diff --git a/roda-core/roda-core/src/main/java/org/roda/core/index/IndexModelObserver.java b/roda-core/roda-core/src/main/java/org/roda/core/index/IndexModelObserver.java
index a80a75f0ec..a419bddf8e 100644
--- a/roda-core/roda-core/src/main/java/org/roda/core/index/IndexModelObserver.java
+++ b/roda-core/roda-core/src/main/java/org/roda/core/index/IndexModelObserver.java
@@ -289,9 +289,11 @@ private ReturnWithExceptions<Void, ModelObserver> indexRepresentation(final AIP
         // suppose that all suffixes in othermetadata are like this
         // ".metadata.<real_suffix>
         String fileId = otherMetadata.get().getFileId();
-        suffix = fileId.substring(fileId.lastIndexOf(".")) + suffix;
-        fileId = fileId.substring(0, fileId.lastIndexOf("."));
 
+        if (fileId.lastIndexOf(".") != -1) {
+          suffix = fileId.substring(fileId.lastIndexOf(".")) + suffix;
+          fileId = fileId.substring(0, fileId.lastIndexOf("."));
+        }
         OtherMetadata om = model.retrieveOtherMetadata(aip.getId(), representation.getId(), path, fileId, suffix, type);
 
         otherMetadataCreated(om);