diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Base.java b/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
index bb1b37bc2..27408b566 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
@@ -1625,13 +1625,13 @@ public class Base {
         nextMode = mode;
       }
       */
-      handleOpenInternal(pdeFile.getAbsolutePath(), false);
+      return handleOpenInternal(pdeFile.getAbsolutePath(), false);
 
     } catch (IOException e) {
       Messages.showWarning("sketch.properties",
         "Error while reading sketch.properties from\n" + parentFolder, e);
+      return null;
     }
-    return null;
   }