diff --git a/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/linkUtils.js b/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/linkUtils.js
index 6549f9b61b..cb669cf5c7 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/linkUtils.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/linkUtils.js
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ exports.getLinkDocuments = async function({
     // filter to get unique entries
     const foundIds = []
     linkRows = linkRows.filter(link => {
+      // make sure anything unique is the correct key
+      if (
+        (tableId && link.key[0] !== tableId) ||
+        (rowId && link.key[1] !== rowId)
+      ) {
+        return false
+      }
       const unique = foundIds.indexOf(link.id) === -1
       if (unique) {
         foundIds.push(link.id)
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/manifest.json b/packages/string-templates/manifest.json
index 294eeeec5e..af1f4e3d54 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/manifest.json
+++ b/packages/string-templates/manifest.json
@@ -1097,8 +1097,8 @@
         "format"
       ],
       "numArgs": 2,
-      "example": "{{date now \"YYYY\"}}",
-      "description": "<p>Format a date using moment.js data formatting.</p>\n"
+      "example": "{{date now \"DD-MM-YYYY\"}}",
+      "description": "<p>Format a date using moment.js date formatting.</p>\n"
     }
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/package.json b/packages/string-templates/package.json
index 8bbcccf3fc..dc2bcf7f54 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/package.json
+++ b/packages/string-templates/package.json
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@budibase/handlebars-helpers": "^0.11.3",
+    "dayjs": "^1.10.4",
     "handlebars": "^4.7.6",
     "handlebars-utils": "^1.0.6",
-    "helper-date": "^1.0.1",
     "lodash": "^4.17.20"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/scripts/gen-collection-info.js b/packages/string-templates/scripts/gen-collection-info.js
index 413e870519..76b5c89e0c 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/scripts/gen-collection-info.js
+++ b/packages/string-templates/scripts/gen-collection-info.js
@@ -139,8 +139,8 @@ function run() {
     date: {
       args: ["datetime", "format"],
       numArgs: 2,
-      example: '{{date now "YYYY"}}',
-      description: "Format a date using moment.js data formatting.",
+      example: '{{date now "DD-MM-YYYY"}}',
+      description: "Format a date using moment.js date formatting.",
     },
   }
   // convert all markdown to HTML
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/date.js b/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/date.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1c929a758f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/date.js
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+const dayjs = require("dayjs")
+
+/**
+ * This file was largely taken from the helper-date package - we did this for two reasons:
+ * 1. It made use of both moment of date.js - this caused some weird bugs with some relatively simple
+ * syntax and didn't offer much in return.
+ * 2. Replacing moment with dayjs helps massively reduce bundle size.
+ * The original package can be found here:
+ * https://github.com/helpers/helper-date
+ */
+
+function isOptions(val) {
+  return typeof val === "object" && typeof val.hash === "object"
+}
+
+function isApp(thisArg) {
+  return (
+    typeof thisArg === "object" &&
+    typeof thisArg.options === "object" &&
+    typeof thisArg.app === "object"
+  )
+}
+
+function getContext(thisArg, locals, options) {
+  if (isOptions(thisArg)) {
+    return getContext({}, locals, thisArg)
+  }
+  // ensure args are in the correct order
+  if (isOptions(locals)) {
+    return getContext(thisArg, options, locals)
+  }
+  const appContext = isApp(thisArg) ? thisArg.context : {}
