diff --git a/gui/mainwindow.cpp b/gui/mainwindow.cpp
index 8035b6da78b..ff2b63d3a75 100644
--- a/gui/mainwindow.cpp
+++ b/gui/mainwindow.cpp
@@ -1122,7 +1122,7 @@ bool MainWindow::getCppcheckSettings(Settings& settings, Suppressions& supprs)
         for (const QString& undefine : undefines)
             settings.userUndefs.insert(undefine.toStdString());
 
-        settings.userIncludes.push_back(mProjectFile->getUserInclude().toStdString());
+        mProjectFile->setSettingsUserIncludes(settings);
 
         const QStringList libraries = mProjectFile->getLibraries();
         for (const QString& library : libraries) {
diff --git a/gui/projectfile.cpp b/gui/projectfile.cpp
index ce2d066fd71..d2b468443fa 100644
--- a/gui/projectfile.cpp
+++ b/gui/projectfile.cpp
@@ -1078,6 +1078,12 @@ void ProjectFile::writeStringList(QXmlStreamWriter &xmlWriter, const QStringList
     xmlWriter.writeEndElement();
 }
 
+void ProjectFile::setSettingsUserIncludes(Settings &settings) const
+{
+    if (!mUserInclude.isEmpty())
+        settings.userIncludes.push_back(mUserInclude.toStdString());
+}
+
 QStringList ProjectFile::fromNativeSeparators(const QStringList &paths)
 {
     QStringList ret;
diff --git a/gui/projectfile.h b/gui/projectfile.h
index 9d3b22d15e4..0dd68b58453 100644
--- a/gui/projectfile.h
+++ b/gui/projectfile.h
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class ProjectFile : public QObject {
     }
 
     void setUserInclude(const QString& userInclude) {
-        mUserInclude = userInclude;
+        mUserInclude = userInclude.trimmed();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -452,8 +452,13 @@ class ProjectFile : public QObject {
 
     /** Get paths where we should glob for certain files (dir="cfg"/"platforms"/etc */
     QStringList getSearchPaths(const QString& dir) const;
+
     static QStringList getSearchPaths(const QString& projectPath, const QString& appPath, const QString& datadir, const QString& dir);
 
+    /** Set user includes in settings if non-empty */
+    void setSettingsUserIncludes(Settings &settings) const;
+
+
 protected:
 
     /**
diff --git a/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.cpp b/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.cpp
index b38de056ec3..dbc4cb51659 100644
--- a/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.cpp
+++ b/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.cpp
@@ -199,5 +199,14 @@ void TestProjectFile::getCheckingSuppressionsStar() const
     QCOMPARE(projectFile.getCheckingSuppressions()[0].fileName, "*.cpp");
 }
 
+void TestProjectFile::emptyUserInclude() const
+{
+    ProjectFile projectFile;
+    Settings settings;
+    projectFile.setUserInclude("   ");
+    projectFile.setSettingsUserIncludes(settings);
+    QCOMPARE(settings.userIncludes.size(), 0);
+}
+
 QTEST_MAIN(TestProjectFile)
 
diff --git a/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.h b/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.h
index 027c7069706..18f38d0eb39 100644
--- a/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.h
+++ b/gui/test/projectfile/testprojectfile.h
@@ -36,4 +36,6 @@ private slots:
     void getCheckingSuppressionsRelative() const;
     void getCheckingSuppressionsAbsolute() const;
     void getCheckingSuppressionsStar() const;
+
+    void emptyUserInclude() const;
 };