diff --git a/src/Spreadsheet/DataMap.fs b/src/Spreadsheet/DataMap.fs
index 0e3076d3..3a1ac207 100644
--- a/src/Spreadsheet/DataMap.fs
+++ b/src/Spreadsheet/DataMap.fs
@@ -7,12 +7,18 @@ open FsSpreadsheet
 /// Reads an datamap from a spreadsheet
 let fromFsWorkbook (doc : FsWorkbook) = 
     try
+        let worksheets = doc.GetWorksheets()
+        let sheetIsEmpty (sheet : FsWorksheet) = sheet.CellCollection.Count = 0
         let dataMapTable = 
-            doc.GetWorksheets()
+            worksheets
             |> Seq.tryPick DataMapTable.tryFromFsWorksheet
         match dataMapTable with
         | Some table -> table
-        | None -> failwith "No DataMapTable found in workbook"
+        | None -> 
+            if worksheets |> Seq.forall sheetIsEmpty then
+                DataMap.init()
+            else
+                failwith "No DataMapTable was found in any of the sheets of the workbook"
     with
     | err -> failwithf "Could not parse datamap: \n%s" err.Message
             
diff --git a/tests/Spreadsheet/DataMapTests.fs b/tests/Spreadsheet/DataMapTests.fs
index 68c884c7..17434329 100644
--- a/tests/Spreadsheet/DataMapTests.fs
+++ b/tests/Spreadsheet/DataMapTests.fs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-module DataMapTests
+module DataMapTests
 
 
 open ARCtrl
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ let private emptyTable =
         testCase "Write" (fun () -> 
             let sheet = DataMapTable.toFsWorksheet t
             Expect.equal "isa_datamap" sheet.Name "Worksheet name did not match"
-            Expect.equal 0 sheet.Rows.Count "Row count should be 0"
+            Expect.equal 0 sheet.Rows.Count "Row count should be 0"           
         )
         testCase "Read" (fun () ->
             let sheet = DataMapTable.toFsWorksheet t
@@ -168,10 +168,20 @@ let private simpleFile =
         )
     ]
 
+let private emptyDatamap = 
+    testList "emptyDatamap" [       
+        testCase "WriteAndRead" (fun () ->
+            let t = DataMap.init()
+            let wb = DataMap.toFsWorkbook t
+            let datamap = DataMap.fromFsWorkbook wb
+            Expect.equal datamap t "DataMap was not correctly written and read"
+        )
+    ]
 let main = 
     testList "DataMapTableTests" [
         simpleTable
         valuelessTable
         emptyTable
         simpleFile
+        emptyDatamap
     ]
\ No newline at end of file