Google Apps Script opening a document by name? - google-apps-script

Question

I'm trying to make a program where if a document doesn't exist yet, create it, but if it does, edit it.
I tried to do it like this:
if(check == false){
var doc = DocumentApp.create('Announcements for '+ data[0][2]);
}
else{
var doc = DocumentApp.openById('Announcements for '+ data[0][2]);
}
Here, 'check' is true when the file exists, and false if it doesn't.
I'm assuming that the problem is that I'm using 'openById' incorrectly.
What is the document id, and how can my code know what it is?
Thanks in advance!
(First-time user here, sorry for any formatting errors)
edit: I'll be making multiple docs, and all I know about the doc I need to open is its name

Answer 1

The parameter of openById() is the file id of the document you are trying to access. File id is the value between the "/d/" and the "/edit" of your Google Document URL.
Example: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12345/edit where 12345 is the id.
DocumentApp does not have method for opening documents using file name. The only available methods are openById() and openByUrl().
An alternative is to use DriveApp to get the name, id, and mimetype of the files inside your Drive or Drive folder.
Example:
The code below will open a document if it matches the fileName 'Announcement 1' :
Code:
function openByName() {
//open specific folder and get the files
var files = DriveApp.getFolderById('insert folder id here').getFiles();
var fileName = 'Announcement 1';
//The code below will search for Announcement 1 file and open it if found.
while (files.hasNext()) {
var file = files.next();
var fileType = file.getMimeType();
//Check if the filename matches 'Announcement 1' and the file type should be google-apps.document
if(file.getName() == fileName && fileType == 'application/vnd.google-apps.document'){
//Open document
DocumentApp.openById(file.getId());
}
}
}
Test Folder:
References:
Class DocumentApp
Class DriveApp