diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6f0568aa59..f271872570 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 * Bumped `express-bearer-token` dependency to address a low-severity `npm audit` warning regarding noncompliant cookie names and values. Apostrophe
 did not actually use any noncompliant cookie names or values, so there was no vulnerability in Apostrophe.
 * Rich text "Styles" toolbar now has visually focused state.
+* The `renderPermalinks` and `renderImages` methods of the `@apostrophecms/rich-text` module now correctly resolve the final URLs of page links and inline images in rich text widgets, even when the user has editing privileges. Formerly this was mistakenly prevented by logic intended to preserve the editing experience. The editing experience never actually relied on the
+rendered output.
 
 ### Adds
 
@@ -19,6 +21,7 @@ did not actually use any noncompliant cookie names or values, so there was no vu
 * Adds asset module option `options.modulePreloadPolyfill` (default `true`) to allow disabling the polyfill preload for e.g. external front-ends. 
 * Adds `bundleMarkup` to the data sent to the external front-end, containing all markup for injecting Apostrophe UI in the front-end.
 * Warns users when two page types have the same field name, but a different field type. This may cause errors or other problems when an editor switches page types.
+* The piece and page `GET` REST APIs now support `?render-areas=inline`. When this parameter is used, an HTML rendering of each widget is added to that specific widget in each area's `items` array as a new `_rendered` property. The existing `?render-areas=1` parameter is still supported to render the entire area as a single `_rendered` property. Note that this older option also causes `items` to be omitted from the response.
 
 ### Changes
 
diff --git a/modules/@apostrophecms/area/index.js b/modules/@apostrophecms/area/index.js
index 923ae7c2f2..5efceb99fb 100644
--- a/modules/@apostrophecms/area/index.js
+++ b/modules/@apostrophecms/area/index.js
@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ module.exports = {
       setWidgetManager(name, manager) {
         self.widgetManagers[name] = manager;
       },
+      // Given the options passed to the area field, return the options passed
+      // to each widget type, indexed by widget name. This provides a consistent
+      // interface regardless of whether `options.widgets` or `options.groups`
+      // was used.
       getWidgets(options) {
         let widgets = options.widgets || {};
 
@@ -167,7 +171,11 @@ module.exports = {
       },
       // Render the given `area` object via `area.html`, with the given `context`
       // which may be omitted. Called for you by the `{% area %} custom tag.
-      async renderArea(req, area, _with) {
+      //
+      // If `inline` is true then the rendering of each widget is attached
+      // to the widget as a `_rendered` property, bypassing normal full-area
+      // HTML responses, and the return value of this method is `null`.
+      async renderArea(req, area, _with, { inline = false } = {}) {
         if (!area._id) {
           throw new Error('All areas must have an _id property in A3.x. Area details:\n\n' + JSON.stringify(area));
         }
@@ -212,6 +220,12 @@ module.exports = {
           // just use the helpers
           self.apos.attachment.all(area, { annotate: true });
         }
+        if (inline) {
+          for (const item of area.items) {
+            item._rendered = await self.renderWidget(req, item.type, item, widgets[item.type]);
+          }
+          return null;
+        }
         return self.render(req, 'area', {
           // TODO filter area to exclude big relationship objects, but
           // not so sloppy this time please
@@ -226,7 +240,13 @@ module.exports = {
       // Replace documents' area objects with rendered HTML for each area.
       // This is used by GET requests including the `render-areas` query
       // parameter. `within` is an array of Apostrophe documents.
-      async renderDocsAreas(req, within) {
+      //
+      // If `inline` is true a rendering of each individual widget is
+      // added as an extra `_rendered` property of that widget, alongside
+      // its normal properties. Otherwise a rendering of the entire area
+      // is supplied as the `_rendered` property of that area and the
+      // `items` array is suppressed from the response.
+      async renderDocsAreas(req, within, { inline = false } = {}) {
         within = Array.isArray(within) ? within : [];
         let index = 0;
         // Loop over the docs in the array passed in.
@@ -270,8 +290,10 @@ module.exports = {
         async function render(area, path, context, opts) {
           const preppedArea = self.prepForRender(area, context, path);
 
