diff --git a/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.editorConfig.ts b/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.editorConfig.ts
index 2a7df46574..a1402561f3 100644
--- a/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.editorConfig.ts
+++ b/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.editorConfig.ts
@@ -119,5 +119,21 @@ export const getPreview = (values: DatagridDropdownFilterPreviewProps, isDarkMod
 export function check(_props: DatagridDropdownFilterPreviewProps): Problem[] {
     const errors: Problem[] = [];
 
+    const isEmpty = (value: string | undefined): boolean => !value || value.trim() === "";
+
+    if (_props.baseType === "ref") {
+        if (_props.refCaptionSource === "attr" && isEmpty(_props.refCaption)) {
+            errors.push({
+                property: "refCaption",
+                message: "Caption cannot be empty if the source is attribute"
+            });
+        } else if (_props.refCaptionSource === "exp" && isEmpty(_props.refCaptionExp)) {
+            errors.push({
+                property: "refCaptionExp",
+                message: "Caption cannot be empty if the source is expression"
+            });
+        }
+    }
+
     return errors;
 }
diff --git a/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.xml b/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.xml
index 334b4c4fd3..8c4752fc6a 100644
--- a/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.xml
+++ b/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-dropdown-filter-web/src/DatagridDropdownFilter.xml
@@ -82,14 +82,14 @@
                         <enumerationValue key="exp">Expression</enumerationValue>
                     </enumerationValues>
                 </property>
-                <property key="refCaption" type="attribute" dataSource="refOptions" required="false">
+                <property key="refCaption" type="attribute" dataSource="refOptions" required="true">
                     <caption>Caption</caption>
                     <description />
                     <attributeTypes>
                         <attributeType name="String" />
                     </attributeTypes>
                 </property>
-                <property key="refCaptionExp" type="expression" dataSource="refOptions" required="false">
+                <property key="refCaptionExp" type="expression" dataSource="refOptions" required="true">
                     <caption>Caption</caption>
                     <description />
                     <returnType type="String" />
diff --git a/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-web/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-web/CHANGELOG.md
index 37c9cb6828..507db081c7 100644
--- a/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-web/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/pluggableWidgets/datagrid-web/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- We fixed an issue where missing consistency checks for the captions were causing runtime errors instead of in Studio Pro
+
 ## [3.6.0] - 2025-10-01
 
 ### Fixed