diff --git a/src/core/autotests/utilstest.cpp b/src/core/autotests/utilstest.cpp
--- a/src/core/autotests/utilstest.cpp
+++ b/src/core/autotests/utilstest.cpp
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@
     QTest::newRow("empty") << QString() << QString();
     QTest::newRow("testurl") << QStringLiteral("http://www.kde.org http://www.kde.org")
                              << QStringLiteral("<a href=\"http://www.kde.org\">http://www.kde.org</a> <a href=\"http://www.kde.org\">http://www.kde.org</a>");
+    QTest::newRow("named-url") << QStringLiteral("[example.com](http://example.com)")
+                               << QStringLiteral("<a href=\"http://example.com\">example.com</a>");
     QTest::newRow("bold") << QStringLiteral("*bla*")
                           << QStringLiteral("<b>bla</b>");
     QTest::newRow("multi star") << QStringLiteral("**bla**")
diff --git a/src/core/room.cpp b/src/core/room.cpp
--- a/src/core/room.cpp
+++ b/src/core/room.cpp
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@
 
 QString Room::topic() const
 {
-    return Utils::convertTextWithUrl(mTopic);
+    return Utils::markdownToRichText(mTopic);
 }
 
 void Room::setTopic(const QString &topic)
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@
 
 QString Room::markdownAnnouncement() const
 {
-    return Utils::convertTextWithUrl(Utils::markdownToRichText(mAnnouncement));
+    return Utils::markdownToRichText(mAnnouncement);
 }
 
 QString Room::announcement() const
diff --git a/src/core/utils.h b/src/core/utils.h
--- a/src/core/utils.h
+++ b/src/core/utils.h
@@ -36,6 +36,16 @@
 Q_REQUIRED_RESULT LIBRUQOLACORE_TESTS_EXPORT qint64 parseDate(const QString &key, const QJsonObject &o);
 Q_REQUIRED_RESULT LIBRUQOLACORE_TESTS_EXPORT qint64 parseIsoDate(const QString &key, const QJsonObject &o);
 Q_REQUIRED_RESULT LIBRUQOLACORE_TESTS_EXPORT QString iconFromStatus(const QString &status);
+
+/**
+ * @brief Convert []() style Markdown URLS with proper HTML tags
+ *
+ * Also supports strings that already contain HTML links.
+ *
+ * Examples:
+ *   "[NAME](<a href=\"LINK\">...</a>)" => "<a href="LINK">NAME</a>"
+ *   "[NAME](LINK)"                   => "<a href="LINK">NAME</a>"
+ */
 Q_REQUIRED_RESULT LIBRUQOLACORE_TESTS_EXPORT QString convertTextWithUrl(const QString &str);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/utils.cpp b/src/core/utils.cpp
--- a/src/core/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/core/utils.cpp
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@
     //TODO remove replaceSmileys when we will use unicode emoticons
     const KTextToHTML::Options convertFlags = KTextToHTML::PreserveSpaces | KTextToHTML::HighlightText | KTextToHTML::ReplaceSmileys | KTextToHTML::ConvertPhoneNumbers;
     str = KTextToHTML::convertToHtml(str, convertFlags);
+
+    // substitute "[example.com](<a href="...">...</a>)" style urls
+    str = Utils::convertTextWithUrl(str);
+
     //Bug 391520 I don't remember why I removed <br /> need to investigate
     //str.remove(QStringLiteral("<br />"));
     //qCDebug(RUQOLA_LOG) << "markdownToRichText "<<str;
@@ -66,8 +70,6 @@
 QString Utils::generateRichText(const QString &str, const QString &username)
 {
     QString newStr = Utils::markdownToRichText(str);
-    //Need to convert [foo](http:///...)
-    newStr = Utils::convertTextWithUrl(newStr);
     static const QRegularExpression regularExpressionUser(QStringLiteral("(^|\\s+)@([\\w._-]+)"));
     QRegularExpressionMatchIterator userIterator = regularExpressionUser.globalMatch(newStr);
     while (userIterator.hasNext()) {
@@ -186,6 +188,8 @@
 
 QString Utils::convertTextWithUrl(const QString &str)
 {
+    static const QRegularExpression regularExpressionAHref(QStringLiteral("<a href=\"(.*)\">(.*)</a>"));
+
     QString newStr;
     bool isRef = false;
     bool isUrl = false;
@@ -203,7 +207,12 @@
             isUrl = true;
         } else if (str.at(i) == QLatin1Char(')') && !references.isEmpty()) {
             isUrl = false;
-            newStr += QStringLiteral("<a href=\'%1'>%2</a>").arg(url, references);
+            // detect whether the string already contains HTML <a/> tags
+            if (url.startsWith(QLatin1Char('<'))) {
+                newStr += url.replace(regularExpressionAHref, QStringLiteral("<a href=\"\\1\">%1</a>").arg(references));
+            } else {
+                newStr += QStringLiteral("<a href=\'%1'>%2</a>").arg(url, references);
+            }
             references.clear();
             url.clear();
         } else {