How replace the content of the active document?

Question

I’m building a Google Docs add-on using React + Google Apps Script (via clasp). From the sidebar, I receive a .docx file as a Base64 string (binary content).

I can successfully convert the .docx to a Google Doc using the Drive API — that part works fine. Here’s my Apps Script function:

function insertDocxToDocument(base64Data) {

const decoded = Utilities.base64Decode(base64Data);

const blob = Utilities.newBlob(

decoded,

'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document',

'converted.docx'

);

const file = Drive.Files.insert(

{

title: 'Converted from DOCX',

mimeType: 'application/vnd.google-apps.document',

},

blob

);

return 'https://docs.google.com/document/d/' + file.id + '/edit';

}

This returns the link to the converted Google Doc, and when I open that URL, it looks perfect — all formatting and content are intact.

However, what I actually want is to load that converted document into the same Google Doc that my add-on is currently open in (basically replace the current document’s entire content with the new one).

Wicket · Accepted Answer · 2025-11-10 20:39:53Z

1

Unfortunately, the Document Service (Class DocumentApp) and the Advanced Docs Service can't support all the features that may be present in a document. The best might be to change your approach, and instead of replacing the content of the active document with the content of another document, you would just open the other document so it becomes the active document.

answered Nov 10 at 20:39

Wicket

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