diff --git a/crates/language/src/language_settings.rs b/crates/language/src/language_settings.rs
index 73904516f982ee31ada88f6bee486d5512853a11..2801203982d4cb968fb8d956f39effd6796472d6 100644
--- a/crates/language/src/language_settings.rs
+++ b/crates/language/src/language_settings.rs
@@ -545,8 +545,8 @@ impl settings::Settings for AllLanguageSettings {
                 edit_predictions_disabled_in: settings.edit_predictions_disabled_in.unwrap(),
                 show_whitespaces: settings.show_whitespaces.unwrap(),
                 whitespace_map: WhitespaceMap {
-                    space: SharedString::new(whitespace_map.space.to_string()),
-                    tab: SharedString::new(whitespace_map.tab.to_string()),
+                    space: SharedString::new(whitespace_map.space.unwrap().to_string()),
+                    tab: SharedString::new(whitespace_map.tab.unwrap().to_string()),
                 },
                 extend_comment_on_newline: settings.extend_comment_on_newline.unwrap(),
                 inlay_hints: InlayHintSettings {
diff --git a/crates/settings/src/settings_content/language.rs b/crates/settings/src/settings_content/language.rs
index 493b3813d3d613eebc3031276a072804fe3b7c55..0ff334e4aca5907f5204602e42a4a462d2b00450 100644
--- a/crates/settings/src/settings_content/language.rs
+++ b/crates/settings/src/settings_content/language.rs
@@ -355,8 +355,8 @@ pub enum ShowWhitespaceSetting {
 #[skip_serializing_none]
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Default, Serialize, Deserialize, JsonSchema, MergeFrom, PartialEq)]
 pub struct WhitespaceMapContent {
-    pub space: char,
-    pub tab: char,
+    pub space: Option<char>,
+    pub tab: Option<char>,
 }
 
 /// The behavior of `editor::Rewrap`.