diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 98c2f64..aa6bed1 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # ROMOPMappingTools 2.0.3
 
 - Added download button to vocabulary and database status tables
+- Force `ADD_INFO:validationMessages` and `ADD_INFO:autoUpdatingInfo` to be NA if they are empty
 
 # ROMOPMappingTools 2.0.2
 
diff --git a/R/buildStatusDashboard.R b/R/buildStatusDashboard.R
index 99c1d8b..996d30b 100644
--- a/R/buildStatusDashboard.R
+++ b/R/buildStatusDashboard.R
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ buildStatusDashboard <- function(
       statusSetBy = statusSetBy,
       fileIssue = paste0(
         "<a href='",
-        URLencode(paste0("https://github.com/", fileIssueRepo, "/issues/new?title=Issue with", sourceCode, " (", sourceVocabularyId, ")&body=Source code: ", sourceCode, "\nSource vocabulary: ", sourceVocabularyId, "\nSource concept name: ", sourceConceptName, "\nSource concept id: ", sourceConceptId, "\n\nStatus: ", status, "\n\nTarget concept ids: ", targetConceptIds_str, "\nTarget concept names: ", targetConceptNames_str, "\nTarget vocabulary: ", targetVocabularyIds_str, "\n\nPlease describe the issue hee: ")),
+        URLencode(paste0("https://github.com/", fileIssueRepo, "/issues/new?title=Issue with", sourceCode, " (", sourceVocabularyId, ")&body=Source code: ", sourceCode, "\nSource vocabulary: ", sourceVocabularyId, "\nSource concept name: ", sourceConceptName, "\nSource concept id: ", sourceConceptId, "\n\nStatus: ", status, "\n\nTarget concept ids: ", targetConceptIds_str, "\nTarget concept names: ", targetConceptNames_str, "\nTarget vocabulary: ", targetVocabularyIds_str, "\n\nPlease describe the issue here: ")),
         "' target='_blank'>File issue</a>"
       )
     ) |>
diff --git a/R/usagiFile.R b/R/usagiFile.R
index 2a2ae8e..5c2c0ff 100644
--- a/R/usagiFile.R
+++ b/R/usagiFile.R
@@ -164,5 +164,19 @@ writeUsagiFile <- function(usagiTibble, pathToUsagiFile) {
             dplyr::any_of(c(firstColNames, midColNames, lastColNames))
         )
 
+    # force "ADD_INFO:validationMessages" and "ADD_INFO:autoUpdatingInfo" to be NA if they are empty, if they exist
+    if ("ADD_INFO:validationMessages" %in% colNames) {
+        usagiTibble <- usagiTibble |>
+            dplyr::mutate(
+                `ADD_INFO:validationMessages` = ifelse(`ADD_INFO:validationMessages` == "", NA, `ADD_INFO:validationMessages`)
+            )
+    }
+    if ("ADD_INFO:autoUpdatingInfo" %in% colNames) {
+        usagiTibble <- usagiTibble |>
+            dplyr::mutate(
+                `ADD_INFO:autoUpdatingInfo` = ifelse(`ADD_INFO:autoUpdatingInfo` == "", NA, `ADD_INFO:autoUpdatingInfo`)
+            )
+    }
+
     readr::write_csv(usagiTibble, pathToUsagiFile, na = "")
 }