diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d91efe842..356016cca 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  + Added feature #282 that returns useful exit codes to the shell.  Now a
    script can detect whether no tasks were returned by a report (thanks to
    Pietro Cerutti).
+ + Fixed bug #287 that causes color control codes to be written to shadow
+   files (thanks to Richard Querin).
 
 ------ old releases ------------------------------
 
diff --git a/src/Context.cpp b/src/Context.cpp
index 4ded9b1d5..a3553db32 100644
--- a/src/Context.cpp
+++ b/src/Context.cpp
@@ -255,8 +255,6 @@ void Context::shadow ()
 
     std::string oldCurses = config.get ("curses");
     std::string oldColor  = config.get ("color");
-    config.set ("curses", "off");
-    config.set ("color",  "off");
 
     clear ();
 
@@ -267,6 +265,9 @@ void Context::shadow ()
     split (args, command, ' ');
 
     initialize ();
+    config.set ("curses", "off");
+    config.set ("color",  "off");
+
     parse ();
     std::string result;
     (void)dispatch (result);