diff --git a/mango/processing/file_functions.py b/mango/processing/file_functions.py
index 33ef29d7..9cd4730d 100644
--- a/mango/processing/file_functions.py
+++ b/mango/processing/file_functions.py
@@ -389,6 +389,8 @@ def load_str_iterable(v):
             return ast.literal_eval(v)
         except SyntaxError:
             return v
+        except ValueError:
+            return v
     else:
         return v