diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/io/ProjectMetadataUtilities.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/io/ProjectMetadataUtilities.java
index 6eaf81bbf..e2b27dffb 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/io/ProjectMetadataUtilities.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/io/ProjectMetadataUtilities.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import java.time.ZoneId;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.exception.ExceptionUtils;
 import org.json.JSONException;
 import org.json.JSONWriter;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -74,10 +75,6 @@ public class ProjectMetadataUtilities {
         tempFile.renameTo(file);
     }
     
-    public static void saveTableSchema(Project project, File projectDir) throws JSONException, IOException  {
-
-    }
-    
     protected static void saveToFile(IMetadata projectMeta, File metadataFile) throws JSONException, IOException   {
         Writer writer = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(metadataFile));
         try {
@@ -89,22 +86,34 @@ public class ProjectMetadataUtilities {
     }
 
     static public ProjectMetadata load(File projectDir) {
-        try {
-            return loadFromFile(new File(projectDir, ProjectMetadata.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME));
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-        }
+        ProjectMetadata pm = null;
+        
+        pm = loadMetaDataIfExist(projectDir, ProjectMetadata.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME);
 
-        try {
-            return loadFromFile(new File(projectDir, ProjectMetadata.TEMP_FILE_NAME));
-        } catch (Exception e) {
+        if (pm == null) {
+            pm = loadMetaDataIfExist(projectDir, ProjectMetadata.TEMP_FILE_NAME);
+        } 
+        
+        if (pm == null) {
+            pm = loadMetaDataIfExist(projectDir, ProjectMetadata.OLD_FILE_NAME);
         }
+        
+        return pm;
+    }
 
-        try {
-            return loadFromFile(new File(projectDir, ProjectMetadata.OLD_FILE_NAME));
-        } catch (Exception e) {
+    private static ProjectMetadata loadMetaDataIfExist(File projectDir, String fileName) {
+        ProjectMetadata pm = null;
+        File file = new File(projectDir, fileName);
+        if (file.exists()) {
+            try {
+               pm = loadFromFile(file);
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                logger.warn("load metadata failed: " + file.getAbsolutePath());
+                logger.error(ExceptionUtils.getStackTrace(e));
+            }
         }
-
-        return null;
+        
+        return pm;
     }
     
     /**