diff --git a/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts b/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts
index 71ce4ba9ac..fcfaecf2b4 100644
--- a/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-core/src/db/lucene.ts
@@ -417,7 +417,7 @@ export class QueryBuilder<T> {
       })
     }
     if (this.query.empty) {
-      build(this.query.empty, (key: string) => `!${key}:["" TO *]`)
+      build(this.query.empty, (key: string) => `(*:* -${key}:["" TO *])`)
     }
     if (this.query.notEmpty) {
       build(this.query.notEmpty, (key: string) => `${key}:["" TO *]`)
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/internalSearch.spec.js b/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/internalSearch.spec.js
index 6ad333b87a..8d57d2ee1c 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/internalSearch.spec.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/routes/tests/internalSearch.spec.js
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ describe("internal search", () => {
         "column": "",
       },
     }, PARAMS)
-    checkLucene(response, `*:* AND !column:["" TO *]`, PARAMS)
+    checkLucene(response, `*:* AND (*:* -column:["" TO *])`, PARAMS)
   })
 
   it("test notEmpty query", async () => {