diff --git a/bookwyrm/outgoing.py b/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
index 7838b335..b438f5d1 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
@@ -294,8 +294,9 @@ def find_mentions(content):
 
 
 def format_links(content):
+    ''' detect and format links '''
     return re.sub(
-        r'([^(href=")]|^)(https?:\/\/([\w\.\-_]+\.[a-z]{2,}(\/[\w\.\-_\/]+)?))',
+        r'([^(href=")]|^)(https?:\/\/(%s([\w\.\-_\/])*))' % regex.domain,
         r'\g<1><a href="\g<2>">\g<3></a>',
         content)
 
diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py b/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py
index c99b89c0..498b43d9 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/test_outgoing.py
@@ -490,3 +490,16 @@ class Outgoing(TestCase):
             list(outgoing.find_mentions('@nutria@%s' % DOMAIN))[0],
             ('@nutria@%s' % DOMAIN, user)
         )
+
+    def test_format_links(self):
+        ''' find and format urls into a tags '''
+        url = 'http://www.fish.com/'
+        self.assertEqual(
+            outgoing.format_links(url),
+            '<a href="%s">www.fish.com/</a>' % url)
+        url = 'https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.72113/page/n25/mode/2up'
+        self.assertEqual(
+            outgoing.format_links(url),
+            '<a href="%s">' \
+                'archive.org/details/dli.granth.72113/page/n25/mode/2up</a>' \
+                % url)