[depth]][[key]] <- switch(
+          value,
+          "false" = FALSE,
+          "true"  = TRUE,
+          value
+        )
+
+      } else if (grepl("}", raw[i], fixed = TRUE)) {
+
+        subName <- subNames[[depth]]
+        subResult <- subResults[[depth]]
+        if (!is.null(subResult) && length(subResult) > 0L) {
+
+          # rather than "Analysis", use the name of the R function
+          if (subName == "Analysis")
+            subName <- subResult[["func"]]
+
+          result[[subName]] <- subResult
+
+        }
+
+        result[[subName]] <- subResult
+        depth <- depth - 1L
+      }
+
+    } else if (grepl("{" , raw[i], fixed = TRUE)) {
+      skipCount <- skipCount + 1L
+    } else if (grepl("}", raw[i], fixed = TRUE)) {
+
+      skipCount <- skipCount - 1L
+      if (skipCount == 0)
+        skipUntilClose <- FALSE
+
+    }
   }
 
-  previous_bracket <- grep("{", raw[1:idx], fixed = TRUE)
-  previous_bracket <- previous_bracket[length(previous_bracket)]
-  next_bracket <- grep("}", raw[idx:length(raw)], fixed = TRUE)
-  next_bracket <- next_bracket[1] + idx
-  idx_match <- grep("\\s*preloadData\\s*:\\s*(.*)[^;]{0,1}", raw[previous_bracket:next_bracket])
-  result <- gsub("\\s*preloadData\\s*:\\s*(.*)[^;]{0,1}", "\\1", raw[previous_bracket:next_bracket][idx_match])
-  preloadData <- identical(result, "true")
+  return(result)
+
+}
+
+parsePreloadDataFromDescriptionQml <- function(analysisName) {
+
+  description <- parseDescriptionQmlFromAnalysisName(analysisName)
 
+  preloadData <- isTRUE(description[["preloadData"]]) || isTRUE(description[[analysisName]][["preloadData"]])
   if (!preloadData)
     warning("Analysis ", analysisName, " does not preload data. Please update the code.")