diff --git a/src/services/parse_filters.js b/src/services/parse_filters.js
index 17166b1fa..e6c04beca 100644
--- a/src/services/parse_filters.js
+++ b/src/services/parse_filters.js
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ function calculateSmartValue(v) {
 module.exports = function (searchText) {
     // if the string doesn't start with attribute then we consider it as just standard full text search
     if (!searchText.trim().startsWith("@")) {
-        const sanitizedSearchText = searchText.replace(/[^\w ]+/g, "");
+        // replace with space instead of empty string since these characters are probably separators
+        const sanitizedSearchText = searchText.replace(/[^\w ]+/g, " ");
 
         return [
             {
diff --git a/src/www b/src/www
index 943aeaf88..4d919657f 100755
--- a/src/www
+++ b/src/www
@@ -35,6 +35,14 @@ async function startTrilium() {
     app.set('port', usedPort);
 
     if (config['Network']['https']) {
+        if (!config['Network']['keyPath'] || !config['Network']['keyPath'].trim().length) {
+            throw new Error("keyPath in config.ini is required when https=true, but it's empty");
+        }
+
+        if (!config['Network']['certPath'] || !config['Network']['certPath'].trim().length) {
+            throw new Error("certPath in config.ini is required when https=true, but it's empty");
+        }
+
         const options = {
             key: fs.readFileSync(config['Network']['keyPath']),
             cert: fs.readFileSync(config['Network']['certPath'])