diff --git a/src/hello_imgui_demos/hello_imgui_demodocking/hello_imgui_demodocking.main.cpp b/src/hello_imgui_demos/hello_imgui_demodocking/hello_imgui_demodocking.main.cpp
index a11d0363..30da0336 100644
--- a/src/hello_imgui_demos/hello_imgui_demodocking/hello_imgui_demodocking.main.cpp
+++ b/src/hello_imgui_demos/hello_imgui_demodocking/hello_imgui_demodocking.main.cpp
@@ -123,6 +123,8 @@ std::string MyAppSettingsToString(const MyAppSettings& myAppSettings)
 }
 MyAppSettings StringToMyAppSettings(const std::string& s)
 {
+    if (s.empty())
+        return MyAppSettings();
     MyAppSettings myAppSettings;
     using namespace nlohmann;
     try {