diff --git a/portals/publisher/src/main/webapp/source/src/app/components/Base/Header/headersearch/SearchUtils.jsx b/portals/publisher/src/main/webapp/source/src/app/components/Base/Header/headersearch/SearchUtils.jsx
index ba560298129..4d8c5b1638f 100644
--- a/portals/publisher/src/main/webapp/source/src/app/components/Base/Header/headersearch/SearchUtils.jsx
+++ b/portals/publisher/src/main/webapp/source/src/app/components/Base/Header/headersearch/SearchUtils.jsx
@@ -201,9 +201,14 @@ function buildSearchQuery(searchText) {
  * @returns {Promise} If no input text, return a promise which resolve to empty array, else return the API.all response
  */
 function getSuggestions(value) {
+    // Skip empty and invalid inputs such as queries ending with a colon
+    if (value.trim().length === 0 || /:(\s+|(?![\s\S]))/g.test(value)) {
+        return new Promise((resolve) => resolve({ obj: { list: [] } }));
+    }
+    
     const modifiedSearchQuery = buildSearchQuery(value);
 
-    if (value.trim().length === 0 || !modifiedSearchQuery) {
+    if (!modifiedSearchQuery) {
         return new Promise((resolve) => resolve({ obj: { list: [] } }));
     } else {
         return API.search({ query: modifiedSearchQuery, limit: 8 });