diff --git a/php/src/Docker/DockerActionManager.php b/php/src/Docker/DockerActionManager.php
index 6fea395f..a8891c3c 100644
--- a/php/src/Docker/DockerActionManager.php
+++ b/php/src/Docker/DockerActionManager.php
@@ -420,7 +420,13 @@ readonly class DockerActionManager {
 
             // Additional Collabora options
             if ($this->configurationManager->collaboraAdditionalOptions !== '') {
-                $requestBody['Cmd'] = [$this->configurationManager->collaboraAdditionalOptions];
+                // Split the list of Collabora options, which are stored as a string but must be assigned as an array.
+                // To avoid problems with whitespace or dashes in option arguments we use a regular expression
+                // that splits the string at every position where a whitespace is followed by '--o:'.
+                // The leading whitespace is removed in the split but the following characters are not.
+                // Example: "--o:example_config1='some thing' --o:example_config2=something-else" -> ["--o:example_config1='some thing'", "--o:example_config2=something-else"] 
+                $regEx = '/\s+(?=--o:)/';
+                $requestBody['Cmd'] = preg_split($regEx, rtrim($this->configurationManager->collaboraAdditionalOptions));
             }
         }