diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js
index c3898dac41..6f5488ad1d 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.controller.js
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ export default ['$stateParams', '$scope', '$state', 'GetBasePath', 'QuerySet', '
                 let splitTerms;
 
                 if ($scope.singleSearchParam === 'host_filter') {
-                    splitTerms = SmartSearchService.splitHostIntoTerms(terms);
+                    splitTerms = SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms(terms);
                 } else {
                     splitTerms = SmartSearchService.splitSearchIntoTerms(terms);
                 }
diff --git a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js
index 1fea6ab4c6..3e97ec45e3 100644
--- a/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js
+++ b/awx/ui/client/src/shared/smart-search/smart-search.service.js
@@ -6,10 +6,14 @@ export default [function() {
          * work is done to encode quotes in quoted values and the spaces within those quoted
          * values before calling to `splitSearchIntoTerms`.
          */
-        splitHostIntoTerms (searchString) {
+        splitFilterIntoTerms (searchString) {
             let groups = [];
             let quoted;
 
+            if (!searchString.includes(' ')) {
+                return this.splitSearchIntoTerms(this.encode(searchString));
+            }
+
             searchString.split(' ').forEach(substring => {
                 if (substring.includes(':"')) {
                     quoted = substring;
@@ -17,9 +21,7 @@ export default [function() {
                     quoted += ` ${substring}`;
 
                     if (substring.includes('"')) {
-                        quoted = quoted.replace(/"/g, encodeURIComponent('"'));
-                        quoted = quoted.replace(/ /g, encodeURIComponent(' '));
-                        groups.push(quoted);
+                        groups.push(this.encode(quoted));
                         quoted = undefined;
                     }
                 } else {
@@ -29,6 +31,11 @@ export default [function() {
 
             return this.splitSearchIntoTerms(groups.join(' '));
         },
+        encode (string) {
+            string = string.replace(/'/g, '%27');
+
+            return string.replace(/("| )/g, match => encodeURIComponent(match));
+        },
         splitSearchIntoTerms(searchString) {
             return searchString.match(/(?:[^\s"']+|"[^"]*"|'[^']*')+/g);
         },
diff --git a/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js b/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js
index 13af06e51c..a6441719f1 100644
--- a/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js
+++ b/awx/ui/tests/spec/smart-search/smart-search.service-test.js
@@ -42,4 +42,19 @@ describe('Service: SmartSearch', () => {
         });
     });
 
+    describe('fn splitFilterIntoTerms', () => {
+        it('should convert the filter term to a key and value with encode quotes and spaces', () => {
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('foo')).toEqual(["foo"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('foo bar')).toEqual(["foo", "bar"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:foo bar')).toEqual(["name:foo", "bar"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:foo description:bar')).toEqual(["name:foo", "description:bar"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:"foo bar"')).toEqual(["name:%22foo%20bar%22"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:"foo bar" description:"bar foo"')).toEqual(["name:%22foo%20bar%22", "description:%22bar%20foo%22"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:"foo bar" a b c')).toEqual(["name:%22foo%20bar%22", 'a', 'b', 'c']);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:"1"')).toEqual(["name:%221%22"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms('name:1')).toEqual(["name:1"]);
+            expect(SmartSearchService.splitFilterIntoTerms(`name:"foo ba'r" a b c`)).toEqual(["name:%22foo%20ba%27r%22", 'a', 'b', 'c']);
+        });
+    });
+
 });