diff --git a/core/frontend/helpers/excerpt.js b/core/frontend/helpers/excerpt.js
index e7035dd38e..f0f73aae23 100644
--- a/core/frontend/helpers/excerpt.js
+++ b/core/frontend/helpers/excerpt.js
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ module.exports = function excerpt(options) {
 
     if (this.custom_excerpt) {
         excerptText = String(this.custom_excerpt);
-    } else if (this.html) {
-        excerptText = String(this.html);
     } else if (this.excerpt) {
         excerptText = String(this.excerpt);
     } else {
diff --git a/core/frontend/meta/description.js b/core/frontend/meta/description.js
index 077fc1819e..96c8d83069 100644
--- a/core/frontend/meta/description.js
+++ b/core/frontend/meta/description.js
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ function getDescription(data, root, options = {}) {
             description = data.post[`${options.property}_description`]
                 || data.post.custom_excerpt
                 || data.post.meta_description
-                || generateExcerpt(data.post.html || '', {words: 50})
+                || generateExcerpt(data.post.excerpt || '', {words: 50})
                 || settingsCache.get('description')
                 || '';
         } else {
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ function getDescription(data, root, options = {}) {
             description = data.post[`${options.property}_description`]
                 || data.post.custom_excerpt
                 || data.post.meta_description
-                || generateExcerpt(data.post.html || '', {words: 50})
+                || generateExcerpt(data.post.excerpt || '', {words: 50})
                 || settingsCache.get('description')
                 || '';
         } else {
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ function getDescription(data, root, options = {}) {
             description = data.page[`${options.property}_description`]
                 || data.page.custom_excerpt
                 || data.page.meta_description
-                || generateExcerpt(data.page.html || '', {words: 50})
+                || generateExcerpt(data.page.excerpt || '', {words: 50})
                 || settingsCache.get('description')
                 || '';
         } else {
diff --git a/core/frontend/meta/excerpt.js b/core/frontend/meta/excerpt.js
index 453c3f989b..c7c79a214a 100644
--- a/core/frontend/meta/excerpt.js
+++ b/core/frontend/meta/excerpt.js
@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@ function getExcerpt(data) {
     // 1. CASE: custom_excerpt is populated via the UI
     // 2. CASE: no custom_excerpt, but meta_description is poplated via the UI
     // 3. CASE: fall back to automated excerpt of 50 words if neither custom_excerpt nor meta_description is provided
-    // @TODO: https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/10062
     const customExcerpt = data.post.excerpt || data.post.custom_excerpt;
     const metaDescription = data.post.meta_description;
-    const fallbackExcerpt = data.post.html ? generateExcerpt(data.post.html, {words: 50}) : '';
+    const fallbackExcerpt = data.post.excerpt ? generateExcerpt(data.post.excerpt, {words: 50}) : '';
 
     return customExcerpt ? customExcerpt : metaDescription ? metaDescription : fallbackExcerpt;
 }
diff --git a/core/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.js b/core/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.js
index df3f040eed..51292cefd7 100644
--- a/core/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.js
+++ b/core/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.js
@@ -1,22 +1,13 @@
 const downsize = require('downsize');
 
-function generateExcerpt(html, truncateOptions) {
+function generateExcerpt(excerpt, truncateOptions) {
     truncateOptions = truncateOptions || {};
-    // Strip inline and bottom footnotes
-    let excerpt = html.replace(/<a href="#fn.*?rel="footnote">.*?<\/a>/gi, '');
-    excerpt = excerpt.replace(/<div class="footnotes"><ol>.*?<\/ol><\/div>/, '');
-
-    // Make sure to have space between paragraphs and new lines
-    excerpt = excerpt.replace(/(<\/p>|<br>)/gi, ' ');
-
-    // Strip other html
-    excerpt = excerpt.replace(/<\/?[^>]+>/gi, '');
-    excerpt = excerpt.replace(/(\r\n|\n|\r)+/gm, ' ');
 
     if (!truncateOptions.words && !truncateOptions.characters) {
         truncateOptions.words = 50;
     }
 
