diff --git a/es-app/src/SystemData.cpp b/es-app/src/SystemData.cpp
index a33adf38c..1959b3282 100644
--- a/es-app/src/SystemData.cpp
+++ b/es-app/src/SystemData.cpp
@@ -1303,7 +1303,9 @@ void SystemData::loadTheme()
     }
 
     try {
-        // Build map with system variables for theme to use.
+        // Build a map with system variables for the theme to use. Assign a backspace character
+        // to the variables that are not applicable. This will be used in ThemeData to make sure
+        // unpopulated system variables do not lead to theme loading errors.
         std::map<std::string, std::string> sysData;
         sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.name", getName()));
         sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.theme", getThemeFolder()));
@@ -1315,6 +1317,10 @@ void SystemData::loadTheme()
                 std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.fullName.collections", getFullName()));
             sysData.insert(
                 std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.theme.collections", getThemeFolder()));
+            sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.name.noCollections", "\b"));
+            sysData.insert(
+                std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.fullName.noCollections", "\b"));
+            sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.theme.noCollections", "\b"));
         }
         else {
             sysData.insert(
@@ -1323,6 +1329,10 @@ void SystemData::loadTheme()
                                                                getFullName()));
             sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.theme.noCollections",
                                                                getThemeFolder()));
+            sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.name.collections", "\b"));
+            sysData.insert(
+                std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.fullName.collections", "\b"));
+            sysData.insert(std::pair<std::string, std::string>("system.theme.collections", "\b"));
         }
 
         mTheme->loadFile(sysData, path);
diff --git a/es-core/src/ThemeData.cpp b/es-core/src/ThemeData.cpp
index 495d03516..bbf67443e 100644
--- a/es-core/src/ThemeData.cpp
+++ b/es-core/src/ThemeData.cpp
@@ -1205,6 +1205,14 @@ void ThemeData::parseElement(const pugi::xml_node& root,
 
         std::string str {resolvePlaceholders(node.text().as_string())};
 
+        // Handle the special case with mutually exclusive system variables, for example
+        // system.fullName.collections and system.fullName.noCollections which can never
+        // exist at the same time. A backspace is assigned in SystemData to flag the
+        // variables that do not apply and if it's encountered here we simply skip the
+        // property.
+        if (!mLegacyTheme && str == "\b")
+            continue;
+
         // Skip this check for legacy themes to not break backward compatibility with some
         // themes sets that include empty property values.
         if (!mLegacyTheme && str == "")