diff --git a/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts b/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts
index a43ff8f13a..4fbbbf3eb0 100644
--- a/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts
+++ b/api/js/etemplate/Et2Select/FindSelectOptions.ts
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ export function cleanSelectOptions(options : SelectOption[] | string[] | object)
 			{
 				option = {label: option};
 			}
-			option.value = key.trim();	// link_search prefixes keys with one space
+			option.value = option.value??key.trim();	// link_search prefixes keys with one space
 			fixed_options.push(option);
 		}
 	}