+    // Just uses downsize to truncate, not format
     return downsize(excerpt, truncateOptions);
 }
 
diff --git a/core/shared/html-to-plaintext.js b/core/shared/html-to-plaintext.js
index 1ccba54a96..7922912a8a 100644
--- a/core/shared/html-to-plaintext.js
+++ b/core/shared/html-to-plaintext.js
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ const loadConverters = () => {
     const excerptSettings = mergeSettings({
         selectors: [
             {selector: 'a', options: {ignoreHref: true}},
-            {selector: 'figcaption', format: 'skip'}
+            {selector: 'figcaption', format: 'skip'},
+            // Strip inline and bottom footnotes
+            {selector: 'a[rel=footnote]', format: 'skip'},
+            {selector: 'div.footnotes', format: 'skip'}
         ]
     });
 
diff --git a/test/unit/frontend/helpers/excerpt.test.js b/test/unit/frontend/helpers/excerpt.test.js
index baa45305b0..456c6ad3c9 100644
--- a/test/unit/frontend/helpers/excerpt.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/frontend/helpers/excerpt.test.js
@@ -1,155 +1,109 @@
 const should = require('should');
 
 // Stuff we are testing
-const excerpt = require('../../../../core/frontend/helpers/excerpt');
+const excerptHelper = require('../../../../core/frontend/helpers/excerpt');
 
 describe('{{excerpt}} Helper', function () {
-    it('renders empty string when html, excerpt, and custom_excerpt are null', function () {
-        const html = null;
-        const rendered = excerpt.call({
-            html: html,
-            custom_excerpt: null,
-            excerpt: null
-        });
-
+    function shouldCompileToExpected(data, hash, expected) {
+        const rendered = excerptHelper.call(data, hash);
         should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal('');
+        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
+    }
+
+    it('renders empty string when html, excerpt, and custom_excerpt are null', function () {
+        const expected = '';
+
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                html: null,
+                custom_excerpt: null,
+                excerpt: null
+            },
+            {},
+            expected);
     });
 
     it('can render custom_excerpt', function () {
-        const html = 'Hello World';
-        const rendered = excerpt.call({
-            html: html,
-            custom_excerpt: ''
-        });
+        const custom_excerpt = 'Hello World';
 
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(html);
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                html: '',
+                custom_excerpt
+            },
+            {},
+            custom_excerpt);
     });
 
     it('can render excerpt when other fields are empty', function () {
-        const html = '';
-        const rendered = excerpt.call({
-            html: html,
-            custom_excerpt: '',
-            excerpt: 'Regular excerpt'
-        });
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal('Regular excerpt');
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                html: '',
+                custom_excerpt: '',
+                excerpt: 'Regular excerpt'
+            },
+            {},
+            'Regular excerpt');
     });
 
-    it('does not output HTML', function () {
-        const html = '<p>There are <br />10<br> types<br/> of people in <img src="a">the world:' +
-                '<img src=b alt="c"> those who <img src="@" onclick="javascript:alert(\'hello\');">' +
-                'understand trinary,</p> those who don\'t <div style="" class=~/\'-,._?!|#>and' +
-                '< test > those<<< test >>> who mistake it &lt;for&gt; binary.';
-        const expected = 'There are 10  types of people in the world: those who understand trinary,  those who ' +
-            'don\'t and those>> who mistake it &lt;for&gt; binary.';
-        const rendered = excerpt.call({
-            html: html,
-            custom_excerpt: ''
-        });
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('strips multiple inline footnotes', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Testing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup>, my footnotes. And stuff. Footnote<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" rel="footnote">2</a></sup><a href="http://google.com">with a link</a> right after.';
-        const expected = 'Testing, my footnotes. And stuff. Footnotewith a link right after.';
-        const rendered = excerpt.call({
-            html: html,
-            custom_excerpt: ''
-        });
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('strips inline and bottom footnotes', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Testing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup> a very short post with a single footnote.</p>\n' +
-                '<div class="footnotes"><ol><li class="footnote" id="fn:1"><p><a href="https://ghost.org">https://ghost.org</a> <a href="#fnref:1" title="return to article">↩</a></p></li></ol></div>';
-        const expected = 'Testing a very short post with a single footnote.';
-        const rendered = excerpt.call({
-            html: html,
-            custom_excerpt: ''
-        });
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('can truncate html by word', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
+    it('can truncate excerpt by word', function () {
+        const excerpt = 'Hello World! It\'s me!';
         const expected = 'Hello World!';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: ''
-                },
-                {hash: {words: '2'}}
-            )
-        );
 
