diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
index 9df0dd5..4d4d7f7 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.hh
@@ -295,6 +295,11 @@ class QPDFObjectHandle
     QPDF_DLL
     QPDFObjectHandle& operator=(QPDFObjectHandle const&) = default;
 
+    // Return true if the QPDFObjectHandle is initialized. This allows object handles to be used in
+    // if statements with initializer.
+    QPDF_DLL
+    explicit inline operator bool() const noexcept;
+
     QPDF_DLL
     inline bool isInitialized() const;
 
@@ -1634,5 +1639,10 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::isInitialized() const
     return obj != nullptr;
 }
 
+inline QPDFObjectHandle::operator bool() const noexcept
+{
+    return static_cast<bool>(obj);
+}
+
 #endif // QPDF_FUTURE
 #endif // QPDFOBJECTHANDLE_HH
diff --git a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_future.hh b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_future.hh
index 2a8a0ba..e6a79f6 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_future.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/QPDFObjectHandle_future.hh
@@ -295,6 +295,11 @@ class QPDFObjectHandle
     QPDF_DLL
     QPDFObjectHandle& operator=(QPDFObjectHandle&&) = default;
 
+    // Return true if the QPDFObjectHandle is initialized. This allows object handles to be used in
+    // if statements with initializer.
+    QPDF_DLL
+    explicit inline operator bool() const noexcept;
+
     QPDF_DLL
     inline bool isInitialized() const noexcept;
 
@@ -1634,4 +1639,9 @@ QPDFObjectHandle::isInitialized() const noexcept
     return obj != nullptr;
 }
 
+inline QPDFObjectHandle::operator bool() const noexcept
+{
+    return static_cast<bool>(obj);
+}
+
 #endif // QPDFOBJECTHANDLE_FUTURE_HH