diff --git a/css/80_app.css b/css/80_app.css
index f662e2b3b..91d6ba38f 100644
--- a/css/80_app.css
+++ b/css/80_app.css
@@ -1420,6 +1420,15 @@ img.tag-reference-wiki-image {
 .form-field-input-combo > input:only-of-type {
     border-radius: 0 0 4px 4px;
 }
+.form-field-input-combo.empty-combobox input,
+.form-field-input-multicombo .empty-combobox input {
+    padding-right: 10px;
+    padding-left: 10px;
+}
+.form-field-input-combo.empty-combobox .combobox-caret,
+.form-field-input-multicombo .empty-combobox .combobox-caret {
+    display: none;
+}
 
 .form-field-input-multicombo ul.chiplist {
     padding: 5px 7px 5px 7px;
diff --git a/modules/ui/fields/combo.js b/modules/ui/fields/combo.js
index 5b7956d29..d6bc6d043 100644
--- a/modules/ui/fields/combo.js
+++ b/modules/ui/fields/combo.js
@@ -191,14 +191,8 @@ export function uiFieldCombo(field, context) {
                 });
             }
 
-            if (data.length === 0) {
-                // hide the caret if there are no suggestions
-                container.select('.combobox-caret')
-                    .style('display', 'none');
-            } else {
-                container.select('.combobox-caret')
-                    .style('display', null);
-            }
+            // hide the caret if there are no suggestions
+            container.classed('empty-combobox', data.length === 0);
 
             _comboData = _map(data, function(d) {
                 var k = d.value;