diff --git a/core/server/services/mega/post-email-serializer.js b/core/server/services/mega/post-email-serializer.js
index 25513b4de0..cf250e7705 100644
--- a/core/server/services/mega/post-email-serializer.js
+++ b/core/server/services/mega/post-email-serializer.js
@@ -105,6 +105,14 @@ const serialize = async (postModel, options = {isBrowserPreview: false}) => {
     if (post.posts_meta) {
         post.email_subject = post.posts_meta.email_subject;
     }
+
+    // we use post.excerpt as a hidden piece of text that is picked up by some email
+    // clients as a "preview" when listing emails. Our current plaintext/excerpt
+    // generation outputs links as "Link [https://url/]" which isn't desired in the preview
+    if (!post.custom_excerpt) {
+        post.excerpt = post.excerpt.replace(/\s\[http(.*?)\]/g, '');
+    }
+
     post.html = mobiledocLib.mobiledocHtmlRenderer.render(JSON.parse(post.mobiledoc), {target: 'email'});
     // same options as used in Post model for generating plaintext but without `wordwrap: 80`
     // to avoid replacement strings being split across lines and for mail clients to handle
diff --git a/test/api-acceptance/admin/email_preview_spec.js b/test/api-acceptance/admin/email_preview_spec.js
index 510007c4fc..25cff30e0a 100644
--- a/test/api-acceptance/admin/email_preview_spec.js
+++ b/test/api-acceptance/admin/email_preview_spec.js
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ describe('Email Preview API', function () {
                 id: ObjectId.generate(),
                 title: 'Post with email-only card',
                 slug: 'email-only-card',
-                mobiledoc: '{"version":"0.3.1","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"This is the actual post content... With an apostrophy: \'"]]],[1,"p",[]]]}',
+                mobiledoc: '{"version":"0.3.1","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[["a",["href","https://ghost.org"]]],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Testing "],[0,[0],1,"links"],[0,[],0," in email excerpt and apostrophes \'"]]]]}',
                 html: '<p>This is the actual post content...</p>',
                 plaintext: 'This is the actual post content...',
                 status: 'draft',
@@ -135,8 +135,12 @@ describe('Email Preview API', function () {
                         should.exist(jsonResponse);
                         should.exist(jsonResponse.email_previews);
 
-                        jsonResponse.email_previews[0].html.should.match(/&#39;/);
-                        jsonResponse.email_previews[0].html.should.not.match(/&apos;/);
+                        const [preview] = jsonResponse.email_previews;
+
+                        preview.html.should.containEql('Testing links in email excerpt');
+
+                        preview.html.should.match(/&#39;/);
+                        preview.html.should.not.match(/&apos;/);
                     });
             });
         });