diff --git a/preprocess.py b/preprocess.py
index dae747a..c3cce31 100644
--- a/preprocess.py
+++ b/preprocess.py
@@ -22,12 +22,13 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     final_annos = old_annos + actual_user_annos * user_duplicate
 
     # load custom characters
-    with open("custom_character_anno.txt", 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        custom_character_anno = f.readlines()
-    # custom character voices need to be at least equal to number of sample_audio4ft
-    num_character_voices = len(custom_character_anno)
-    cc_duplicate = num_old_voices // num_character_voices
-    final_annos = final_annos + custom_character_anno * cc_duplicate
+    if os.path.exists("custom_character_anno.txt"):
+        with open("custom_character_anno.txt", 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            custom_character_anno = f.readlines()
+        # custom character voices need to be at least equal to number of sample_audio4ft
+        num_character_voices = len(custom_character_anno)
+        cc_duplicate = num_old_voices // num_character_voices
+        final_annos = final_annos + custom_character_anno * cc_duplicate
     # save annotation file
     with open("final_annotation_train.txt", 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         for line in final_annos: