diff --git a/src/core/operations/OpticalCharacterRecognition.mjs b/src/core/operations/OpticalCharacterRecognition.mjs
index dfcff965..56a9306e 100644
--- a/src/core/operations/OpticalCharacterRecognition.mjs
+++ b/src/core/operations/OpticalCharacterRecognition.mjs
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ class OpticalCharacterRecognition extends Operation {
                 type: "option",
                 value: OEM_MODES,
                 defaultIndex: 1
+            },
+            // New option appended to avoid breaking existing saved recipes
+            {
+                name: "Remove line breaks",
+                type: "boolean",
+                value: false
             }
         ];
     }
@@ -54,7 +60,7 @@ class OpticalCharacterRecognition extends Operation {
      * @returns {string}
      */
     async run(input, args) {
-        const [showConfidence, oemChoice] = args;
+        const [showConfidence, oemChoice, removeLineBreaks = false] = args;
 
         if (!isWorkerEnvironment()) throw new OperationError("This operation only works in a browser");
 
@@ -81,11 +87,15 @@ class OpticalCharacterRecognition extends Operation {
             });
             self.sendStatusMessage("Finding text...");
             const result = await worker.recognize(image);
+            let text = result?.data?.text ?? "";
+            if (removeLineBreaks) {
+                text = text.replace(/\r?\n/g, "");
+            }
 
             if (showConfidence) {
-                return `Confidence: ${result.data.confidence}%\n\n${result.data.text}`;
+                return `Confidence: ${result.data.confidence}%\n\n${text}`;
             } else {
-                return result.data.text;
+                return text;
             }
         } catch (err) {
             throw new OperationError(`Error performing OCR on image. (${err})`);
diff --git a/src/web/waiters/InputWaiter.mjs b/src/web/waiters/InputWaiter.mjs
index d32ed9d1..179c7c65 100644
--- a/src/web/waiters/InputWaiter.mjs
+++ b/src/web/waiters/InputWaiter.mjs
@@ -1665,7 +1665,12 @@ class InputWaiter {
      */
     handlePostMessage(e) {
         log.debug(e);
-        if ("data" in e && "id" in e.data && "value" in e.data) {
+        // Guard against non-object events (e.g., HMR messages may set e.data to a string like 'webpackHotUpdate...')
+        if (
+            e && typeof e === "object" &&
+            "data" in e && e.data && typeof e.data === "object" &&
+            "id" in e.data && "value" in e.data
+        ) {
             if (e.data.id === "setInput") {
                 this.setInput(e.data.value);
             }