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                excerpt,
+                custom_excerpt: ''
+            },
+            {hash: {words: '2'}},
+            expected);
     });
 
-    it('can truncate html with non-ascii characters by word', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Едквюэ опортэат <strong>праэчынт ючю но, квуй эю</strong></p>';
+    it('can truncate excerpt with non-ascii characters by word', function () {
+        const excerpt = 'Едквюэ опортэат праэчынт ючю но, квуй эю';
         const expected = 'Едквюэ опортэат';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: ''
-                },
-                {hash: {words: '2'}}
-            )
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                excerpt,
+                custom_excerpt: ''
+            },
+            {hash: {words: '2'}},
+            expected
         );
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
     });
 
     it('can truncate html by character', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
+        const excerpt = 'Hello World! It\'s me!';
         const expected = 'Hello Wo';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: ''
-                },
-                {hash: {characters: '8'}}
-            )
-        );
 
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                excerpt,
+                custom_excerpt: ''
+            },
+            {hash: {characters: '8'}},
+            expected
+
+        );
     });
 
     it('uses custom_excerpt if provided instead of truncating html', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
+        const excerpt = 'Hello World! It\'s me!';
         const customExcerpt = 'My Custom Excerpt wins!';
         const expected = 'My Custom Excerpt wins!';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: customExcerpt
-                }
-            )
-        );
 
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                excerpt,
+                custom_excerpt: customExcerpt
+            },
+            {},
+            expected
+        );
     });
 
     it('does not truncate custom_excerpt if characters options is provided', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
+        const excerpt = 'Hello World! It\'s me!';
         const customExcerpt = 'This is a custom excerpt. It should always be rendered in full length and not being cut ' +
                    'off. The maximum length of a custom excerpt is 300 characters. Enough to tell a bit about ' +
                    'your story and make a nice summary for your readers. It\s only allowed to truncate anything ' +
@@ -157,23 +111,20 @@ describe('{{excerpt}} Helper', function () {
         const expected = 'This is a custom excerpt. It should always be rendered in full length and not being cut ' +
                    'off. The maximum length of a custom excerpt is 300 characters. Enough to tell a bit about ' +
                    'your story and make a nice summary for your readers. It\s only allowed to truncate anything ' +
-                   'after 300 characters. This give';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: customExcerpt
-                },
-                {hash: {characters: '8'}}
-            )
-        );
+            'after 300 characters. This give';
 
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                excerpt,
+                custom_excerpt: customExcerpt
+            },
+            {hash: {characters: '8'}},
+            expected
+        );
     });
 
