diff --git a/cognee/tasks/ingestion/save_data_item_to_storage.py b/cognee/tasks/ingestion/save_data_item_to_storage.py
index ae6bcc064..3fdb23e7e 100644
--- a/cognee/tasks/ingestion/save_data_item_to_storage.py
+++ b/cognee/tasks/ingestion/save_data_item_to_storage.py
@@ -27,11 +27,17 @@ async def save_data_item_to_storage(data_item: Union[BinaryIO, str, Any]) -> str
 
         return await get_data_from_llama_index(data_item)
 
-    from docling_core.types import DoclingDocument
+    try:
+        from docling_core.types import DoclingDocument
 
-    if isinstance(data_item, DoclingDocument):
-        # Convert DoclingDocument to plain text and continue processing file
-        data_item = data_item.export_to_text()
+        if isinstance(data_item, DoclingDocument):
+            # Convert DoclingDocument to plain text and continue processing file
+            data_item = data_item.export_to_text()
+    except ImportError:
+        logger.debug(
+            "Docling import failed. Docling optional dependency not installed, so we don't expect Docling documents. "
+            "Continuing normal operation."
+        )
 
     # data is a file object coming from upload.
     if hasattr(data_item, "file"):