diff --git a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/cells/HeaderCell.svelte b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/cells/HeaderCell.svelte
index bb38c5094f..530595fe40 100644
--- a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/cells/HeaderCell.svelte
+++ b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/cells/HeaderCell.svelte
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@
         >
           Hide column
         </MenuItem>
-        {#if $config.canEditColumns && column.schema.type === "link" && column.schema.tableId === TableNames.USERS}
+        {#if $config.canEditColumns && column.schema.type === "link" && column.schema.tableId === TableNames.USERS && !column.schema.autocolumn}
           <MenuItem icon="User" on:click={openMigrationModal}>
             Migrate to user column
           </MenuItem>
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/row/ExternalRequest.ts b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/row/ExternalRequest.ts
index be6ac885df..bd92413851 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/row/ExternalRequest.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/row/ExternalRequest.ts
@@ -265,7 +265,10 @@ export class ExternalRequest<T extends Operation> {
     }
   }
 
-  inputProcessing(row: Row | undefined, table: Table) {
+  inputProcessing<T extends Row | undefined>(
+    row: T,
+    table: Table
+  ): { row: T; manyRelationships: ManyRelationship[] } {
     if (!row) {
       return { row, manyRelationships: [] }
     }
@@ -346,7 +349,7 @@ export class ExternalRequest<T extends Operation> {
     // we return the relationships that may need to be created in the through table
     // we do this so that if the ID is generated by the DB it can be inserted
     // after the fact
-    return { row: newRow, manyRelationships }
+    return { row: newRow as T, manyRelationships }
   }
 
   /**
@@ -598,6 +601,18 @@ export class ExternalRequest<T extends Operation> {
     // clean up row on ingress using schema
     const processed = this.inputProcessing(row, table)
     row = processed.row
+    let manyRelationships = processed.manyRelationships
+
+    if (!row && rows) {
+      manyRelationships = []
+      for (let i = 0; i < rows.length; i++) {
+        const processed = this.inputProcessing(rows[i], table)
+        rows[i] = processed.row
+        if (processed.manyRelationships.length) {
+          manyRelationships.push(...processed.manyRelationships)
+        }
+      }
+    }
     if (
       operation === Operation.DELETE &&
       (filters == null || Object.keys(filters).length === 0)
diff --git a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts
index e526af4ecb..bd674d7d38 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/api/controllers/table/external.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 } from "@budibase/types"
 import sdk from "../../../sdk"
 import { builderSocket } from "../../../websockets"
+import { inputProcessing } from "../../../utilities/rowProcessor"
 
 function getDatasourceId(table: Table) {
   if (!table) {
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ export async function destroy(ctx: UserCtx) {
 export async function bulkImport(
   ctx: UserCtx<BulkImportRequest, BulkImportResponse>
 ) {
-  const table = await sdk.tables.getTable(ctx.params.tableId)
+  let table = await sdk.tables.getTable(ctx.params.tableId)
   const { rows } = ctx.request.body
   const schema = table.schema
 
@@ -88,7 +89,15 @@ export async function bulkImport(
     ctx.throw(400, "Provided data import information is invalid.")
   }
 
-  const parsedRows = parse(rows, schema)
+  const parsedRows = []
+  for (const row of parse(rows, schema)) {
+    const processed = await inputProcessing(ctx.user?._id, table, row, {
+      noAutoRelationships: true,
+    })
+    parsedRows.push(processed.row)
+    table = processed.table
+  }
+
   await handleRequest(Operation.BULK_CREATE, table._id!, {
     rows: parsedRows,
   })
diff --git a/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search.ts b/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search.ts
index 2d194ab196..e347a8657d 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search.ts
@@ -79,9 +79,7 @@ export async function search(
   }
 
   const table = await sdk.tables.getTable(options.tableId)
-  options = searchInputMapping(table, options, {
-    isSql: !!table.sql || !!env.SQS_SEARCH_ENABLE,
-  })
+  options = searchInputMapping(table, options)
 
   if (isExternalTable) {
     return external.search(options, table)
diff --git a/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search/utils.ts b/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search/utils.ts
index 62f5af2b70..797383eff0 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/sdk/app/rows/search/utils.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   RowSearchParams,
 } from "@budibase/types"
 import { db as dbCore, context } from "@budibase/backend-core"
-import { helpers, utils } from "@budibase/shared-core"
+import { utils } from "@budibase/shared-core"
 
 export async function paginatedSearch(
   query: SearchFilters,
@@ -49,12 +49,7 @@ function findColumnInQueries(
   }
 }
 
