diff --git a/app/components.js b/app/components.js
index 84ddc6619859de2ed4320572ba81e649f210d1b4..b5bb2a04b889d96cf3505d929e9e4db9a58d7b4f 100644
--- a/app/components.js
+++ b/app/components.js
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@ handlebars.registerHelper('n', function(object){
 // escapes so that the object can go in a double quote (") string
 handlebars.registerHelper('e', function(object){
   let s = stringify(object)
-  if (!s.startsWith('"'))
+  if (s === undefined)
+    s = '""'
+  else if (!s.startsWith('"'))
     s = stringify(s)
   return new handlebars.SafeString(s.slice(1, s.length-1))
 });