diff --git a/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/LinkController.js b/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/LinkController.js
index d526bf159b..27b230f30a 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/LinkController.js
+++ b/packages/server/src/db/linkedRows/LinkController.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 const CouchDB = require("../index")
 const { IncludeDocs, getLinkDocuments } = require("./linkUtils")
-const { generateLinkID } = require("../utils")
+const { generateLinkID, InternalTables, generateUserMetadataID, getUserMetadataParams } = require("../utils")
 const Sentry = require("@sentry/node")
 const { FieldTypes, RelationshipTypes } = require("../../constants")
 
@@ -208,6 +208,15 @@ class LinkController {
         const linkedTable = await this._db.get(field.tableId)
         const linkedSchema = linkedTable.schema[field.fieldName]
 
+        // We need to map the global users to metadata in each app for relationships
+        if (field.tableId === InternalTables.USER_METADATA) {
+          const users = await this._db.allDocs(getUserMetadataParams(null, {}))
+          const metadataRequired = rowField.filter(userId => !users.rows.some(user => user.id === userId))
+
+          // ensure non-existing user metadata is created in the app DB
+          await this._db.bulkDocs(metadataRequired.map(userId => ({ _id: userId })))
+        }
+
         // iterate through the link IDs in the row field, see if any don't exist already
         for (let linkId of rowField) {
           if (linkedSchema.relationshipType === RelationshipTypes.ONE_TO_MANY) {