diff --git a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/OdooEditor.js b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/OdooEditor.js
index 4149edf2245..f933c0c6530 100644
--- a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/OdooEditor.js
+++ b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/OdooEditor.js
@@ -3878,23 +3878,21 @@ export class OdooEditor extends EventTarget {
             hint.removeAttribute('placeholder');
         }
         this._pluginCall('cleanForSave', [element]);
-        // Clean the remaining ZeroWidthspaces added by the `fillEmpty` function
-        // ( contain "data-oe-zws-empty-inline" attr)
-        // If the element contain more than just a ZWS,
-        // we remove it and clean the attribute.
-        // If the element have a class,
-        // we only remove the attribute to ensure we don't break some style.
-        // Otherwise we remove the entire inline element.
-        for (const emptyElement of element.querySelectorAll('[data-oe-zws-empty-inline]')) {
-            if (isZWS(emptyElement)) {
-                if (emptyElement.classList.length > 0) {
-                    emptyElement.removeAttribute('data-oe-zws-empty-inline');
-                } else {
-                    emptyElement.remove();
-                }
-            } else {
+
+        // Clean the zero-width spaces added by the `fillEmpty` function
+        // (flagged with the "data-oe-zws-empty-inline" attributes). Reverse the
+        // list to start from the deepest elements (for emptiness checks).
+        const allWhitespaceRegex = /^[\s\u200b]*$/;
+        for (const emptyElement of [...element.querySelectorAll('[data-oe-zws-empty-inline]')].reverse()) {
+            emptyElement.removeAttribute('data-oe-zws-empty-inline');
+            if (!allWhitespaceRegex.test(emptyElement.textContent)) {
+                // The element has some meaningful text. Remove the ZWS in it.
                 cleanZWS(emptyElement);
-                emptyElement.removeAttribute('data-oe-zws-empty-inline');
+            } else if (!emptyElement.classList.length) {
+                // We only remove the empty element if it has no class, to
+                // ensure we don't break visual styles (in that case, its
+                // ZWS was kept to ensure the cursor can be placed in it).
+                emptyElement.remove();
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/utils/sanitize.js b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/utils/sanitize.js
index 269466c328f..67b9daf1926 100644
--- a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/utils/sanitize.js
+++ b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/src/utils/sanitize.js
@@ -91,7 +91,11 @@ function sanitizeNode(node, root) {
     if (
         areSimilarElements(node, node.previousSibling) &&
         !isUnbreakable(node) &&
-        !isEditorTab(node)
+        !isEditorTab(node) &&
+        !(
+            node.attributes?.length === 1 &&
+            node.hasAttribute('data-oe-zws-empty-inline') &&
+            (node.textContent === '\u200B' || node.previousSibling.textContent === '\u200B'))
     ) {
         // Merge identical elements together.
         getDeepRange(root, { select: true });
@@ -121,31 +125,6 @@ function sanitizeNode(node, root) {
         paragraph.replaceChildren(...node.childNodes);
         node.replaceWith(paragraph);
         node = paragraph; // The node has been removed, update the reference.
-    } else if (
-        node.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE &&
-        node.textContent.includes('\u200B') &&
-        node.parentElement.hasAttribute('data-oe-zws-empty-inline') &&
-        node !== root.ownerDocument.getSelection()?.anchorNode &&
-        !isBlock(node.parentElement) &&
-        (
-            node.textContent.length > 1 ||
-            // There can be multiple ajacent text nodes, in which case
-            // the zero-width space is not needed either, despite being
-            // alone (length === 1) in its own text node.
-            Array.from(node.parentNode.childNodes).find(
-                sibling =>
-                    sibling !== node &&
-                    sibling.nodeType === Node.TEXT_NODE &&
-                    sibling.length > 0
-            )
-        )
-    ) {
-        // Remove zero-width spaces added by `fillEmpty` when there is
-        // content and the selection is not next to it.
-        const restoreCursor = node.isConnected && preserveCursor(root.ownerDocument);
-        node.textContent = node.textContent.replace('\u200B', '');
-        node.parentElement.removeAttribute("data-oe-zws-empty-inline");
-        restoreCursor?.();
     } else if (isFontAwesome(node) && node.textContent !== '\u200B') {
         // Ensure a zero width space is present inside the FA element.
