diff --git a/src/actions.c b/src/actions.c
index bec5ce94..43f66d04 100644
--- a/src/actions.c
+++ b/src/actions.c
@@ -104,8 +104,12 @@ const char *get_text_floater(int i)
       
     if(xctx->text[i].floater_instname) 
       instname = xctx->text[i].floater_instname;
-    else
+    else {
       instname = get_tok_value(xctx->text[i].prop_ptr, "name", 0);
+      if(!xctx->tok_size) {
+        instname = get_tok_value(xctx->text[i].prop_ptr, "floater", 0);
+      }
+    }
     inst = get_instance(instname);
     if(inst >= 0) {
       if(xctx->text[i].floater_ptr) {
@@ -116,6 +120,13 @@ const char *get_text_floater(int i)
         txt_ptr = xctx->text[i].floater_ptr;
       }
       dbg(1, "floater: %s\n",txt_ptr);
+    } else {
+      /* do just a tcl substitution if floater does not reference an existing instance 
+       * (but name=something attribute must be present) and text matches tcleval(...) */
+      if(strstr(txt_ptr, "tcleval(") == txt_ptr) {
+        my_strdup(_ALLOC_ID_, &xctx->text[i].floater_ptr, tcl_hook2(xctx->text[i].txt_ptr));
+        txt_ptr = xctx->text[i].floater_ptr;
+      }
     }
   }
   return txt_ptr;
@@ -807,6 +818,7 @@ int set_text_flags(xText *t)
     str = get_tok_value(t->prop_ptr, "hide", 0);
     t->flags |= strcmp(str, "true")  ? 0 : HIDE_TEXT;
     str = get_tok_value(t->prop_ptr, "name", 0);
+    if(!xctx->tok_size) str = get_tok_value(t->prop_ptr, "floater", 0);
     t->flags |= xctx->tok_size ? TEXT_FLOATER : 0;
     my_strdup2(_ALLOC_ID_, &t->floater_instname, str);
   }
diff --git a/src/save.c b/src/save.c
index 8a5da99c..0994c162 100644
--- a/src/save.c
+++ b/src/save.c
@@ -3569,6 +3569,10 @@ int load_sym_def(const char *name, FILE *embed_fd)
      is_floater = 0;
      get_tok_value(tmptext.prop_ptr, "name", 2);
      if(xctx->tok_size) is_floater = 1; /* get rid of floater texts in LCC symbols */
+     else {
+       get_tok_value(tmptext.prop_ptr, "floater", 2);
+       if(xctx->tok_size) is_floater = 1; /* get rid of floater texts in LCC symbols */
+     }
      if( !strcmp(get_tok_value(tmptext.prop_ptr, "symbol_ignore", 0), "true") || is_floater) {
        my_free(_ALLOC_ID_, &tmptext.prop_ptr);
        my_free(_ALLOC_ID_, &tmptext.txt_ptr);