diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java b/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java
index b0371592e..b88e1416d 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Preferences.java
@@ -336,7 +336,15 @@ static public void setBoolean(String attribute, boolean value) {
 
 
   static public int getInteger(String attribute /*, int defaultValue*/) {
-    return Integer.parseInt(get(attribute));
+    try {
+      return Integer.parseInt(get(attribute));
+    } catch (NumberFormatException err) {
+      try {
+        return Integer.parseInt(getDefault(attribute));
+      } catch (NumberFormatException err2) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot parse: " + attribute);
+      }
+    }
   }