diff --git a/src/HtmlUtils.js b/src/HtmlUtils.js
index 7dd68e5c61..a58ea25c8a 100644
--- a/src/HtmlUtils.js
+++ b/src/HtmlUtils.js
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import ReplyThread from "./components/views/elements/ReplyThread";
 
 import React from 'react';
 import sanitizeHtml from 'sanitize-html';
-import highlight from 'highlight.js';
 import * as linkify from 'linkifyjs';
 import linkifyMatrix from './linkify-matrix';
 import _linkifyElement from 'linkifyjs/element';
@@ -467,11 +466,12 @@ export function bodyToHtml(content, highlights, opts={}) {
 /**
  * Linkifies the given string. This is a wrapper around 'linkifyjs/string'.
  *
- * @param {string} str
- * @returns {string}
+ * @param {string} str string to linkify
+ * @param {object} [options] Options for linkifyString. Default: linkifyMatrix.options
+ * @returns {string} Linkified string
  */
-export function linkifyString(str) {
-    return _linkifyString(str);
+export function linkifyString(str, options = linkifyMatrix.options) {
+    return _linkifyString(str, options);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -489,10 +489,11 @@ export function linkifyElement(element, options = linkifyMatrix.options) {
  * Linkify the given string and sanitize the HTML afterwards.
  *
  * @param {string} dirtyHtml The HTML string to sanitize and linkify
+ * @param {object} [options] Options for linkifyString. Default: linkifyMatrix.options
  * @returns {string}
  */
-export function linkifyAndSanitizeHtml(dirtyHtml) {
-    return sanitizeHtml(linkifyString(dirtyHtml), sanitizeHtmlParams);
+export function linkifyAndSanitizeHtml(dirtyHtml, options = linkifyMatrix.options) {
+    return sanitizeHtml(linkifyString(dirtyHtml, options), sanitizeHtmlParams);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/linkify-matrix.js b/src/linkify-matrix.js
index 8870b2d431..2d2b9c62a5 100644
--- a/src/linkify-matrix.js
+++ b/src/linkify-matrix.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 */
 
 import {baseUrl} from "./utils/permalinks/SpecPermalinkConstructor";
-import {tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref} from "./utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
+import {tryTransformEntityToPermalink, tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref} from "./utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
 
 function matrixLinkify(linkify) {
     // Text tokens
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ matrixLinkify.options = {
             case 'userid':
             case 'groupid':
             default: {
-                return tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref(href);
+                return tryTransformEntityToPermalink(href);
             }
         }
     },
diff --git a/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.js b/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.js
index 1174e59da6..466d1ed57d 100644
--- a/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.js
+++ b/src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks.js
@@ -290,6 +290,25 @@ export function isPermalinkHost(host: string): boolean {
     return getPermalinkConstructor().isPermalinkHost(host);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Transforms an entity (permalink, room alias, user ID, etc) into a local URL
+ * if possible. If the given entity is not found to be valid enough to be converted
+ * then a null value will be returned.
+ * @param {string} entity The entity to transform.
+ * @returns {string|null} The transformed permalink or null if unable.
+ */
+export function tryTransformEntityToPermalink(entity: string): string {
+    if (!entity) return null;
+
+    // Check to see if it is a bare entity for starters
+    if (entity[0] === '#' || entity[0] === '!') return makeRoomPermalink(entity);
+    if (entity[0] === '@') return makeUserPermalink(entity);
+    if (entity[0] === '+') return makeGroupPermalink(entity);
+
+    // Then try and merge it into a permalink
+    return tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref(entity);
+}
+
 /**
  * Transforms a permalink (or possible permalink) into a local URL if possible. If
  * the given permalink is found to not be a permalink, it'll be returned unaltered.