diff --git a/src/mu-msg.c b/src/mu-msg.c
index 0a4369b7..8e8bf9ec 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg.c
+++ b/src/mu-msg.c
@@ -645,8 +645,10 @@ part_to_string (GMimePart *part, gboolean convert_utf8, gboolean *err)
 	}
 
 	buflen = g_mime_data_wrapper_write_to_stream (wrapper, stream);
-	if (buflen <= 0)  /* empty buffer */
+	if (buflen <= 0)  {/* empty buffer, not an error */
+		*err = FALSE;
 		goto cleanup;
+	}
 	
 	buffer = stream_to_string (stream, (size_t)buflen, convert_utf8);