diff --git a/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js b/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
index 4c987a0095..abe570cdcd 100644
--- a/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
+++ b/src/components/views/elements/Pill.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /*
 Copyright 2017 Vector Creations Ltd
 Copyright 2018 New Vector Ltd
+Copyright 2019 The Matrix.org Foundation C.I.C.
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -22,23 +23,21 @@ import classNames from 'classnames';
 import { Room, RoomMember, MatrixClient } from 'matrix-js-sdk';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import MatrixClientPeg from '../../../MatrixClientPeg';
-import { MATRIXTO_URL_PATTERN } from '../../../linkify-matrix';
 import { getDisplayAliasForRoom } from '../../../Rooms';
 import FlairStore from "../../../stores/FlairStore";
-
-const REGEX_MATRIXTO = new RegExp(MATRIXTO_URL_PATTERN);
+import {getPrimaryPermalinkEntity} from "../../../utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator";
 
 // For URLs of matrix.to links in the timeline which have been reformatted by
 // HttpUtils transformTags to relative links. This excludes event URLs (with `[^\/]*`)
-const REGEX_LOCAL_MATRIXTO = /^#\/(?:user|room|group)\/(([#!@+])[^/]*)$/;
+const REGEX_LOCAL_PERMALINK = /^#\/(?:user|room|group)\/(([#!@+])[^/]*)$/;
 
 const Pill = createReactClass({
     statics: {
         isPillUrl: (url) => {
-            return !!REGEX_MATRIXTO.exec(url);
+            return !!getPrimaryPermalinkEntity(url);
         },
         isMessagePillUrl: (url) => {
-            return !!REGEX_LOCAL_MATRIXTO.exec(url);
+            return !!REGEX_LOCAL_PERMALINK.exec(url);
         },
         roomNotifPos: (text) => {
             return text.indexOf("@room");
@@ -95,22 +94,21 @@ const Pill = createReactClass({
     },
 
     async componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
-        let regex = REGEX_MATRIXTO;
-        if (nextProps.inMessage) {
-            regex = REGEX_LOCAL_MATRIXTO;
-        }
-
-        let matrixToMatch;
         let resourceId;
         let prefix;
 
         if (nextProps.url) {
-            // Default to the empty array if no match for simplicity
-            // resource and prefix will be undefined instead of throwing
-            matrixToMatch = regex.exec(nextProps.url) || [];
+            if (nextProps.inMessage) {
+                // Default to the empty array if no match for simplicity
+                // resource and prefix will be undefined instead of throwing
+                const matrixToMatch = REGEX_LOCAL_PERMALINK.exec(nextProps.url) || [];
 
-            resourceId = matrixToMatch[1]; // The room/user ID
-            prefix = matrixToMatch[2]; // The first character of prefix
+                resourceId = matrixToMatch[1]; // The room/user ID
+                prefix = matrixToMatch[2]; // The first character of prefix
+            } else {
+                resourceId = getPrimaryPermalinkEntity(nextProps.url);
+                prefix = resourceId ? resourceId[0] : undefined;
+            }
         }
 
         const pillType = this.props.type || {
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
index 917465aaaa..6696a91483 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/MessageComposerInput.js
@@ -48,13 +48,11 @@ import Markdown from '../../../Markdown';
 import MessageComposerStore from '../../../stores/MessageComposerStore';
 import ContentMessages from '../../../ContentMessages';
 
-import {MATRIXTO_URL_PATTERN} from '../../../linkify-matrix';
-
 import EMOJIBASE from 'emojibase-data/en/compact.json';
 import EMOTICON_REGEX from 'emojibase-regex/emoticon';
 
 import SettingsStore, {SettingLevel} from "../../../settings/SettingsStore";
-import {makeUserPermalink} from "../../../utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator";
+import {getPrimaryPermalinkEntity, makeUserPermalink} from "../../../utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator";
 import ReplyPreview from "./ReplyPreview";
 import RoomViewStore from '../../../stores/RoomViewStore';
 import ReplyThread from "../elements/ReplyThread";
@@ -224,18 +222,15 @@ export default class MessageComposerInput extends React.Component {
                         // special case links
                         if (tag === 'a') {
                             const href = el.getAttribute('href');
-                            let m;
-                            if (href) {
-                                m = href.match(MATRIXTO_URL_PATTERN);
-                            }
-                            if (m) {
+                            const permalinkEntity = getPrimaryPermalinkEntity(href);
+                            if (permalinkEntity) {
                                 return {
                                     object: 'inline',
                                     type: 'pill',
                                     data: {
                                         href,
                                         completion: el.innerText,
-                                        completionId: m[1],
+                                        completionId: permalinkEntity,
                                     },
                                 };
                             } else {
diff --git a/src/utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator.js b/src/utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator.js
index 489a6c8b82..666729bacd 100644
--- a/src/utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator.js
+++ b/src/utils/permalinks/RoomPermalinkCreator.js
@@ -321,6 +321,32 @@ export function tryTransformPermalinkToLocalHref(permalink: string): string {
     return permalink;
 }
 
+export function getPrimaryPermalinkEntity(permalink: string): string {
+    try {
+        let permalinkParts = parsePermalink(permalink);
+
+        // If not a permalink, try the vector patterns.
+        if (!permalinkParts) {
+            let m = permalink.match(matrixLinkify.VECTOR_URL_PATTERN);
+            if (m) {
+                // A bit of a hack, but it gets the job done
+                const handler = new RiotPermalinkConstructor("http://localhost");
+                const entityInfo = m[1].split('#').slice(1).join('#');
+                permalinkParts = handler.parsePermalink(`http://localhost/#${entityInfo}`);
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (!permalinkParts) return null; // not processable
+        if (permalinkParts.userId) return permalinkParts.userId;
+        if (permalinkParts.groupId) return permalinkParts.groupId;
+        if (permalinkParts.roomIdOrAlias) return permalinkParts.roomIdOrAlias;
+    } catch (e) {
+        // no entity - not a permalink
+    }
+
+    return null;
+}
+
 function getPermalinkConstructor(): PermalinkConstructor {
     const riotPrefix = SdkConfig.get()['permalinkPrefix'];
     if (riotPrefix && riotPrefix !== matrixtoBaseUrl) {