diff --git a/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/jobs/export/resources.go b/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/jobs/export/resources.go
index 30d69cd3893..535649f58b5 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/jobs/export/resources.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/jobs/export/resources.go
@@ -356,7 +356,12 @@ func computeExportPath(basePath string, meta utils.GrafanaMetaAccessor, tree res
 	if resourceFolder != "" {
 		// Get the folder path from the unmanaged tree (rootFolder is empty string for unmanaged tree)
 		fid, ok := tree.DirPath(resourceFolder, "")
-		if ok && fid.Path != "" {
+		if !ok {
+			// Folder not found in tree - this shouldn't happen for unmanaged folders
+			// but if it does, we'll just use the base path
+			return exportPath
+		}
+		if fid.Path != "" {
 			if exportPath != "" {
 				exportPath = safepath.Join(exportPath, fid.Path)
 			} else {
diff --git a/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/resources/tree.go b/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/resources/tree.go
index 0fc25fd15ca..5f59d3b821d 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/resources/tree.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/apis/provisioning/resources/tree.go
@@ -145,9 +145,12 @@ func (t *folderTree) AddUnstructured(item *unstructured.Unstructured) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("extract meta accessor: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	// Use UID as the identifier since GetFolder() returns UID
+	// In Grafana's folder API, folders are identified by UID
+	folderUID := string(item.GetUID())
 	folder := Folder{
 		Title: meta.FindTitle(item.GetName()),
-		ID:    item.GetName(),
+		ID:    folderUID,
 	}
 	t.mu.Lock()
 	defer t.mu.Unlock()