diff --git a/user/selector/lib.php b/user/selector/lib.php
index 2a6ad70..fb3dbc4 100644
--- a/user/selector/lib.php
+++ b/user/selector/lib.php
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ abstract class user_selector_base {
         // If $groupedusers is empty, make a 'no matching users' group. If there is
         // only one selected user, set a flag to select them if that option is turned on.
         $select = false;
-        if (empty($groupedusers)) {
+        if (empty($groupedusers) && !empty($search)) {
             $groupedusers = array(get_string('nomatchingusers', '', $search) => array());
         } else if ($this->autoselectunique && count($groupedusers) == 1 &&
                 count(reset($groupedusers)) == 1) {
diff --git a/user/selector/script.js b/user/selector/script.js
index dd8bac2..89a226e 100644
--- a/user/selector/script.js
+++ b/user/selector/script.js
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ user_selector.prototype.output_options = function(data) {
         nogroups = false;
     }
 
-    if (nogroups) {
+    if (nogroups && (this.lastsearch != "")) {
         this.output_group(this.insert_search_into_str(this.strnomatchingusers, this.lastsearch), {}, false)
     }