diff --git a/zerver/tests/test_narrow.py b/zerver/tests/test_narrow.py
index 1f5fdfe425..d7e8eee7e8 100644
--- a/zerver/tests/test_narrow.py
+++ b/zerver/tests/test_narrow.py
@@ -983,6 +983,42 @@ class GetOldMessagesTest(ZulipTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(link_search_result['messages'][0]['match_content'],
                          '<p><a href="https://google.com" target="_blank" title="https://google.com"><span class="highlight">https://google.com</span></a></p>')
 
+    def test_messages_in_narrow_for_non_search(self):
+        # type: () -> None
+        email = self.example_email("cordelia")
+        self.login(email)
+
+        def send(content):
+            # type: (Text) -> int
+            msg_id = self.send_message(
+                sender_name=email,
+                raw_recipients="Verona",
+                message_type=Recipient.STREAM,
+                subject='test_topic',
+                content=content,
+            )
+            return msg_id
+
+        good_id = send('http://foo.com')
+        bad_id = send('no link here')
+        msg_ids = [good_id, bad_id]
+        send('http://bar.com but not in msg_ids')
+
+        narrow = [
+            dict(operator='has', operand='link'),
+        ]
+
+        raw_params = dict(msg_ids=msg_ids, narrow=narrow)
+        params = {k: ujson.dumps(v) for k, v in raw_params.items()}
+        result = self.client_get('/json/messages/matches_narrow', params)
+        self.assert_json_success(result)
+        messages = result.json()['messages']
+        self.assertEqual(len(list(messages.keys())), 1)
+        message = messages[str(good_id)]
+        self.assertIn('a href=', message['match_content'])
+        self.assertIn('http://foo.com', message['match_content'])
+        self.assertEqual(message['match_subject'], 'test_topic')
+
     def test_get_messages_with_only_searching_anchor(self):
         # type: () -> None
         """
diff --git a/zerver/views/messages.py b/zerver/views/messages.py
index 9124602ca7..a5366b998e 100644
--- a/zerver/views/messages.py
+++ b/zerver/views/messages.py
@@ -1198,8 +1198,19 @@ def messages_in_narrow_backend(request, user_profile,
 
     search_fields = dict()
     for row in query_result:
-        (message_id, subject, rendered_content, content_matches, subject_matches) = row
-        search_fields[message_id] = get_search_fields(rendered_content, subject,
-                                                      content_matches, subject_matches)
+        message_id = row['message_id']
+        subject = row['subject']
+        rendered_content = row['rendered_content']
+
+        if 'content_matches' in row:
+            content_matches = row['content_matches']
+            subject_matches = row['subject_matches']
+            search_fields[message_id] = get_search_fields(rendered_content, subject,
+                                                          content_matches, subject_matches)
+        else:
+            search_fields[message_id] = dict(
+                match_content=rendered_content,
+                match_subject=subject
+            )
 
     return json_success({"messages": search_fields})