diff --git a/oml/item/models.py b/oml/item/models.py
index 3037245..61732d1 100644
--- a/oml/item/models.py
+++ b/oml/item/models.py
@@ -733,7 +733,13 @@ class File(db.Model):
             return re.sub(r'^\.|\.$|:|/|\?|<|>|\\|\*|\||"', '_', string)
         prefs = settings.preferences
         prefix = os.sep.join(os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(prefs['libraryPath']), 'Books/').split('/'))
-        if not self.item:
+        not_item = False
+        try:
+            not_item = not self.item
+        except:
+            logger.debug('trying to move an item that was just deleted', exc_info=True)
+            not_item = True
+        if not_item:
             return
         j = self.item.json(keys=['title', 'author', 'publisher', 'date', 'extension'])