-          const areaRendered = await self.apos.area.renderArea(req, preppedArea, context);
-
+          const areaRendered = await self.apos.area.renderArea(req, preppedArea, context, { inline });
+          if (inline) {
+            return;
+          }
           _.set(context, [ path, '_rendered' ], areaRendered);
           _.set(context, [ path, '_fieldId' ], undefined);
           _.set(context, [ path, 'items' ], undefined);
diff --git a/modules/@apostrophecms/page/index.js b/modules/@apostrophecms/page/index.js
index ddb477da4a..d3fa782c6e 100644
--- a/modules/@apostrophecms/page/index.js
+++ b/modules/@apostrophecms/page/index.js
@@ -417,8 +417,12 @@ module.exports = {
           if (!result) {
             throw self.apos.error('notfound');
           }
-          if (self.apos.launder.boolean(req.query['render-areas']) === true) {
-            await self.apos.area.renderDocsAreas(req, [ result ]);
+          const renderAreas = req.query['render-areas'];
+          const inline = renderAreas === 'inline';
+          if (inline || self.apos.launder.boolean(renderAreas)) {
+            await self.apos.area.renderDocsAreas(req, [ result ], {
+              inline
+            });
           }
           // Attach `_url` and `_urls` properties
           self.apos.attachment.all(result, { annotate: true });
diff --git a/modules/@apostrophecms/piece-type/index.js b/modules/@apostrophecms/piece-type/index.js
index 74b6af080b..f4ede7ee95 100644
--- a/modules/@apostrophecms/piece-type/index.js
+++ b/modules/@apostrophecms/piece-type/index.js
@@ -251,8 +251,12 @@ module.exports = {
           result.currentPage = query.get('page') || 1;
           result.results = (await query.toArray())
             .map(doc => self.removeForbiddenFields(req, doc));
-          if (self.apos.launder.boolean(req.query['render-areas']) === true) {
-            await self.apos.area.renderDocsAreas(req, result.results);
+          const renderAreas = req.query['render-areas'];
+          const inline = renderAreas === 'inline';
+          if (inline || self.apos.launder.boolean(renderAreas)) {
+            await self.apos.area.renderDocsAreas(req, result.results, {
+              inline
+            });
           }
           if (query.get('choicesResults')) {
             result.choices = query.get('choicesResults');
@@ -291,8 +295,12 @@ module.exports = {
           if (!doc) {
             throw self.apos.error('notfound');
           }
-          if (self.apos.launder.boolean(req.query['render-areas']) === true) {
-            await self.apos.area.renderDocsAreas(req, [ doc ]);
+          const renderAreas = req.query['render-areas'];
+          const inline = renderAreas === 'inline';
+          if (inline || self.apos.launder.boolean(renderAreas)) {
+            await self.apos.area.renderDocsAreas(req, [ doc ], {
+              inline
+            });
           }
           self.apos.attachment.all(doc, { annotate: true });
           return doc;
diff --git a/modules/@apostrophecms/rich-text-widget/index.js b/modules/@apostrophecms/rich-text-widget/index.js
index e17317a385..6364ebd762 100644
--- a/modules/@apostrophecms/rich-text-widget/index.js
+++ b/modules/@apostrophecms/rich-text-widget/index.js
@@ -731,7 +731,8 @@ module.exports = {
       },
 
       // Quickly replaces rich text permalink placeholder URLs with
-      // actual, SEO-friendly URLs based on `widget._relatedDocs`
+      // actual, SEO-friendly URLs based on `widget._relatedDocs`.
+
       linkPermalinks(widget, content) {
         // "Why no regexps?" We need to do this as quickly as we can.
         // indexOf and lastIndexOf are much faster.
@@ -756,13 +757,11 @@ module.exports = {
             const left = content.lastIndexOf('<', i);
             const href = content.indexOf(' href="', left);
             const close = content.indexOf('"', href + 7);
-            if (!widget._edit) {
-              if ((left !== -1) && (href !== -1) && (close !== -1)) {
-                content = content.substring(0, href + 6) + doc._url + content.substring(close + 1);
-              } else {
-                // So we don't get stuck in an infinite loop
-                break;
-              }
+            if ((left !== -1) && (href !== -1) && (close !== -1)) {
+              content = content.substring(0, href + 6) + doc._url + content.substring(close + 1);
+            } else {
+              // So we don't get stuck in an infinite loop
+              break;
             }
             if (!updateTitle) {
               continue;
@@ -777,11 +776,8 @@ module.exports = {
         return content;
       },
       // Quickly replaces inline image placeholder URLs with
-      // actual, SEO-friendly URLs based on `widget._relatedDocs`
+      // actual, SEO-friendly URLs based on `widget._relatedDocs`.
       linkImages(widget, content) {
-        if (widget._edit) {
-          return content;
-        }
         // "Why no regexps?" We need to do this as quickly as we can.
         // indexOf and lastIndexOf are much faster.
         let i;
@@ -799,13 +795,11 @@ module.exports = {
             const left = content.lastIndexOf('<', i);
             const src = content.indexOf(' src="', left);
             const close = content.indexOf('"', src + 6);
-            if (!widget._edit) {
-              if ((left !== -1) && (src !== -1) && (close !== -1)) {
-                content = content.substring(0, src + 5) + doc.attachment._urls[self.apos.modules['@apostrophecms/image'].getLargestSize()] + content.substring(close + 1);
-              } else {
-                // So we don't get stuck in an infinite loop
-                break;
-              }
+            if ((left !== -1) && (src !== -1) && (close !== -1)) {
+              content = content.substring(0, src + 5) + doc.attachment._urls[self.apos.modules['@apostrophecms/image'].getLargestSize()] + content.substring(close + 1);
+            } else {
+              // So we don't get stuck in an infinite loop
+              break;
             }
           }
         }