diff --git a/frappe/desk/notifications.py b/frappe/desk/notifications.py
index 535e190f47..b33a2afa4a 100644
--- a/frappe/desk/notifications.py
+++ b/frappe/desk/notifications.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def get_notifications_for_doctypes(config, notification_count):
 				try:
 					if isinstance(condition, dict):
 						result = len(frappe.get_list(d, fields=["name"],
-							filters=condition, limit_page_length = 21, as_list=True))
+							filters=condition, limit_page_length = 21, as_list=True, ignore_ifnull=True))
 					else:
 						result = frappe.get_attr(condition)()
 
@@ -195,11 +195,11 @@ def get_open_count(doctype, name):
 			# we only need open documents related to the current document
 			filters[fieldname] = name
 			total = len(frappe.get_all(doctype, fields='name',
-				filters=filters, limit_page_length=6, distinct=True))
+				filters=filters, limit=6, distinct=True, ignore_ifnull=True))
 			data['open_count'] = total
 
 		total = len(frappe.get_all(doctype, fields='name',
-			filters={fieldname: name}, limit_page_length=10, distinct=True))
+			filters={fieldname: name}, limit=10, distinct=True, ignore_ifnull=True))
 		data['count'] = total
 		out.append(data)
 
diff --git a/frappe/model/db_query.py b/frappe/model/db_query.py
index 6e7afb5328..a4bad147a1 100644
--- a/frappe/model/db_query.py
+++ b/frappe/model/db_query.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ class DatabaseQuery(object):
 		docstatus=None, group_by=None, order_by=None, limit_start=False,
 		limit_page_length=None, as_list=False, with_childnames=False, debug=False,
 		ignore_permissions=False, user=None, with_comment_count=False,
-		join='left join', distinct=False, start=None, page_length=None, limit=None):
+		join='left join', distinct=False, start=None, page_length=None, limit=None, ignore_ifnull=False):
 		if not ignore_permissions and not frappe.has_permission(self.doctype, "read", user=user):
 			raise frappe.PermissionError, self.doctype
 
@@ -265,8 +265,12 @@ class DatabaseQuery(object):
 			values = (frappe.db.escape(v.strip(), percent=False) for v in values)
 			values = '("{0}")'.format('", "'.join(values))
 
-			condition = 'ifnull({tname}.{fname}, "") {operator} {value}'.format(
-				tname=tname, fname=f.fieldname, operator=f.operator, value=values)
+			if self.ignore_ifnull:
+				condition = '{tname}.{fname} {operator} {value}'.format(
+					tname=tname, fname=f.fieldname, operator=f.operator, value=values)
+			else:
+				condition = 'ifnull({tname}.{fname}, "") {operator} {value}'.format(
+					tname=tname, fname=f.fieldname, operator=f.operator, value=values)
 
 		else:
 			df = frappe.get_meta(f.doctype).get("fields", {"fieldname": f.fieldname})