diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs
index 6eb23bcc0d..86c2176f67 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs
@@ -124,7 +124,15 @@ sqlCipherExport DBEncryptionConfig {currentKey = DBEncryptionKey key, newKey = D
       where
         withDB a err =
           liftIO (bracket (SQL.open $ T.pack f) SQL.close a)
-            `catch` \(e :: SomeException) -> liftIO (putStrLn $ "Database error: " <> show e) >> throwDBError (err $ show e)
+            `catch` (\(e :: SQL.SQLError) -> log' e >> checkSQLError e)
+            `catch` (\(e :: SomeException) -> log' e >> throwSQLError e)
+          where
+            log' e = liftIO . putStrLn $ "Database error: " <> show e
+            checkSQLError e = case SQL.sqlError e of
+              SQL.ErrorNotADatabase -> throwDBError $ err SQLiteErrorNotADatabase
+              _ -> throwSQLError e
+            throwSQLError :: Show e => e -> m ()
+            throwSQLError = throwDBError . err . SQLiteError . show
         exportSQL =
           T.unlines $
             keySQL key
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
index 37527ea065..9d4d1cae4b 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ data ChatError
   = ChatError {errorType :: ChatErrorType}
   | ChatErrorAgent {agentError :: AgentErrorType}
   | ChatErrorStore {storeError :: StoreError}
-  | ChatErrorDatabase {database :: DatabaseError}
+  | ChatErrorDatabase {databaseError :: DatabaseError}
   deriving (Show, Exception, Generic)
 
 instance ToJSON ChatError where
@@ -455,13 +455,20 @@ data DatabaseError
   = DBErrorEncrypted
   | DBErrorPlaintext
   | DBErrorNoFile {dbFile :: String}
-  | DBErrorExport {databaseError :: String}
-  | DBErrorOpen {databaseError :: String}
+  | DBErrorExport {sqliteError :: SQLiteError}
+  | DBErrorOpen {sqliteError :: SQLiteError}
   deriving (Show, Exception, Generic)
 
 instance ToJSON DatabaseError where
-  toJSON = J.genericToJSON . sumTypeJSON $ dropPrefix "DBE"
-  toEncoding = J.genericToEncoding . sumTypeJSON $ dropPrefix "DBE"
+  toJSON = J.genericToJSON . sumTypeJSON $ dropPrefix "DB"
+  toEncoding = J.genericToEncoding . sumTypeJSON $ dropPrefix "DB"
+
+data SQLiteError = SQLiteErrorNotADatabase | SQLiteError String
+  deriving (Show, Exception, Generic)
+
+instance ToJSON SQLiteError where
+  toJSON = J.genericToJSON . sumTypeJSON $ dropPrefix "SQLite"
+  toEncoding = J.genericToEncoding . sumTypeJSON $ dropPrefix "SQLite"
 
 throwDBError :: ChatMonad m => DatabaseError -> m ()
 throwDBError = throwError . ChatErrorDatabase