diff --git a/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp b/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp
index 35437c627f..52de606aab 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp
@@ -1233,8 +1233,9 @@ BTextView::Copy(BClipboard *clipboard)
 
 		BMessage *clip = clipboard->Data();
 		if (clip != NULL) {
-			clip->AddData("text/plain", B_MIME_TYPE, Text() + fSelStart,
-				fSelEnd - fSelStart);
+			int32 numBytes = fSelEnd - fSelStart;
+			const char* text = fText->GetString(fSelStart, &numBytes);
+			clip->AddData("text/plain", B_MIME_TYPE, text, numBytes);
 
 			int32 size;
 			if (fStylable) {
@@ -2642,9 +2643,10 @@ BTextView::GetDragParameters(BMessage *drag, BBitmap **bitmap, BPoint *point,
 	drag->AddInt32("be_actions", B_TRASH_TARGET);
 	
 	// add the text
-	drag->AddData("text/plain", B_MIME_TYPE, fText->RealText() + fSelStart,
-		fSelEnd - fSelStart);
-	
+	int32 numBytes = fSelEnd - fSelStart;
+	const char* text = fText->GetString(fSelStart, &numBytes);
+	drag->AddData("text/plain", B_MIME_TYPE, text, numBytes);
+
 	// add the corresponding styles
 	int32 size = 0;
 	text_run_array *styles = RunArray(fSelStart, fSelEnd, &size);
@@ -3422,10 +3424,15 @@ BTextView::_StyledWidth(int32 fromOffset, int32 length, float *outAscent,
 			LockWidthBuffer();
 			result += sWidths->StringWidth(*fText, fromOffset, numChars, font);
 			UnlockWidthBuffer();
-		} else
+		} else {
 #endif
-			result += font->StringWidth(fText->RealText() + fromOffset, numChars);
-		
+			const char* text = fText->GetString(fromOffset, &numChars);
+			result += font->StringWidth(text, numChars);
+
+#if USE_WIDTHBUFFER
+		}
+#endif
+
 		fromOffset += numChars;
 		length -= numChars;
 	}
diff --git a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp
index 6fd200efcc..13765c5f97 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ _BTextGapBuffer_::GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 *_numBytes)
 		uint32 numChars = UTF8CountChars(result, numBytes);
 		uint32 charLen = UTF8CountBytes(B_UTF8_BULLET, 1);
 		uint32 newSize = numChars * charLen;
-		
+
 		if ((uint32)fScratchSize < newSize) {
 			fScratchBuffer = (char *)realloc(fScratchBuffer, newSize);
 			fScratchSize = newSize;
@@ -217,7 +217,8 @@ _BTextGapBuffer_::GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 *_numBytes)
 			memcpy(scratchPtr, B_UTF8_BULLET, charLen);
 			scratchPtr += charLen;
 		}
-		*_numBytes = newSize - 1;	
+
+		*_numBytes = newSize;	
 	}
 
 	return result;
diff --git a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/WidthBuffer.cpp b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/WidthBuffer.cpp
index b045a5bcb4..3a0ec41560 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/WidthBuffer.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/WidthBuffer.cpp
@@ -148,7 +148,8 @@ float
 _BWidthBuffer_::StringWidth(_BTextGapBuffer_ &inBuffer, int32 fromOffset, int32 length,
 		const BFont *inStyle)
 {
-	return StringWidth(inBuffer.Text(), fromOffset, length, inStyle);
+	const char* text = inBuffer.GetString(fromOffset, &length);
+	return StringWidth(text, 0, length, inStyle);
 }