diff --git a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessor.java b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessor.java
index 8081df8a..410b7702 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessor.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessor.java
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessor extends AbstractPost
                     if (questionMark > 0) {
                         placeholderName = placeholder.substring(2, questionMark);
                         defaultValue = placeholder.substring(questionMark + 1, placeholder.length() - 1);
+                    } else {
+                        defaultValue = "";
                     }
                     int bracket = placeholder.indexOf('(');
                     if (bracket > 0) {
diff --git a/common/src/test/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessorTest.java b/common/src/test/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessorTest.java
index 06f91a45..776f9121 100644
--- a/common/src/test/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessorTest.java
+++ b/common/src/test/java/ctbrec/recorder/postprocessing/AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessorTest.java
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package ctbrec.recorder.postprocessing;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.*;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.time.ZoneId;
@@ -150,4 +152,11 @@ public class AbstractPlaceholderAwarePostProcessorTest extends AbstractPpTest {
         input = "asdf_${modelGroupName?${utcDateTime?anonymous}}_asdf";
         assertEquals("asdf_anonymous_asdf", placeHolderAwarePp.fillInPlaceHolders(input, ctx));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMissingValueForPlaceholder() throws IOException {
+        String input = "asdf_${modelNotes}_asdf";
+        when(config.getModelNotes(any())).thenReturn(null);
+        assertEquals("asdf__asdf", placeHolderAwarePp.fillInPlaceHolders(input, createPostProcessingContext(rec, null, config)));
+    }
 }