+  options = options || {}
+
+  // if "options" is not handlebars options, merge it onto locals
+  if (!isOptions(options)) {
+    locals = Object.assign({}, locals, options)
+  }
+  // merge handlebars root data onto locals if specified on the hash
+  if (isOptions(options) && options.hash.root === true) {
+    locals = Object.assign({}, options.data.root, locals)
+  }
+  let context = Object.assign({}, appContext, locals, options.hash)
+  if (!isApp(thisArg)) {
+    context = Object.assign({}, thisArg, context)
+  }
+  if (isApp(thisArg) && thisArg.view && thisArg.view.data) {
+    context = Object.assign({}, context, thisArg.view.data)
+  }
+  return context
+}
+
+module.exports = function dateHelper(str, pattern, options) {
+  if (isOptions(pattern)) {
+    options = pattern
+    pattern = null
+  }
+
+  if (isOptions(str)) {
+    options = str
+    pattern = null
+    str = null
+  }
+
+  // if no args are passed, return a formatted date
+  if (str == null && pattern == null) {
+    dayjs.locale("en")
+    return dayjs().format("MMMM DD, YYYY")
+  }
+
+  const defaults = { lang: "en", date: new Date(str) }
+  const opts = getContext(this, defaults, options)
+
+  // set the language to use
+  dayjs.locale(opts.lang || opts.language)
+
+  return dayjs(new Date(str)).format(pattern)
+}
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/external.js b/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/external.js
index 3256134371..138565889d 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/external.js
+++ b/packages/string-templates/src/helpers/external.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const helpers = require("@budibase/handlebars-helpers")
-const dateHelper = require("helper-date")
+const dateHelper = require("./date")
 const { HelperFunctionBuiltin } = require("./constants")
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/src/index.js b/packages/string-templates/src/index.js
index 9cedcde061..e662f253c6 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/string-templates/src/index.js
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@ const handlebars = require("handlebars")
 const { registerAll } = require("./helpers/index")
 const processors = require("./processors")
 const { cloneDeep } = require("lodash/fp")
-const { removeNull, addConstants } = require("./utilities")
+const {
+  removeNull,
+  addConstants,
+  removeHandlebarsStatements,
+} = require("./utilities")
 const manifest = require("../manifest.json")
 
 const hbsInstance = handlebars.create()
@@ -83,16 +87,27 @@ module.exports.processObjectSync = (object, context) => {
  * @returns {string} The enriched string, all templates should have been replaced if they can be.
  */
 module.exports.processStringSync = (string, context) => {
+  if (!exports.isValid(string)) {
+    return string
+  }
+  // take a copy of input incase error
+  const input = string
   let clonedContext = removeNull(cloneDeep(context))
   clonedContext = addConstants(clonedContext)
   // remove any null/undefined properties
   if (typeof string !== "string") {
     throw "Cannot process non-string types."
   }
-  string = processors.preprocess(string)
-  // this does not throw an error when template can't be fulfilled, have to try correct beforehand
-  const template = hbsInstance.compile(string)
-  return processors.postprocess(template(clonedContext))
+  try {
+    string = processors.preprocess(string)
+    // this does not throw an error when template can't be fulfilled, have to try correct beforehand
+    const template = hbsInstance.compile(string, {
+      strict: false,
+    })
+    return processors.postprocess(template(clonedContext))
+  } catch (err) {
+    return removeHandlebarsStatements(input)
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -110,19 +125,33 @@ module.exports.makePropSafe = property => {
  * @returns {boolean} Whether or not the input string is valid.
