Exception: Document is missing (perhaps it was deleted, or you don't have read access?)

Question

I'm working on a project that take "profiles" stored in a Google Sheet, makes a unique Google Doc for each profile, and then updates the unique Google Doc with any new information when you push a button on the Google Sheet.

I have some other automations built into my original code, but I simplified most of it to what's pertinent to the error I'm getting, which is this:

Exception: Document is missing (perhaps it was deleted, or you don't have read access?

It happens on Line 52 of my script in the fileUpdate funtion. Here's the appropriate line for reference:

  var file = DocumentApp.openById(fileName);

And this is the rest of my code:

function manageFiles() {
  //Basic setup. Defining the range and retrieving the spreadsheet to store as an array.
  var date = new Date();
  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
  var array = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();
  var arrayL = sheet.getLastRow();
  var arrayW = sheet.getLastColumn();
  for (var i = 1; i < arrayL; i++) {
  if (array[i][arrayW-2] == "") {
//Collect the data from the current sheet.
//Create the document and retrieve some information from it.
    var docTitle = array[i , 0]
      var doc = DocumentApp.create(docTitle);
      var docBody = doc.getBody();
      var docLink = doc.getUrl();
//Use a for function to collect the unique data from each cell in the row.
      docBody.insertParagraph(0 , "Last Updated: "+date);
      for (var j = 2; j <= arrayW; j++) {
        var colName = array[0][arrayW-j];
        var data = array[i][arrayW-j];
        if (colName !== "Filed?") {
          docBody.insertParagraph(0 , colName+": "+data);
        }
      }
//Insert a hyperlink to the file in the cell containing the SID
      sheet.getRange(i+1 , 1).setFormula('=HYPERLINK("'+docLink+'", "'+SID+'")');
//Insert a checkbox and check it.
      sheet.getRange(i+1 , arrayW-1).insertCheckboxes();
      sheet.getRange(i+1 , arrayW-1).setFormula('=TRUE');
  }
else if (array[i][arrayW-2] !== "") {
updateFiles(i);
}
}
sheet.getRange(1 , arrayW).setValue('Last Update: '+date);
}


//Note: I hate how cluttered updateFiles is. I'm going to clean it up later.

function fileUpdate(rowNum) {
//now you do the whole thing over again from createFiles()
//Basic setup. Defining the range and retrieving the spreadsheet to store as an array.
  var date = new Date();
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var sheet = ss.getActiveSheet();
  var array = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();
  var arrayL = sheet.getLastRow();
  var arrayW = sheet.getLastColumn();
//Collect the data from the current sheet.
  var fileName = array[rowNum][0];
  var file = DocumentApp.openById(fileName);
//retrieve the body of the document and clear the text, making it blank.
  file.getBody().setText("");
//Use a for function to collect the the unique date from every non-blank cell in the row.
file.getBody().insertParagraph(0 , "Last Updated: "+date);
    for (var j = 2; j <= arrayW; j++) {
      var colName = array[0][arrayW-j];
      var data = array[rowNum][arrayW-j];
      file.getBody().insertParagraph(0 , colName+": "+data);
      }
  }

If you'd like to take a look at my sample spreadsheet, you can see it here. I suggest you make a copy though, because you won't have permissions to the Google Docs my script created.

I've looked at some other forums with this same error and tried several of the prescribed solutions (signing out of other Google Accounts, clearing my cookies, completing the URL with a backslash, widening permissions to everyone with the link), but to no avail.

**Note to anyone offended by my janky code or formatting: I'm self-taught, so I do apologize if my work is difficult to read.

Answer 1

The problem (in the updated code attached to your sheet) comes from your URL

Side Note:

In your initial question, you define DocumentApp.openById(fileName); I assume your realized that this is not correct, since you updated your code to DocumentApp.openByUrl(docURL);, so I will discuss the problem of the latter in the following.

The URLs in your sheet are of the form

https://docs.google.com/open?id=1pT5kr7V11TMH0pJea281VhZg_1bOt8YDRrh9thrUV0w

while DocumentApp.openByUrl expects a URL of form

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pT5kr7V11TMH0pJea281VhZg_1bOt8YDRrh9thrUV0w/

Just adding a / is not enough!

Either create the expected URL manually, or - much easier / use the method DocumentApp.openById(id) instead.

For this, you can extract the id from your URL as following:

var id = docURL.split("https://docs.google.com/open?id=")[1];
var file = DocumentApp.openById(id)