diff --git a/app/serializers/user_action_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/user_action_serializer.rb
index d9609ff9b47..965f4e61e4a 100644
--- a/app/serializers/user_action_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/user_action_serializer.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class UserActionSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
 
   def excerpt
     cooked = object.cooked || PrettyText.cook(object.raw)
-    PrettyText.excerpt(cooked, 300, keep_emojis: true) if cooked
+    PrettyText.excerpt(cooked, 300, keep_emoji_images: true) if cooked
   end
 
   def avatar_template
diff --git a/app/serializers/user_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/user_serializer.rb
index 06abd889a1e..480fbd9c612 100644
--- a/app/serializers/user_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/user_serializer.rb
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ class UserSerializer < BasicUserSerializer
   end
 
   def bio_excerpt
-    object.user_profile.bio_excerpt(350 , { keep_newlines: true, keep_emojis: true })
+    object.user_profile.bio_excerpt(350 , { keep_newlines: true, keep_emoji_images: true })
   end
 
   def include_suspend_reason?
diff --git a/lib/excerpt_parser.rb b/lib/excerpt_parser.rb
index 95e9cf1de7f..acfa88b88c2 100644
--- a/lib/excerpt_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/excerpt_parser.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ class ExcerptParser < Nokogiri::XML::SAX::Document
     @text_entities = options[:text_entities] == true
     @markdown_images = options[:markdown_images] == true
     @keep_newlines = options[:keep_newlines] == true
-    @keep_emojis = options[:keep_emojis] == true
+    @keep_emoji_images = options[:keep_emoji_images] == true
+    @keep_emoji_codes = options[:keep_emoji_codes] == true
     @start_excerpt = false
   end
 
@@ -48,11 +49,14 @@ class ExcerptParser < Nokogiri::XML::SAX::Document
   def start_element(name, attributes=[])
     case name
       when "img"
-
         attributes = Hash[*attributes.flatten]
 
-        if @keep_emojis && attributes["class"] == 'emoji'
-          return include_tag(name, attributes)
+        if attributes["class"] == 'emoji'
+          if @keep_emoji_images
+            return include_tag(name, attributes)
+          elsif @keep_emoji_codes
+            return characters(attributes["alt"])
+          end
         end
 
         # If include_images is set, include the image in markdown
diff --git a/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb b/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb
index 5fd48971b77..cac4503d6bd 100644
--- a/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb
+++ b/lib/onebox/engine/discourse_local_onebox.rb
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ module Onebox
             topic = post.topic
             slug = Slug.for(topic.title)
 
-            excerpt = post.excerpt(SiteSetting.post_onebox_maxlength)
+            excerpt = post.excerpt(SiteSetting.post_onebox_maxlength, { keep_emoji_codes: true })
             excerpt.gsub!("\n"," ")
             # hack to make it render for now
             excerpt.gsub!("[/quote]", "[quote]")
diff --git a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
index f9cd29081c3..0cca316e1b6 100644
--- a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
@@ -243,9 +243,14 @@ HTML
       expect(PrettyText.excerpt("&#39;", 500, text_entities: true)).to eq("'")
     end
 
-    it "should have an option to preserve emojis" do
+    it "should have an option to preserve emoji images" do
       emoji_image = "<img src='/images/emoji/emoji_one/heart.png?v=1' title=':heart:' class='emoji' alt='heart'>"
-      expect(PrettyText.excerpt(emoji_image, 100, { keep_emojis: true })).to match_html(emoji_image)
+      expect(PrettyText.excerpt(emoji_image, 100, { keep_emoji_images: true })).to match_html(emoji_image)
+    end
+
+    it "should have an option to preserve emoji codes" do
+      emoji_code = "<img src='/images/emoji/emoji_one/heart.png?v=1' title=':heart:' class='emoji' alt=':heart:'>"
+      expect(PrettyText.excerpt(emoji_code, 100, { keep_emoji_codes: true })).to eq(":heart:")
     end
 
   end
@@ -390,7 +395,7 @@ HTML
     end
 
     it "doesn't replace unicode emoji if emoji is disabled" do
-      SiteSetting.enable_emoji = false 
+      SiteSetting.enable_emoji = false
       expect(PrettyText.cook("💣")).not_to match(/\:bomb\:/)
     end
   end