diff --git a/capplets/default-applications/ChangeLog b/capplets/default-applications/ChangeLog
index c7192e919..c93e8fb13 100644
--- a/capplets/default-applications/ChangeLog
+++ b/capplets/default-applications/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2002-05-20  jacob berkman  <jacob@ximian.com>
+
+	* gnome-default-applications-properties.c (text_apply_editor):
+	just return if there's no text in the entry (fixes #8200, from Soren Sandmann
+	<sandmann@daimi.au.dk>)
+
 2002-05-16  jacob berkman  <jacob@ximian.com>
 
 	* gnome-default-applications-properties.glade: turn off help tab,
diff --git a/capplets/default-applications/gnome-default-applications-properties.c b/capplets/default-applications/gnome-default-applications-properties.c
index eefba0263..6a502b37b 100644
--- a/capplets/default-applications/gnome-default-applications-properties.c
+++ b/capplets/default-applications/gnome-default-applications-properties.c
@@ -268,6 +268,10 @@ text_apply_editor (GtkWidget *entry,
 
 	editor = gtk_entry_get_text (GTK_ENTRY (WID ("text_select_combo_entry")));
 
+	/* don't do anything if it was cleared. */
+	if (!*editor)
+		return;
+
 	for (li = text_editors; li; li = li->next) {
 		mime_app = li->data;
 		if (! strcmp (mime_app->name, editor)) {