diff --git a/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py b/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py
index 081c2c12b..6a23a701a 100644
--- a/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py
+++ b/src/documents/management/commands/document_exporter.py
@@ -565,9 +565,10 @@ class Command(CryptMixin, BaseCommand):
                 crypt_fields = crypt_config["fields"]
                 for manifest_record in manifest[exporter_key]:
                     for field in crypt_fields:
-                        manifest_record["fields"][field] = self.encrypt_string(
-                            value=manifest_record["fields"][field],
-                        )
+                        if manifest_record["fields"][field]:
+                            manifest_record["fields"][field] = self.encrypt_string(
+                                value=manifest_record["fields"][field],
+                            )
 
         elif (
             MailAccount.objects.count() > 0
diff --git a/src/documents/management/commands/document_importer.py b/src/documents/management/commands/document_importer.py
index a402466f4..08812e9d0 100644
--- a/src/documents/management/commands/document_importer.py
+++ b/src/documents/management/commands/document_importer.py
@@ -414,9 +414,10 @@ class Command(CryptMixin, BaseCommand):
                 ):
                     had_at_least_one_record = True
                     for field in crypt_fields:
-                        record["fields"][field] = self.decrypt_string(
-                            value=record["fields"][field],
-                        )
+                        if record["fields"][field]:
+                            record["fields"][field] = self.decrypt_string(
+                                value=record["fields"][field],
+                            )
 
             if had_at_least_one_record:
                 # It's annoying, but the DB is loaded from the JSON directly