diff --git a/__tests__/buildFile.test.js b/__tests__/buildFile.test.js
index 55cdd71f6..449e11a46 100644
--- a/__tests__/buildFile.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/buildFile.test.js
@@ -85,6 +85,25 @@ describe('buildFile', () => {
     expect(JSON.stringify(GroupMessages.fetchMessages(PROPERTY_NAME_COLLISION_WARNINGS))).toBe(expectJSON);
   });
 
+  let destEmptyProperties = './__tests__/__output/test.emptyProperties';
+  it('should warn when a file is not created because of empty properties', () => {
+    let properties = {
+      allProperties: [{
+        name: 'someName',
+        attributes: { category: 'category1' },
+        path: ['some', 'name', 'path1'],
+        value: 'value1'
+      }]
+    };
+
+    let filter = function(prop) {
+      return prop.attributes.category === 'category2';
+    }
+
+    buildFile(destEmptyProperties, format, {}, properties, filter);
+    expect(helpers.fileExists('./__tests__/__output/test.emptyProperties')).toBeFalsy();
+  });
+
   it('should write to a file properly', () => {
     buildFile({
         destination: 'test.txt',
diff --git a/lib/buildFile.js b/lib/buildFile.js
index 779052170..e6c5ad5f2 100644
--- a/lib/buildFile.js
+++ b/lib/buildFile.js
@@ -49,6 +49,17 @@ function buildFile(file = {}, platform = {}, dictionary = {}) {
 
   var filteredProperties = filterProperties(dictionary, filter);
 
+  // if properties object is empty, return without creating a file
+  if (
+    filteredProperties.hasOwnProperty('properties') &&
+    Object.keys(filteredProperties.properties).length === 0 &&
+    filteredProperties.properties.constructor === Object
+  ) {
+    let warnNoFile = `No properties for ${destination}. File not created.`;
+    console.log(chalk.keyword('darkorange')(warnNoFile));
+    return null;
+  }
+
   // Check for property name Collisions
   var nameCollisionObj = {};
   filteredProperties.allProperties && filteredProperties.allProperties.forEach((propertyData) => {