         node.textContent = '\u200B';
diff --git a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/editor.test.js b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/editor.test.js
index c17c3a37480..22c54a99d1f 100644
--- a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/editor.test.js
+++ b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/editor.test.js
@@ -1540,7 +1540,7 @@ X[]
                             await deleteBackward(editor);
                             await insertText(editor, 'x');
                         },
-                        contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>cd</p><br><span>x[]</span></div>',
+                        contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>cd</p><br><span data-oe-zws-empty-inline="">x[]\u200B</span></div>',
                         contentAfter: '<div><p>cd</p><br><span>x[]</span></div>',
                     });
                 });
@@ -1562,7 +1562,7 @@ X[]
                             await deleteBackward(editor);
                             await insertText(editor, 'i');
                         },
-                        contentAfterEdit: '<p>uv<i style="color:red">i[]</i>xy</p>',
+                        contentAfterEdit: '<p>uv<i style="color:red" data-oe-zws-empty-inline="">i[]\u200B</i>xy</p>',
                         contentAfter: '<p>uv<i style="color:red">i[]</i>xy</p>',
                     });
                     await testEditor(BasicEditor, {
@@ -1581,7 +1581,7 @@ X[]
                             await deleteBackward(editor);
                             await insertText(editor, 'x');
                         },
-                        contentAfterEdit: '<p>ab<span class="style">x[]</span>ef</p>',
+                        contentAfterEdit: '<p>ab<span class="style" data-oe-zws-empty-inline="">x[]\u200B</span>ef</p>',
                         contentAfter: '<p>ab<span class="style">x[]</span>ef</p>',
                     });
                 });
@@ -2504,7 +2504,7 @@ X[]
                         await deleteBackward(editor);
                         await insertText(editor, 'x');
                     },
-                    contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>ab <span class="style">x[]</span> d</p></div>',
+                    contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>ab <span class="style" data-oe-zws-empty-inline="">x[]\u200B</span> d</p></div>',
                     contentAfter: '<div><p>ab <span class="style">x[]</span> d</p></div>',
                 });
                 await testEditor(BasicEditor, {
@@ -2513,7 +2513,7 @@ X[]
                         await deleteBackward(editor);
                         await insertText(editor, 'x');
                     },
-                    contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>ab<span class="style">x[]</span>d</p></div>',
+                    contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>ab<span class="style" data-oe-zws-empty-inline="">x[]\u200B</span>d</p></div>',
                     contentAfter: '<div><p>ab<span class="style">x[]</span>d</p></div>',
                 });
                 await testEditor(BasicEditor, {
@@ -2522,7 +2522,7 @@ X[]
                         await deleteBackward(editor);
                         await insertText(editor, 'x');
                     },
-                    contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>ab <span class="style">x[]</span> f</p></div>',
+                    contentAfterEdit: '<div><p>ab <span class="style" data-oe-zws-empty-inline="">x[]\u200B</span> f</p></div>',
                     contentAfter: '<div><p>ab <span class="style">x[]</span> f</p></div>',
                 });
             });
diff --git a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/format.test.js b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/format.test.js
index b593eb07a15..3381b64652f 100644
--- a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/format.test.js
+++ b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/editor/odoo-editor/test/spec/format.test.js
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ describe('Format', () => {
             });
         });
         it('should remove underline, write, restore underline, write, remove underline again, write (collapsed, strikeThrough)', async () => {
-            const uselessU = u(''); // TODO: clean
+            const uselessS = s(u('\u200B', 'first'), 'first'); // TODO: clean
             await testEditor(BasicEditor, {
                 contentBefore: `<p>ab${u(s(`cd[]ef`))}</p>`,
                 stepFunction: async editor => {
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ describe('Format', () => {
                     await editor.execCommand('underline');
                     await editor.execCommand('insert', 'C');
                 },
-                contentAfterEdit: `<p>ab${u(s(`cd`))}${s(`A${u(`B`)}C[]${uselessU}`)}${u(s(`ef`))}</p>`,
+                contentAfterEdit: `<p>ab${u(s(`cd`))}${s(`A${u(`B`, 'first')}C[]\u200B`, 'first')}${uselessS}${u(s(`ef`))}</p>`,
             });
         });
         it('should remove only underline decoration on a span', async () => {
@@ -682,7 +682,6 @@ describe('Format', () => {
             });
         });
         it('should remove underline, write, restore underline, write, remove underline again, write (collapsed, italic)', async () => {
-            const uselessU = u(''); // TODO: clean
             await testEditor(BasicEditor, {
                 contentBefore: `<p>ab${u(em(`cd[]ef`))}</p>`,
                 stepFunction: async editor => {
@@ -693,7 +692,7 @@ describe('Format', () => {
                     await editor.execCommand('underline');
                     await editor.execCommand('insert', 'C');
                 },
-                contentAfter: `<p>ab${u(em(`cd`))}${em(`A${u(`B`)}C[]${uselessU}`)}${u(em(`ef`))}</p>`,
+                contentAfter: `<p>ab${u(em(`cd`))}${em(`A${u(`B`)}C[]`)}${u(em(`ef`))}</p>`,
             });
         });
     });