diff --git a/packages/server/src/sdk/users/utils.ts b/packages/server/src/sdk/users/utils.ts
index 7f7f0b4809..619a7199cd 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/sdk/users/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/sdk/users/utils.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import {
   InternalTables,
 } from "../../db/utils"
 import { isEqual } from "lodash"
-import { ContextUser, UserMetadata, User } from "@budibase/types"
+import { ContextUser, UserMetadata, User, Database } from "@budibase/types"
 
 export function combineMetadataAndUser(
   user: ContextUser,
@@ -51,8 +51,10 @@ export function combineMetadataAndUser(
   return null
 }
 
-export async function rawUserMetadata() {
-  const db = context.getAppDB()
+export async function rawUserMetadata(db?: Database) {
+  if (!db) {
+    db = context.getAppDB()
+  }
   return (
     await db.allDocs(
       getUserMetadataParams(null, {
@@ -64,30 +66,36 @@ export async function rawUserMetadata() {
 
 export async function syncGlobalUsers() {
   // sync user metadata
-  const db = context.getAppDB()
-  const resp = await Promise.all([getGlobalUsers(), rawUserMetadata()])
-  const users = resp[0] as User[]
-  const metadata = resp[1] as UserMetadata[]
-  const toWrite = []
-  for (let user of users) {
-    const combined = combineMetadataAndUser(user, metadata)
-    if (combined) {
-      toWrite.push(combined)
-    }
-  }
-  let foundEmails: string[] = []
-  for (let data of metadata) {
-    if (!data._id) {
+  const dbs = [context.getDevAppDB(), context.getProdAppDB()]
+  for (let db of dbs) {
+    if (!(await db.exists())) {
       continue
     }
-    const alreadyExisting = data.email && foundEmails.indexOf(data.email) !== -1
-    const globalId = getGlobalIDFromUserMetadataID(data._id)
-    if (!users.find(user => user._id === globalId) || alreadyExisting) {
-      toWrite.push({ ...data, _deleted: true })
+    const resp = await Promise.all([getGlobalUsers(), rawUserMetadata(db)])
+    const users = resp[0] as User[]
+    const metadata = resp[1] as UserMetadata[]
+    const toWrite = []
+    for (let user of users) {
+      const combined = combineMetadataAndUser(user, metadata)
+      if (combined) {
+        toWrite.push(combined)
+      }
     }
-    if (data.email) {
-      foundEmails.push(data.email)
+    let foundEmails: string[] = []
+    for (let data of metadata) {
+      if (!data._id) {
+        continue
+      }
+      const alreadyExisting =
+        data.email && foundEmails.indexOf(data.email) !== -1
+      const globalId = getGlobalIDFromUserMetadataID(data._id)
+      if (!users.find(user => user._id === globalId) || alreadyExisting) {
+        toWrite.push({ ...data, _deleted: true })
+      }
+      if (data.email) {
+        foundEmails.push(data.email)
+      }
     }
+    await db.bulkDocs(toWrite)
   }
-  await db.bulkDocs(toWrite)
 }
diff --git a/packages/server/src/utilities/global.ts b/packages/server/src/utilities/global.ts
index 21e86a28b9..93b7fc1207 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/utilities/global.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/utilities/global.ts
@@ -122,11 +122,8 @@ export async function getGlobalUsers(
       delete user.forceResetPassword
       return user
     })
-  if (!appId) {
-    return globalUsers
-  }
 
-  if (opts?.noProcessing) {
+  if (opts?.noProcessing || !appId) {
     return globalUsers
   } else {
     // pass in the groups, meaning we don't actually need to retrieve them for