diff --git a/app/helpers/user_notifications_helper.rb b/app/helpers/user_notifications_helper.rb
index 1b224db4974..728f4cd9ea7 100644
--- a/app/helpers/user_notifications_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/user_notifications_helper.rb
@@ -39,9 +39,15 @@ module UserNotificationsHelper
 
   def first_paragraph_from(html)
     doc = Nokogiri::HTML(html)
+
+    result = ""
     doc.css('p').each do |p|
-      return p if p.text.present?
+      if p.text.present?
+        result << p.to_s
+        return result if result.size >= 100
+      end
     end
+    return result unless result.blank?
 
     # If there is no first paragaph, return the first div (onebox)
     doc.css('div').first
@@ -54,7 +60,7 @@ module UserNotificationsHelper
     else
       # Otherwise, try just the first paragraph.
       para = first_paragraph_from(html)
-      raw Sanitize.clean(para.to_s, UserNotificationsHelper.sanitize_options)
+      raw Sanitize.clean(para, UserNotificationsHelper.sanitize_options)
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/config/locales/server.en.yml b/config/locales/server.en.yml
index 7894fb35365..5fd111a2ca7 100644
--- a/config/locales/server.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/server.en.yml
@@ -785,6 +785,7 @@ en:
 
     allow_uploaded_avatars: "Allow users to upload their custom avatars"
     allow_animated_avatars: "Allow users to use animated gif for avatars. WARNING: it is highly recommended to run the avatars:regenerate rake task after changing that setting."
+    digest_min_excerpt_length: "How many characters we're aiming for for each post in the email digest"
     default_digest_email_frequency: "How often users receive digest emails by default. They can change this setting in their preferences."
     default_external_links_in_new_tab: "Open external links in a new tab. Users can change this in their preferences."
 
diff --git a/config/site_settings.yml b/config/site_settings.yml
index 33c6190b1e2..a88b1234d54 100644
--- a/config/site_settings.yml
+++ b/config/site_settings.yml
@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ posting:
 email:
   email_time_window_mins: 10
   email_posts_context: 5
+  digest_min_excerpt_length: 100
   default_digest_email_frequency:
     default: 7
     enum: 'DigestEmailSiteSetting'