  */
 module.exports.isValid = string => {
-  const specialCases = ["string", "number", "object", "array"]
+  const validCases = [
+    "string",
+    "number",
+    "object",
+    "array",
+    "cannot read property",
+  ]
+  // this is a portion of a specific string always output by handlebars in the case of a syntax error
+  const invalidCases = [`expecting '`]
   // don't really need a real context to check if its valid
   const context = {}
   try {
     hbsInstance.compile(processors.preprocess(string, false))(context)
     return true
   } catch (err) {
-    const msg = err ? err.message : ""
-    const foundCase = specialCases.find(spCase =>
-      msg.toLowerCase().includes(spCase)
+    const msg = err && err.message ? err.message : err
+    if (!msg) {
+      return false
+    }
+    const invalidCase = invalidCases.some(invalidCase =>
+      msg.toLowerCase().includes(invalidCase)
+    )
+    const validCase = validCases.some(validCase =>
+      msg.toLowerCase().includes(validCase)
     )
     // special case for maths functions - don't have inputs yet
-    return !!foundCase
+    return validCase && !invalidCase
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/src/processors/preprocessor.js b/packages/string-templates/src/processors/preprocessor.js
index af6d656eaa..ee3a3a9730 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/src/processors/preprocessor.js
+++ b/packages/string-templates/src/processors/preprocessor.js
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ module.exports.processors = [
         return statement
       }
     }
-    if (HelperNames().some(option => possibleHelper.includes(option))) {
+    if (HelperNames().some(option => option.includes(possibleHelper))) {
       insideStatement = `(${insideStatement})`
     }
     return `{{ all ${insideStatement} }}`
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/src/utilities.js b/packages/string-templates/src/utilities.js
index da3aa6ee94..b33e8bfe1d 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/src/utilities.js
+++ b/packages/string-templates/src/utilities.js
@@ -32,3 +32,16 @@ module.exports.addConstants = obj => {
   }
   return obj
 }
+
+module.exports.removeHandlebarsStatements = string => {
+  let regexp = new RegExp(exports.FIND_HBS_REGEX)
+  let matches = string.match(regexp)
+  if (matches == null) {
+    return string
+  }
+  for (let match of matches) {
+    const idx = string.indexOf(match)
+    string = exports.swapStrings(string, idx, match.length, "Invalid Binding")
+  }
+  return string
+}
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/test/helpers.spec.js b/packages/string-templates/test/helpers.spec.js
index 4a4ed6592a..b8b44a0929 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/test/helpers.spec.js
+++ b/packages/string-templates/test/helpers.spec.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const {
   processString,
+  processObject,
   isValid,
 } = require("../src/index")
 
@@ -316,4 +317,25 @@ describe("Cover a few complex use cases", () => {
     const validity = isValid("{{ subtract [c390c23a7f1b6441c98d2fe2a51248ef3].[total profit] [c390c23a7f1b6441c98d2fe2a51248ef3].[total revenue]  }}")
     expect(validity).toBe(true)
   })
+
+  it("should confirm a bunch of invalid strings", () => {
+    const invalids = ["{{ awd )", "{{ awdd () ", "{{ awdwad ", "{{ awddawd }"]
+    for (let invalid of invalids) {
+      const validity = isValid(invalid)
+      expect(validity).toBe(false)
+    }
+  })
+
+  it("input a garbage string, expect it to be returned", async () => {
+    const input = `{{{{{{ } {{ ]] ] ] }}} {{ ] {{ {   } { dsa { dddddd }}}}}}} }DDD`
+    const output = await processString(input, {})
+    expect(output).toBe(input)
+  })
+
+  it("getting a nice date from the user", async () => {
+    const input = {text: `{{ date user.subscriptionDue "DD-MM" }}`}
+    const context = JSON.parse(`{"user":{"email":"test@test.com","roleId":"ADMIN","type":"user","tableId":"ta_users","subscriptionDue":"2021-01-12T12:00:00.000Z","_id":"ro_ta_users_us_test@test.com","_rev":"2-24cc794985eb54183ecb93e148563f3d"}}`)
+    const output = await processObject(input, context)
+    expect(output.text).toBe("12-01")
+  })
 })
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/string-templates/yarn.lock b/packages/string-templates/yarn.lock
index a3d5ac638d..cb96e4e81c 100644
--- a/packages/string-templates/yarn.lock
+++ b/packages/string-templates/yarn.lock
@@ -1596,6 +1596,11 @@ date.js@^0.3.1:
   dependencies:
     debug "~3.1.0"
 
+dayjs@^1.10.4:
+  version "1.10.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/dayjs/-/dayjs-1.10.4.tgz#8e544a9b8683f61783f570980a8a80eaf54ab1e2"
+  integrity sha512-RI/Hh4kqRc1UKLOAf/T5zdMMX5DQIlDxwUe3wSyMMnEbGunnpENCdbUgM+dW7kXidZqCttBrmw7BhN4TMddkCw==
+
 debug@^2.2.0, debug@^2.3.3:
   version "2.6.9"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/debug/-/debug-2.6.9.tgz#5d128515df134ff327e90a4c93f4e077a536341f"