diff --git a/packages/client/src/components/app/GridBlock.svelte b/packages/client/src/components/app/GridBlock.svelte
index c6b08e3869a..4a8dfb4fcbe 100644
--- a/packages/client/src/components/app/GridBlock.svelte
+++ b/packages/client/src/components/app/GridBlock.svelte
@@ -60,8 +60,11 @@
 
   // Provide additional data context for live binding eval
   export const getAdditionalDataContext = () => {
-    const rows = get(grid?.getContext()?.rows)
-    const goldenRow = generateGoldenSample(rows)
+    const gridContext = grid?.getContext()
+    const rows = get(gridContext?.rows) || []
+    const clean = gridContext?.rows.actions.cleanRow || (x => x)
+    const cleaned = rows.map(clean)
+    const goldenRow = generateGoldenSample(cleaned)
     const id = get(component).id
     return {
       // Not sure what this one is for...
diff --git a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/constants.js b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/constants.js
index 6ea7a981786..81b4a2f823d 100644
--- a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/constants.js
+++ b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/constants.js
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ export const DefaultColumnWidth = 200
 export const MinColumnWidth = 80
 export const NewRowID = "new"
 export const BlankRowID = "blank"
+export const GeneratedIDPrefix = "‽‽"
+export const CellIDSeparator = "‽‽"
 export const RowPageSize = 100
 export const FocusedCellMinOffset = ScrollBarSize * 3
 export const ControlsHeight = 50
diff --git a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/utils.js b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/utils.js
index b5485abc36f..f1f33d9950e 100644
--- a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/utils.js
+++ b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/lib/utils.js
@@ -1,18 +1,17 @@
-// We can't use "-" as a separator as this can be present in the ID
-// or column name, so we use something very unusual to avoid this problem
-const JOINING_CHARACTER = "‽‽"
+import { GeneratedIDPrefix, CellIDSeparator } from "./constants"
+import { Helpers } from "@budibase/bbui"
 
 export const parseCellID = cellId => {
   if (!cellId) {
     return { rowId: undefined, field: undefined }
   }
-  const parts = cellId.split(JOINING_CHARACTER)
+  const parts = cellId.split(CellIDSeparator)
   const field = parts.pop()
-  return { rowId: parts.join(JOINING_CHARACTER), field }
+  return { rowId: parts.join(CellIDSeparator), field }
 }
 
 export const getCellID = (rowId, fieldName) => {
-  return `${rowId}${JOINING_CHARACTER}${fieldName}`
+  return `${rowId}${CellIDSeparator}${fieldName}`
 }
 
 export const parseEventLocation = e => {
@@ -21,3 +20,11 @@ export const parseEventLocation = e => {
     y: e.clientY ?? e.touches?.[0]?.clientY,
   }
 }
+
+export const generateRowID = () => {
+  return `${GeneratedIDPrefix}${Helpers.uuid()}`
+}
+
+export const isGeneratedRowID = id => {
+  return id?.startsWith(GeneratedIDPrefix)
+}
diff --git a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/stores/rows.js b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/stores/rows.js
index 4cfaa1cfd59..122bbc295a9 100644
--- a/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/stores/rows.js
+++ b/packages/frontend-core/src/components/grid/stores/rows.js
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 import { writable, derived, get } from "svelte/store"
 import { fetchData } from "../../../fetch"
 import { NewRowID, RowPageSize } from "../lib/constants"
-import { getCellID, parseCellID } from "../lib/utils"
+import {
+  generateRowID,
+  getCellID,
+  isGeneratedRowID,
+  parseCellID,
+} from "../lib/utils"
 import { tick } from "svelte"
 import { Helpers } from "@budibase/bbui"
 import { sleep } from "../../../utils/utils"
@@ -634,10 +639,10 @@ export const createActions = context => {
       newRow = newRows[i]
 
       // Ensure we have a unique _id.
-      // This means generating one for non DS+, overwriting any that may already
-      // exist as we cannot allow duplicates.
-      if (!$hasBudibaseIdentifiers) {
-        newRow._id = Helpers.uuid()
+      // We generate one for non DS+ where required, but trust that any existing
+      // _id values are unique (e.g. Mongo)
+      if (!$hasBudibaseIdentifiers && !newRow._id?.length) {
+        newRow._id = generateRowID()
       }
 
       if (!rowCacheMap[newRow._id]) {
@@ -674,7 +679,7 @@ export const createActions = context => {
     let clone = { ...row }
     delete clone.__idx
     delete clone.__metadata
-    if (!get(hasBudibaseIdentifiers)) {
+    if (!get(hasBudibaseIdentifiers) && isGeneratedRowID(clone._id)) {
       delete clone._id
     }
     return clone