diff --git a/settings-content/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/content/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java b/settings-content/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/content/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
index 54476d4..ed2e83a 100644
--- a/settings-content/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/content/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/settings-content/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/content/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ public class PropertiesSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
 
     @Override
     public boolean canLoad(String source) {
-        return true;
+        return source != null && source.charAt(0) == '#';
     }
 
     public Map<String, String> load(BytesReference ref) throws IOException {
diff --git a/settings-content/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader b/settings-content/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader
deleted file mode 100644
index 9307b19..0000000
--- a/settings-content/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-org.xbib.settings.content.PropertiesSettingsLoader
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/settings-content/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/content/test/SettingsTest.java b/settings-content/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/content/test/SettingsTest.java
index 9ba6d8f..58e6c63 100644
--- a/settings-content/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/content/test/SettingsTest.java
+++ b/settings-content/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/content/test/SettingsTest.java
@@ -143,9 +143,17 @@ public class SettingsTest {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testPropertiesLoader() {
+    public void testPropertiesLoaderFromResource() {
         Settings settings = Settings.settingsBuilder()
-                .loadFromResource(".properties", new ByteArrayInputStream("a.b=c".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)))
+                .loadFromResource("properties", new ByteArrayInputStream("a.b=c".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)))
+                .build();
+        assertEquals("{a.b=c}", settings.getAsMap().toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testPropertiesLoaderFromString() {
+        Settings settings = Settings.settingsBuilder()
+                .loadFromString("#\na.b=c")
                 .build();
         assertEquals("{a.b=c}", settings.getAsMap().toString());
     }
diff --git a/settings-content/src/test/resources/META-INF/services/org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader b/settings-content/src/test/resources/META-INF/services/org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c86b654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/settings-content/src/test/resources/META-INF/services/org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+org.xbib.settings.content.PropertiesSettingsLoader
diff --git a/settings-datastructures-json/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/json/test/JsonSettingsTest.java b/settings-datastructures-json/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/json/test/JsonSettingsTest.java
index 69e1426..b6033b1 100644
--- a/settings-datastructures-json/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/json/test/JsonSettingsTest.java
+++ b/settings-datastructures-json/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/json/test/JsonSettingsTest.java
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 package org.xbib.settings.datastructures.json.test;
 
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.xbib.datastructures.json.tiny.JsonBuilder;
 import org.xbib.settings.Settings;
 import org.xbib.settings.SettingsLoader;
 import org.xbib.settings.datastructures.json.JsonSettingsLoader;
diff --git a/settings-datastructures/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java b/settings-datastructures/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
index f6df055..b41cde5 100644
--- a/settings-datastructures/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/settings-datastructures/src/main/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/PropertiesSettingsLoader.java
@@ -44,6 +44,6 @@ public class PropertiesSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
 
     @Override
     public boolean canLoad(String source) {
-        return true;
+        return source != null && source.charAt(0) == '#';
     }
 }
diff --git a/settings-datastructures/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/test/SettingsTest.java b/settings-datastructures/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/test/SettingsTest.java
index d54b0bf..af7eac9 100644
--- a/settings-datastructures/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/test/SettingsTest.java
+++ b/settings-datastructures/src/test/java/org/xbib/settings/datastructures/test/SettingsTest.java
@@ -116,11 +116,18 @@ public class SettingsTest {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testPropertiesLoader() {
+    public void testPropertiesLoaderFromResource() {
         Settings settings = Settings.settingsBuilder()
-                .loadFromResource(".properties", new ByteArrayInputStream("a.b=c".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)))
+                .loadFromResource("properties", new ByteArrayInputStream("a.b=c".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)))
                 .build();
         assertEquals("{a.b=c}", settings.getAsMap().toString());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testPropertiesLoaderFromString() {
+        Settings settings = Settings.settingsBuilder()
+                .loadFromString("#\na.b=c")
+                .build();
+        assertEquals("{a.b=c}", settings.getAsMap().toString());
+    }
 }