     it('does not truncate custom_excerpt if words options is provided', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
+        const excerpt = 'Hello World! It\'s me!';
         const customExcerpt = 'This is a custom excerpt. It should always be rendered in full length and not being cut ' +
                    'off. The maximum length of a custom excerpt is 300 characters. Enough to tell a bit about ' +
                    'your story and make a nice summary for your readers. It\s only allowed to truncate anything ' +
@@ -181,68 +132,15 @@ describe('{{excerpt}} Helper', function () {
         const expected = 'This is a custom excerpt. It should always be rendered in full length and not being cut ' +
                    'off. The maximum length of a custom excerpt is 300 characters. Enough to tell a bit about ' +
                    'your story and make a nice summary for your readers. It\s only allowed to truncate anything ' +
-                   'after 300 characters. This give';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: customExcerpt
-                },
-                {hash: {words: '10'}}
-            )
+            'after 300 characters. This give';
+
+        shouldCompileToExpected(
+            {
+                excerpt,
+                custom_excerpt: customExcerpt
+            },
+            {hash: {words: '10'}},
+            expected
         );
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('puts additional space after closing paragraph', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Testing.</p><p>Space before this text.</p><p>And this as well!</p>';
-        const expected = 'Testing. Space before this text. And this as well!';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: ''
-                }
-            )
-        );
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('puts additional space instead of <br> tag', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Testing.<br>Space before this text.<br>And this as well!</p>';
-        const expected = 'Testing. Space before this text. And this as well!';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: ''
-                }
-            )
-        );
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('puts additional space between paragraph in markup generated by Ghost', function () {
-        const html = '<p>put space in excerpt.</p><p></p><p>before this paragraph.</p>' +
-                '<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="/content/images/2019/08/photo.jpg" class="kg-image"></figure>' +
-                '<p>and skip the image.</p><p></p>';
-        const expected = 'put space in excerpt.  before this paragraph. and skip the image.';
-        const rendered = (
-            excerpt.call(
-                {
-                    html: html,
-                    custom_excerpt: ''
-                }
-            )
-        );
-
-        should.exist(rendered);
-        rendered.string.should.equal(expected);
     });
 });
diff --git a/test/unit/frontend/helpers/ghost_head.test.js b/test/unit/frontend/helpers/ghost_head.test.js
index 2f43d03fd0..ac6a0002eb 100644
--- a/test/unit/frontend/helpers/ghost_head.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/frontend/helpers/ghost_head.test.js
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ describe('{{ghost_head}} helper', function () {
         posts.push(createPost({// Post 4
             title: 'Welcome to Ghost',
             mobiledoc: testUtils.DataGenerator.markdownToMobiledoc('This is a short post'),
+            excerpt: 'This is a short post',
             authors: [
                 authors[3]
             ],
@@ -266,6 +267,7 @@ describe('{{ghost_head}} helper', function () {
         posts.push(createPost({// Post 9
             title: 'Welcome to Ghost',
             mobiledoc: testUtils.DataGenerator.markdownToMobiledoc('This is a short post'),
+            excerpt: 'This is a short post',
             tags: [
                 createTag({name: 'tag1'}),
                 createTag({name: 'tag2'}),
diff --git a/test/unit/frontend/meta/description.test.js b/test/unit/frontend/meta/description.test.js
index 44754812e5..f38d40782b 100644
--- a/test/unit/frontend/meta/description.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/frontend/meta/description.test.js
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
 
         it('has correct fallbacks for context: post', function () {
             const post = {
-                html: '<p>Post html</p>',
+                excerpt: 'Post html',
                 custom_excerpt: 'Post custom excerpt',
                 meta_description: 'Post meta description',
                 og_description: 'Post og description'
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'post'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Post html');
 
-            post.html = '';
+            post.excerpt = '';
 
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'post'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Site description');
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
 
         it('has correct fallbacks for context: page', function () {
             const page = {
-                html: '<p>Page html</p>',
+                excerpt: 'Page html',
                 custom_excerpt: 'Page custom excerpt',
                 meta_description: 'Page meta description',
                 og_description: 'Page og description'
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
             getMetaDescription({page}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Page html');
 
-            page.html = '';
+            page.excerpt = '';
 
             getMetaDescription({page}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Site description');
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
         // NOTE: this is a legacy format and should be resolved with https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/10042
         it('has correct fallbacks for context: page (legacy format)', function () {
             const post = {
-                html: '<p>Page html</p>',
+                excerpt: 'Page html',
                 custom_excerpt: 'Page custom excerpt',
                 meta_description: 'Page meta description',
                 og_description: 'Page og description'
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Page html');
 
-            post.html = '';
+            post.excerpt = '';
 
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Site description');
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
 
         it('has correct fallbacks for context: post', function () {
             const post = {
-                html: '<p>Post html</p>',
+                excerpt: 'Post html',
                 custom_excerpt: 'Post custom excerpt',
                 meta_description: 'Post meta description',
                 twitter_description: 'Post twitter description'
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'post'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Post html');
 
-            post.html = '';
+            post.excerpt = '';
 
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'post'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Site description');
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
 
         it('has correct fallbacks for context: page', function () {
             const page = {
-                html: '<p>Page html</p>',
+                excerpt: 'Page html',
                 custom_excerpt: 'Page custom excerpt',
                 meta_description: 'Page meta description',
                 twitter_description: 'Page twitter description'
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
             getMetaDescription({page}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Page html');
 