-function userColumnMapping(
-  column: string,
-  options: RowSearchParams,
-  isDeprecatedSingleUserColumn: boolean = false,
-  isSql: boolean = false
-) {
+function userColumnMapping(column: string, options: RowSearchParams) {
   findColumnInQueries(column, options, (filterValue: any): any => {
     const isArray = Array.isArray(filterValue),
       isString = typeof filterValue === "string"
@@ -71,33 +66,23 @@ function userColumnMapping(
       }
     }
 
-    let wrapper = (s: string) => s
-    if (isDeprecatedSingleUserColumn && filterValue && isSql) {
-      // Decreated single users are stored as stringified arrays of a single value
-      wrapper = (s: string) => JSON.stringify([s])
-    }
-
     if (isArray) {
       return filterValue.map(el => {
         if (typeof el === "string") {
-          return wrapper(processString(el))
+          return processString(el)
         } else {
           return el
         }
       })
     } else {
-      return wrapper(processString(filterValue))
+      return processString(filterValue)
     }
   })
 }
 
 // maps through the search parameters to check if any of the inputs are invalid
 // based on the table schema, converts them to something that is valid.
-export function searchInputMapping(
-  table: Table,
-  options: RowSearchParams,
-  datasourceOptions: { isSql?: boolean } = {}
-) {
+export function searchInputMapping(table: Table, options: RowSearchParams) {
   if (!table?.schema) {
     return options
   }
@@ -116,12 +101,7 @@ export function searchInputMapping(
         break
       }
       case FieldType.BB_REFERENCE: {
-        userColumnMapping(
-          key,
-          options,
-          helpers.schema.isDeprecatedSingleUserColumn(column),
-          datasourceOptions.isSql
-        )
+        userColumnMapping(key, options)
         break
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/bbReferenceProcessor.ts b/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/bbReferenceProcessor.ts
index d69fe73052..874113f6f1 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/bbReferenceProcessor.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/bbReferenceProcessor.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,13 @@ export async function processInputBBReference(
   subtype: BBReferenceFieldSubType.USER
 ): Promise<string | null> {
   if (value && Array.isArray(value)) {
-    throw "BB_REFERENCE_SINGLE cannot be an array"
+    if (value.length > 1) {
+      throw new InvalidBBRefError(
+        JSON.stringify(value),
+        BBReferenceFieldSubType.USER
+      )
+    }
+    value = value[0]
   }
   let id = typeof value === "string" ? value : value?._id
 
diff --git a/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/index.ts b/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/index.ts
index e7bc725285..59237be5f3 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/index.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/index.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
   processOutputBBReferences,
 } from "./bbReferenceProcessor"
 import { isExternalTableID } from "../../integrations/utils"
+import { helpers } from "@budibase/shared-core"
 
 export * from "./utils"
 export * from "./attachments"
@@ -162,10 +163,14 @@ export async function inputProcessing(
       if (attachment?.url) {
         delete clonedRow[key].url
       }
-    } else if (field.type === FieldType.BB_REFERENCE && value) {
-      clonedRow[key] = await processInputBBReferences(value, field.subtype)
-    } else if (field.type === FieldType.BB_REFERENCE_SINGLE && value) {
+    } else if (
+      value &&
+      (field.type === FieldType.BB_REFERENCE_SINGLE ||
+        helpers.schema.isDeprecatedSingleUserColumn(field))
+    ) {
       clonedRow[key] = await processInputBBReference(value, field.subtype)
+    } else if (value && field.type === FieldType.BB_REFERENCE) {
+      clonedRow[key] = await processInputBBReferences(value, field.subtype)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/tests/inputProcessing.spec.ts b/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/tests/inputProcessing.spec.ts
index b1928b696b..81094583e2 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/tests/inputProcessing.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/tests/inputProcessing.spec.ts
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ describe("rowProcessor - inputProcessing", () => {
           name: "user",
           constraints: {
             presence: true,
-            type: "string",
+            type: "array",
           },
         },
       },
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ describe("rowProcessor - inputProcessing", () => {
           name: "user",
           constraints: {
             presence: false,
-            type: "string",
+            type: "array",
           },
         },
       },
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ describe("rowProcessor - inputProcessing", () => {
             name: "user",
             constraints: {
               presence: false,
-              type: "string",
+              type: "array",
             },
           },
         },
diff --git a/packages/shared-core/src/helpers/schema.ts b/packages/shared-core/src/helpers/schema.ts
index 985e068be0..ad4c237247 100644
--- a/packages/shared-core/src/helpers/schema.ts
+++ b/packages/shared-core/src/helpers/schema.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ import {
 
 export function isDeprecatedSingleUserColumn(
   schema: Pick<FieldSchema, "type" | "subtype" | "constraints">
-) {
+): schema is {
+  type: FieldType.BB_REFERENCE
+  subtype: BBReferenceFieldSubType.USER
+} {
   const result =
     schema.type === FieldType.BB_REFERENCE &&
     schema.subtype === BBReferenceFieldSubType.USER &&