diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e99a6275..07ead2ba 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ CHANGELOG for FlatCAM beta
 - set the default layout on first run to the 'minimal' value
 - modified the method that detects which tab was closed in the Plot Area so it will no longer depend on it's translated text but on it's objectName set on the QTab creation
 - fixed the merge methods for all FlatCAM objects
+- fixed a SyntaxError Exception when checking for types of found old preferences
 
 28.04.2020
 
diff --git a/defaults.py b/defaults.py
index 42901b6e..3d880db0 100644
--- a/defaults.py
+++ b/defaults.py
@@ -775,13 +775,13 @@ class FlatCAMDefaults:
                 # may be stored as strings we check their types.
                 try:
                     target = eval(self.defaults[k])
-                except (NameError, TypeError):
+                except (NameError, TypeError, SyntaxError):
                     # it's an unknown string leave it as it is
                     target = deepcopy(self.factory_defaults[k])
 
                 try:
                     source = eval(v)
-                except NameError:
+                except (NameError, TypeError, SyntaxError):
                     # it's an unknown string leave it as it is
                     source = deepcopy(v)