diff --git a/dashboards-reports/public/components/utils/settings_service.ts b/dashboards-reports/public/components/utils/settings_service.ts
index a24e10f2..f1baf906 100644
--- a/dashboards-reports/public/components/utils/settings_service.ts
+++ b/dashboards-reports/public/components/utils/settings_service.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,6 @@ export const uiSettingsService = {
     uiSettings = client;
   },
   get: (key: string, defaultOverride?: any) => {
-    return uiSettings?.get(key, defaultOverride);
+    return uiSettings?.get(key, defaultOverride) || '';
   },
 };
diff --git a/dashboards-reports/server/routes/report.ts b/dashboards-reports/server/routes/report.ts
index 3dd64ccb..be13d7ee 100644
--- a/dashboards-reports/server/routes/report.ts
+++ b/dashboards-reports/server/routes/report.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ export default function (router: IRouter, accessInfo: AccessInfoType) {
         }),
         query: schema.object({
           timezone: schema.string(),
-          dateFormat: schema.string(),
+          dateFormat: schema.maybe(schema.string()),
         }),
       },
     },
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ export default function (router: IRouter, accessInfo: AccessInfoType) {
         }),
         query: schema.object({
           timezone: schema.string(),
-          dateFormat: schema.string(),
+          dateFormat: schema.maybe(schema.string()),
         }),
       },
     },