diff --git a/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/SearchField.php b/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/SearchField.php
index dfbf3dab..7e814744 100644
--- a/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/SearchField.php
+++ b/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/SearchField.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public function getIndexData(Field $field, FieldDefinition $fieldDefinition)
         return [
             new Search\Field(
                 'value',
-                $this->extractShortText($document),
+                self::extractShortText($document),
                 new Search\FieldType\StringField()
             ),
             new Search\Field(
@@ -72,13 +72,16 @@ private function extractText(DOMNode $node)
     /**
      * Extracts short text content of the given $document.
      *
+     * @internal Only for use by RichText FieldType itself.
+     *
      * @param \DOMDocument $document
      *
      * @return string
      */
-    private function extractShortText(DOMDocument $document)
+    public static function extractShortText(DOMDocument $document): string
     {
         $result = null;
+        // try to extract first paragraph/tag
         if ($section = $document->documentElement->firstChild) {
             $textDom = $section->firstChild;
 
@@ -93,7 +96,10 @@ private function extractShortText(DOMDocument $document)
             $result = $document->documentElement->textContent;
         }
 
-        return trim($result);
+        // In case of newlines, extract first line. Also limit size to 255 which is maxsize on sql impl.
+        $lines = preg_split('/\r\n|\n|\r/', trim($result), -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
+
+        return empty($lines) ? '' : trim(mb_substr($lines[0], 0, 255));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/Type.php b/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/Type.php
index 94782c9d..787b7647 100644
--- a/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/Type.php
+++ b/src/lib/eZ/FieldType/RichText/Type.php
@@ -164,17 +164,17 @@ public function validate(FieldDefinition $fieldDefinition, SPIValue $value)
     }
 
     /**
-     * Returns sortKey information.
+     * Returns information for FieldValue->$sortKey relevant to the field type.
      *
      * @see \eZ\Publish\Core\FieldType
      *
      * @param \EzSystems\EzPlatformRichText\eZ\FieldType\RichText\Value $value
      *
-     * @return array|bool
+     * @return string|null
      */
     protected function getSortInfo(BaseValue $value)
     {
-        return false;
+        return SearchField::extractShortText($value->xml);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/lib/eZ/Persistence/Legacy/RichTextFieldValueConverter.php b/src/lib/eZ/Persistence/Legacy/RichTextFieldValueConverter.php
index 57622964..0fe78ea5 100644
--- a/src/lib/eZ/Persistence/Legacy/RichTextFieldValueConverter.php
+++ b/src/lib/eZ/Persistence/Legacy/RichTextFieldValueConverter.php
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ public static function create()
     public function toStorageValue(FieldValue $value, StorageFieldValue $storageFieldValue)
     {
         $storageFieldValue->dataText = $value->data;
+        $storageFieldValue->sortKeyString = $value->sortKey;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ public function toStorageValue(FieldValue $value, StorageFieldValue $storageFiel
     public function toFieldValue(StorageFieldValue $value, FieldValue $fieldValue)
     {
         $fieldValue->data = $value->dataText ?: Value::EMPTY_VALUE;
+        $fieldValue->sortKey = $value->sortKeyString;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -86,6 +88,6 @@ public function toFieldDefinition(StorageFieldDefinition $storageDefinition, Fie
      */
     public function getIndexColumn()
     {
-        return false;
+        return 'sort_key_string';
     }
 }