-            page.html = '';
+            page.excerpt = '';
 
             getMetaDescription({page}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Site description');
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
         // NOTE: this is a legacy format and should be resolved with https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/10042
         it('has correct fallbacks for context: page (legacy format)', function () {
             const post = {
-                html: '<p>Page html</p>',
+                excerpt: 'Page html',
                 custom_excerpt: 'Page custom excerpt',
                 meta_description: 'Page meta description',
                 twitter_description: 'Page twitter description'
@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ describe('getMetaDescription', function () {
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Page html');
 
-            post.html = '';
+            post.excerpt = '';
 
             getMetaDescription({post}, {context: 'page'}, options)
                 .should.equal('Site description');
diff --git a/test/unit/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.test.js b/test/unit/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.test.js
index a51afd8a50..ec378407d3 100644
--- a/test/unit/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt.test.js
@@ -1,90 +1,28 @@
-const should = require('should');
+const assert = require('assert');
 const generateExcerpt = require('../../../../core/frontend/meta/generate-excerpt');
 
 describe('generateExcerpt', function () {
-    it('should return html excerpt with no html', function () {
-        const html = '<p>There are <br />10<br> types<br/> of people in <img src="a">the world:' +
-                '<img src=b alt="c"> those who <img src="@" onclick="javascript:alert(\'hello\');">' +
-                'understand trinary,</p> those who don\'t <div style="" class=~/\'-,._?!|#>and' +
-                '< test > those<<< test >>> who mistake it &lt;for&gt; binary.';
+    it('should fallback to 50 words if not specified', function () {
+        const html = 'This is an auto-generated excerpt. It contains a plaintext version of the first part of your content. Images, footnotes and links are all stripped out as the excerpt is not HTML, but plaintext as I already mentioned. This excerpt will be stripped down to 50 words if it is longer and no options are provided to tell us to do otherwise.';
 
-        const expected = 'There are 10  types of people in the world: those who understand trinary,  those who ' +
-            'don\'t and those>> who mistake it &lt;for&gt; binary.';
+        const expected = 'This is an auto-generated excerpt. It contains a plaintext version of the first part of your content. Images, footnotes and links are all stripped out as the excerpt is not HTML, but plaintext as I already mentioned. This excerpt will be stripped down to 50 words if it is longer';
 
-        generateExcerpt(html, {}).should.equal(expected);
+        assert.equal(generateExcerpt(html), expected);
     });
 
-    it('should return html excerpt strips multiple inline footnotes', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Testing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup>, ' +
-                'my footnotes. And stuff. Footnote<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" ' +
-                'rel="footnote">2</a></sup><a href="http://google.com">with a link</a> ' +
-                'right after.';
+    it('should truncate by words if specified', function () {
+        const html = 'This is an auto-generated excerpt. It contains a plaintext version of the first part of your content. Images, footnotes and links are all stripped out as the excerpt is not HTML, but plaintext as I already mentioned. This excerpt will be stripped down to 50 words if it is longer and no options are provided to tell us to do otherwise.';
 
-        const expected = 'Testing, my footnotes. And stuff. Footnotewith a link right after.';
+        const expected = 'This is an auto-generated excerpt.';
 
-        generateExcerpt(html, {}).should.equal(expected);
+        assert.equal(generateExcerpt(html, {words: 5}), expected);
     });
 
-    it('should return html excerpt striping inline and bottom footnotes', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Testing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a>' +
-                '</sup> a very short post with a single footnote.</p>\n' +
-                '<div class="footnotes"><ol><li class="footnote" id="fn:1"><p>' +
-                '<a href="https://ghost.org">https://ghost.org</a> <a href="#fnref:1" ' +
-                'title="return to article">↩</a></p></li></ol></div>';
+    it('should truncate by characters if specified', function () {
+        const html = 'This is an auto-generated excerpt. It contains a plaintext version of the first part of your content. Images, footnotes and links are all stripped out as the excerpt is not HTML, but plaintext as I already mentioned. This excerpt will be stripped down to 50 words if it is longer and no options are provided to tell us to do otherwise.';
 
