diff --git a/commafeed-server/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporter.java b/commafeed-server/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporter.java
index e9af1d16..a81b79b7 100644
--- a/commafeed-server/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporter.java
+++ b/commafeed-server/src/main/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporter.java
@@ -47,7 +47,11 @@ public class OPMLImporter {
 
     private void handleOutline(User user, Outline outline, FeedCategory parent, int position) {
         List<Outline> children = outline.getChildren();
-        if (CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty(children)) {
+        // an outline without children is an empty category, unless it describes a feed or another type of content
+        boolean isCategory =
+                CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty(children)
+                        || StringUtils.isBlank(outline.getXmlUrl()) && StringUtils.isBlank(outline.getType());
+        if (isCategory) {
             String name = FeedUtils.truncate(outline.getText(), 128);
             if (name == null) {
                 name = FeedUtils.truncate(outline.getTitle(), 128);
diff --git a/commafeed-server/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporterTest.java b/commafeed-server/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporterTest.java
index b65ceaee..a67306ac 100644
--- a/commafeed-server/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporterTest.java
+++ b/commafeed-server/src/test/java/com/commafeed/backend/opml/OPMLImporterTest.java
@@ -1,21 +1,39 @@
 package com.commafeed.backend.opml;
 
 import com.commafeed.backend.dao.FeedCategoryDAO;
+import com.commafeed.backend.dao.FeedSubscriptionDAO;
 import com.commafeed.backend.feed.parser.XMLCleaner;
 import com.commafeed.backend.model.FeedCategory;
 import com.commafeed.backend.model.User;
 import com.commafeed.backend.service.FeedSubscriptionService;
 import com.rometools.rome.io.FeedException;
+import com.rometools.rome.io.WireFeedOutput;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
 
 class OPMLImporterTest {
 
+    private final XMLCleaner xmlCleaner = Mockito.mock(XMLCleaner.class);
+    private final FeedCategoryDAO feedCategoryDAO = Mockito.mock(FeedCategoryDAO.class);
+    private final FeedSubscriptionService feedSubscriptionService = Mockito.mock(FeedSubscriptionService.class);
+    private final OPMLImporter importer = new OPMLImporter(xmlCleaner, feedCategoryDAO, feedSubscriptionService);
+    private final User user = new User();
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void init() {
+        Mockito.when(xmlCleaner.clean(Mockito.anyString())).thenAnswer(invocation -> invocation.getArgument(0));
+    }
+
     @Test
     void testOpmlV10() throws IOException, IllegalArgumentException, FeedException {
         testOpmlVersion("/opml/opml_v1.0.xml");
@@ -37,15 +55,8 @@ class OPMLImporterTest {
     }
 
     private void testOpmlVersion(String fileName) throws IOException, IllegalArgumentException, FeedException {
-        XMLCleaner xmlCleaner = Mockito.mock(XMLCleaner.class);
-        FeedCategoryDAO feedCategoryDAO = Mockito.mock(FeedCategoryDAO.class);
-        FeedSubscriptionService feedSubscriptionService = Mockito.mock(FeedSubscriptionService.class);
-        User user = Mockito.mock(User.class);
-
-        Mockito.when(xmlCleaner.clean(Mockito.anyString())).thenAnswer(invocation -> invocation.getArgument(0));
         String xml = IOUtils.toString(getClass().getResourceAsStream(fileName), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
 
-        OPMLImporter importer = new OPMLImporter(xmlCleaner, feedCategoryDAO, feedSubscriptionService);
         importer.importOpml(user, xml);
 
         Mockito.verify(feedSubscriptionService)
@@ -56,4 +67,49 @@ class OPMLImporterTest {
                         Mockito.any(FeedCategory.class),
                         Mockito.anyInt());
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void testEmptyCategoriesRoundTrip() throws FeedException {
+        FeedCategory root = newCategory("root", null);
+        FeedCategory parent = newCategory("parent", null);
+        parent.setId(1L);
+        FeedCategory child = newCategory("child", parent);
+        Mockito.when(feedCategoryDAO.findAll(user)).thenReturn(Arrays.asList(root, parent, child));
+
+        OPMLExporter exporter = new OPMLExporter(feedCategoryDAO, Mockito.mock(FeedSubscriptionDAO.class));
+        importer.importOpml(user, new WireFeedOutput().outputString(exporter.export(user)));
+
+        ArgumentCaptor<FeedCategory> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(FeedCategory.class);
+        Mockito.verify(feedCategoryDAO, Mockito.times(3)).persist(captor.capture());
+        List<FeedCategory> imported = captor.getAllValues();
+        Assertions.assertEquals(
+                List.of("root", "parent", "child"), imported.stream().map(FeedCategory::getName).toList());
+        Assertions.assertNull(imported.get(0).getParent());
+        Assertions.assertNull(imported.get(1).getParent());
+        Assertions.assertSame(imported.get(1), imported.get(2).getParent());
+        Mockito.verifyNoInteractions(feedSubscriptionService);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testOutlineWithTypeAndNoFeedUrlIsNotACategory() throws FeedException {
+        String xml =
+                """
+                <opml version="1.0">
+                  <body>
+                    <outline type="link" text="bookmark"/>
+                  </body>
+                </opml>
+                """;
+
+        importer.importOpml(user, xml);
+
+        Mockito.verify(feedCategoryDAO, Mockito.never()).persist(Mockito.any(FeedCategory.class));
+    }
+
+    private FeedCategory newCategory(String name, FeedCategory parent) {
+        FeedCategory category = new FeedCategory();
+        category.setName(name);
+        category.setParent(parent);
+        return category;
+    }
 }