diff --git a/bin/convert-to-pgml.pl b/bin/convert-to-pgml.pl
index 31d230411..63059cc62 100755
--- a/bin/convert-to-pgml.pl
+++ b/bin/convert-to-pgml.pl
@@ -70,14 +70,18 @@ ($filename)
 	my $path = Mojo::File->new($filename);
 	die "The file: $filename does not exist or is not readable" unless -r $path;
 
-	my $pg_source        = $path->slurp;
-	my $converted_source = convertToPGML($pg_source);
+	my $pg_source = $path->slurp;
+	my $result    = convertToPGML($pg_source);
+	if (ref($result) eq 'HASH' && $result->{errors}) {
+		warn "Error parsing $filename. " . $result->{errors};
+		return;
+	}
 
 	# copy the original file to a backup and then write the file
 	my $new_path    = $backup ? $path : Mojo::File->new($filename =~ s/\.pg/.$suffix/r);
 	my $backup_file = $filename =~ s/\.pg$/.pg.bak/r;
 	$path->copy_to($backup_file) if $backup;
-	$new_path->spurt($converted_source);
+	$new_path->spurt($result->{pgmlCode});
 	print "Writing converted file to $new_path\n"      if $verbose;
 	print "Backing up original file to $backup_file\n" if $verbose && $backup;
 }
diff --git a/lib/WeBWorK/PG/ConvertToPGML.pm b/lib/WeBWorK/PG/ConvertToPGML.pm
index 04e4eeddb..d3abb491d 100644
--- a/lib/WeBWorK/PG/ConvertToPGML.pm
+++ b/lib/WeBWorK/PG/ConvertToPGML.pm
@@ -76,7 +76,17 @@ my @ans_list;
 sub convertToPGML {
 	my ($pg_source) = @_;
 
-	# First get a list of all of the ANS, LABELED_ANS, etc. in the problem.
+	# Check that the file is not already in PGML format by looking for PGML.pl in the loadMacros statement,
+	# and there are no BEGIN_TEXT, BEGIN_SOLUTION, etc. blocks.
+
+	return { pgmlCode => $pg_source }
+		if ($pg_source =~ /loadMacros\((.*)PGML\.pl(.*)\)/m && $pg_source !~ /BEGIN_(TEXT|HINT|SOLUTION)/);
+
+	# Return an error if the loadMacros isn't in the form loadMacros( ... );
+	return { errors => "The loadMacros command cannot be parsed.", pgmlCode => $pg_source }
+		unless $pg_source =~ /loadMacros\((.*?)\)\s*;/m;
+
+	# Get a list of all of the ANS, LABELED_ANS, etc. in the problem.
 	@ans_list = getANS($pg_source);
 
 	my @pgml_block;
@@ -101,29 +111,71 @@ sub convertToPGML {
 		} elsif ($in_pgml_block) {
 			push(@pgml_block, $row);
 		} elsif ($row =~ /loadMacros\(/) {
-			# Parse the macros, which may be on multiple rows.
-			# Remove comments within loadMacros block (should we keep them?)
-			my $macros = $row;
-			while ($row && $row !~ /\);\s*$/) {
+			# Parse the macros, which may be on multiple rows and may be in a qw block.
+			my $macros          = '';
+			my $num_macro_lines = 1; # store the number of lines in the loadMacro so the output is similar to the input.
+			while ($row !~ /\)\s*;/) {
+				# Remove comments within loadMacros block (should we keep them?)
+				$row =~ s/#.*$//;
+				$macros .= $row;
+				++$num_macro_lines;
 				$row = shift @rows;
-				my @mrow = split(/#/, $row);
-				# This only adds the row if there is something relevent to the left of a #
-				$macros .= $mrow[0] if $mrow[0] !~ /^\s*$/;
 			}
-			# Split by commas and pull out the quotes.
-			my @macros =
-				grep { $_ !~ /^#/ }
-				grep {
-					$_ !~
-					/(PGstandard|PGML|PGauxiliaryFunctions|PGbasicmacros|PGanswermacros|MathObjects|PGcourse|AnswerFormatHelp).pl/
+			$macros .= $row;
+
+			my @macros;
+			my ($qw_start, $qw_end);    # the characters if the loadMacros has a qw block.
+
+			# The following can parse loadMacros in the form loadMacros('macro1.pl', 'macro2.pl'); or
+			# loadMacros(qw{macro1.pl macro2.pl});
+			if ($macros =~ /loadMacros\((.*?)\);/ms) {
+				my @macro_str = split(/\s*,\s*/, $1);
+
+				for my $str (@macro_str) {
+					if ($str =~ /^qw(.)/) {
+						my $qw_matches = { '{' => '}', '(' => ')', '[' => ']', '/' => '/', '|' => '|' };
+						$qw_start = $1;
+						$qw_end   = $qw_matches->{$qw_start};
+
+						if ($str =~ /^qw\Q${qw_start}\E(.*?)\Q${qw_end}\E/) {
+							push(@macros, split(/\s+/, $1));
+						}
+					} else {
+						push(@macros, $str);
+					}
 				}
-				map {s/['"\s]//gr}
-				split(/\s*,\s*/, $macros =~ s/loadMacros\((.*)\)\;$/$1/r);
 
-			push(@all_lines,
-				'loadMacros('
-					. join(', ', map {"'$_'"} ('PGstandard.pl', 'PGML.pl', @macros, 'PGcourse.pl'))
-					. ');');
+				@macros =
+					grep {
+						$_
+						&& $_ !~
+						/(PGstandard|PGML|PGauxiliaryFunctions|PGbasicmacros|PGanswermacros|MathObjects|PGcourse|AnswerFormatHelp).pl/x
+					}
+					map {s/['"]//gr} @macros;
+
+				# Remove any duplicates:
+				my %seen;
+				@macros = grep { !$seen{$_}++ } @macros;
+			} else {
+				return {
+					errors   => 'The loadMacros command cannot be processed.',
+					pgmlCode => $pg_source
+				};
+			}
+
+			@macros = ('PGstandard.pl', 'PGML.pl', @macros, 'PGcourse.pl');
+
+			if ($qw_start) {
+				if ($num_macro_lines > 1) {    # put each macro on a separate line
+					push(@all_lines, "loadMacros(qw$qw_start");
+					push(@all_lines, "\t$_") for (@macros);
+					push(@all_lines, "$qw_end);");
+				} else {
+					push(@all_lines, "loadMacros(qw$qw_start" . join(' ', @macros) . "$qw_end);", '');
+				}
+			} else {
+				push(@all_lines, 'loadMacros(' . join(', ', map {"'$_'"} @macros) . ');', '');
+			}
 		} else {
 			push(@all_lines, cleanUpCode($row));
 		}
@@ -137,7 +189,7 @@ sub convertToPGML {
 			splice(@all_lines, $empty_lines[$n], 1);
 		}
 	}
-	return join "\n", @all_lines;
+	return { pgmlCode => join "\n", @all_lines };
 }
 
 # This subroutine converts a block (passed in as an array ref of strings) to