-        const expected = 'Testing a very short post with a single footnote.';
+        const expected = 'This is an auto-generated excerpt. It contains a plaintext version of the first part of your content';
 
-        generateExcerpt(html, {}).should.equal(expected);
+        assert.equal(generateExcerpt(html, {characters: 100}), expected);
     });
-
-    it('should return html excerpt truncated by word', function () {
-        const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
-        const expected = 'Hello World!';
-
-        generateExcerpt(html, {words: '2'}).should.equal(expected);
-    });
-
-    it('should return html excerpt truncated by words with non-ascii characters',
-        function () {
-            const html = '<p>Едквюэ опортэат <strong>праэчынт ючю но, квуй эю</strong></p>';
-            const expected = 'Едквюэ опортэат';
-
-            generateExcerpt(html, {words: '2'}).should.equal(expected);
-        });
-
-    it('should return html excerpt truncated by character',
-        function () {
-            const html = '<p>Hello <strong>World! It\'s me!</strong></p>';
-            const expected = 'Hello Wo';
-
-            generateExcerpt(html, {characters: '8'}).should.equal(expected);
-        });
-
-    it('should fall back to 50 words if not specified',
-        function () {
-            const html = '<p>There are <br />10<br> types<br/> of people in <img src="a">the world:' +
-                    '<img src=b alt="c"> those who <img src="@" onclick="javascript:alert(\'hello\');">' +
-                    'understand trinary,</p> those who don\'t <div style="" class=~/\'-,._?!|#>and' +
-                    '< test > those<<< test >>> who mistake it &lt;for&gt; binary.';
-
-            const expected = 'There are 10  types of people in the world: those who understand trinary,  those who ' +
-                'don\'t and those>> who mistake it &lt;for&gt; binary.';
-
-            generateExcerpt(html).should.equal(expected);
-        });
-
-    it('should truncate plain text for custom excerpts',
-        function () {
-            const html = 'This is a custom excerpt. It should always be rendered in full length and not being cut ' +
-                       'off. The maximum length of a custom excerpt is 300 characters. Enough to tell a bit about ' +
-                       'your story and make a nice summary for your readers. It\s only allowed to truncate anything ' +
-                       'after 300 characters. This give';
-
-            const expected = 'This is a custom excerpt. It should always be rendered in full length and not being cut ' +
-                       'off. The maximum length of a custom excerpt is 300 characters. Enough to tell a bit about ' +
-                       'your story and make a nice summary for your readers. It\s only allowed to truncate anything ' +
-                       'after 300 characters. This give';
-
-            generateExcerpt(html, {characters: '300'}).should.equal(expected);
-        });
 });
diff --git a/test/unit/shared/html-to-plaintext.test.js b/test/unit/shared/html-to-plaintext.test.js
index c8e06c0006..54e8aabdc6 100644
--- a/test/unit/shared/html-to-plaintext.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/shared/html-to-plaintext.test.js
@@ -53,4 +53,21 @@ describe('Html to Plaintext', function () {
             assert.match(email, /Ghost Admin → Settings → Theme/);
         });
     });
+
+    describe('footnotes', function () {
+        it('strips multiple inline footnotes', function () {
+            const html = '<p>Testing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup>, my footnotes. And stuff. Footnote<sup id="fnref:2"><a href="#fn:2" rel="footnote">2</a></sup><a href="http://google.com">with a link</a> right after.';
+            const expected = 'Testing, my footnotes. And stuff. Footnotewith a link right after.';
+            const {excerpt} = getEmailandExcert(html);
+            assert.equal(excerpt, expected);
+        });
+
+        it('strips inline and bottom footnotes', function () {
+            const html = '<p>Testing<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" rel="footnote">1</a></sup> a very short post with a single footnote.</p>\n' +
+                    '<div class="footnotes"><ol><li class="footnote" id="fn:1"><p><a href="https://ghost.org">https://ghost.org</a> <a href="#fnref:1" title="return to article">↩</a></p></li></ol></div>';
+            const expected = 'Testing a very short post with a single footnote.\n';
+            const {excerpt} = getEmailandExcert(html);
+            assert.equal(excerpt, expected);
+        });
+    });
 });