diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/exporters/CustomizableTabularExporterUtilities.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/exporters/CustomizableTabularExporterUtilities.java
index d7e6d334d..eb19a68e7 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/exporters/CustomizableTabularExporterUtilities.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/exporters/CustomizableTabularExporterUtilities.java
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 package com.google.refine.exporters;
 
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URL;
 import java.text.DateFormat;
 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
@@ -45,6 +47,7 @@ import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.TimeZone;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.validator.routines.UrlValidator;
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONException;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
@@ -226,6 +229,8 @@ abstract public class CustomizableTabularExporterUtilities {
         boolean date_omitTime = false;
         
         DateFormat dateFormatter;
+        String[] urlSchemes = {"http","https", "ftp"};
+        UrlValidator urlValidator = new UrlValidator(urlSchemes);
         
         Map<String, String> identifierSpaceToUrl = null;
         
@@ -348,6 +353,12 @@ abstract public class CustomizableTabularExporterUtilities {
                     if (text == null) {
                         if (value instanceof String) {
                             text = (String) value;
+                            
+                            if(text.contains(":")) {
+                                if(urlValidator.isValid(text)) {
+                                    link = text;
+                                }
+                            }
                         } else if (value instanceof OffsetDateTime) {
                             text = ((OffsetDateTime) value).format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT);
                         } else {
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/exporters/HtmlExporterTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/exporters/HtmlExporterTests.java
index 131a47ea2..252808a93 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/exporters/HtmlExporterTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/exporters/HtmlExporterTests.java
@@ -184,6 +184,33 @@ public class HtmlExporterTests extends RefineTest {
                 "</body>\n" +
                 "</html>\n");
         }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void exportHtmlTableWithURLs(){
+        CreateGrid(3,3);
+
+        project.rows.get(1).cells.set(1, new Cell("ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/", null));
+        project.rows.get(2).cells.set(0, new Cell("https://gnu.org/", null));
+        try {
+            SUT.export(project, options, engine, writer);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            Assert.fail();
+        }
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(writer.toString(), "<html>\n" +
+                "<head>\n" + "<title>" + TEST_PROJECT_NAME + "</title>\n" + 
+                "<meta charset=\"utf-8\" />\n" +
+                "</head>\n" +
+                "<body>\n" +
+                "<table>\n" +
+                "<tr><th>column0</th><th>column1</th><th>column2</th></tr>\n" +
+                "<tr><td>row0cell0</td><td>row0cell1</td><td>row0cell2</td></tr>\n" +
+                "<tr><td>row1cell0</td><td><a href=\"ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/\">ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/</a></td><td>row1cell2</td></tr>\n" +
+                "<tr><td><a href=\"https://gnu.org/\">https://gnu.org/</a></td><td>row2cell1</td><td>row2cell2</td></tr>\n" +
+                "</table>\n" +
+                "</body>\n" +
+                "</html>\n");
+    }
 
     //helper methods
 

column0	column1	column2
row0cell0	row0cell1	row0cell2
row1cell0	ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/	row1cell2
https://gnu.org/	row2cell1	row2cell2