diff --git a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp
index 89793b6b1f..e67319598e 100644
--- a/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp
+++ b/src/frontends/qt4/GuiView.cpp
@@ -1742,9 +1742,14 @@ void GuiView::insertPlaintextFile(docstring const & fname,
 	bool asParagraph)
 {
 	BufferView * bv = view();
-	if (!bv || !FileName::isAbsolute(to_utf8(fname)))
+	if (!bv)
 		return;
 
+	if (!fname.empty() && !FileName::isAbsolute(to_utf8(fname))) {
+		message(_("Absolute filename expected."));
+		return;
+	}
+
 	// FIXME UNICODE
 	FileName filename(to_utf8(fname));