diff --git a/src/entities/note.js b/src/entities/note.js
index fa43dbd13..c7451c1fd 100644
--- a/src/entities/note.js
+++ b/src/entities/note.js
@@ -72,10 +72,19 @@ class Note extends Entity {
      */
 
     /** @returns {Promise<*>} */
-    async getContent() {
+    async getContent(silentNotFoundError = false) {
         if (this.content === undefined) {
             const res = await sql.getRow(`SELECT content, hash FROM note_contents WHERE noteId = ?`, [this.noteId]);
 
+            if (!res) {
+                if (silentNotFoundError) {
+                    return undefined;
+                }
+                else {
+                    throw new Error("Cannot find note content for noteId=" + this.noteId);
+                }
+            }
+
             this.content = res.content;
             this.contentHash = res.contentHash; // used only for note_fulltext consistency check
 
diff --git a/src/services/note_fulltext.js b/src/services/note_fulltext.js
index 8342a5a6f..578541d13 100644
--- a/src/services/note_fulltext.js
+++ b/src/services/note_fulltext.js
@@ -19,13 +19,16 @@ async function updateNoteFulltext(note) {
         let contentHash = null;
 
         if (['text', 'code'].includes(note.type)) {
-            content = await note.getContent();
+            content = await note.getContent(true);
 
-            if (note.type === 'text' && note.mime === 'text/html') {
-                content = html2plaintext(content);
+            // might not be available during sync before note_contents is synced
+            if (content) {
+                if (note.type === 'text' && note.mime === 'text/html') {
+                    content = html2plaintext(content);
+                }
+
+                contentHash = note.contentHash;
             }
-
-            contentHash = note.contentHash;
         }
 
         // optimistically try to update first ...