diff --git a/src/Mod/Material/MaterialEditor.py b/src/Mod/Material/MaterialEditor.py
index 8a1e671b8bea..496d46126716 100644
--- a/src/Mod/Material/MaterialEditor.py
+++ b/src/Mod/Material/MaterialEditor.py
@@ -235,7 +235,11 @@ def getDict(self):
             for i2 in range(w.childCount()):
                 c = w.child(i2)
                 # TODO the following should be translated back to english,since text(0) could be translated
-                d[self.collapseKey(str(c.text(0)))] = unicode(c.text(1))
+                matkey = self.collapseKey(str(c.text(0)))
+                matvalue = unicode(c.text(1))
+                if matvalue or (matkey == 'Name'):  
+                    # use only keys which are not empty and the name even if empty
+                    d[matkey] = matvalue
         return d
 
 
diff --git a/src/Mod/Material/importFCMat.py b/src/Mod/Material/importFCMat.py
index f12a77b72fab..2c0b290be2ad 100644
--- a/src/Mod/Material/importFCMat.py
+++ b/src/Mod/Material/importFCMat.py
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@ def write(filename,dictionary):
                 # if the section has no contents, we don't write it
                 f.write("[" + s["keyname"] + "]\n")
                 for k,i in s.iteritems():
-                    if k != "keyname":
+                    if (k != "keyname" and i != '') or k == "Name":
+                        # use only keys which are not empty and the name even if empty
                         f.write(k + "=" + i.encode('utf-8') + "\n")
                 f.write("\n")
     f.close()