---
id: KB-PR-017
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/troubleshooting/they-ask-me-for-a-document-i-do-not-have
idioma: en
categoria: problemas
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-TZ-011, KB-PR-016]
citadoPor: [KB-TL-022]
---

# They ask me for a document I do not have

_Before saying it is missing, three checks. And if it genuinely is missing, how to answer._

**Responde a:** cannot find a document i am asked for · what to do when i do not have what is requested · replying that we do not have a document · document that never existed

Someone asks for something and it does not turn up. Before replying, separate four very different situations, because the right answer differs in each and saying "we do not have it" when it is actually something else complicates what was a formality.

## The four situations

| Situation | How to tell | What to answer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| It is there and you cannot find it | It appears when searching by identifier or content | Nothing: hand it over |
| It is somewhere else | An adviser, forwarder or installer holds it | Request it and say when it will arrive |
| It existed and was not kept | There is a trace of it but not the document | Say so, with whatever is on record |
| It never existed | It was not requested, not done, or did not apply | Say so clearly, and why |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The last two are different and usually get merged in the reply. "We did not keep it" and "it was never issued" mean very different things to whoever asks: the first is a filing failure, the second may be correct and sufficient. **Answering a bare "I do not have it" turns the second into the first** in the reader's eyes.

## The three checks before saying it is missing

1. **Search by what it says, not by its name** — An identifier inside the document finds what a badly chosen title hides.
2. **Check whether a third party who worked with you holds it** — Adviser, installer, forwarder, laboratory: the number one cause of "we do not have it".
3. **And check you are looking in the right place** — Another organisation, another file, or without permission to see it.

> [!WARNING]
> The nuance that changes the tone of the reply: **an explained absence is not the same as silence**. "There is no record because it was not required at that date" or "we did not keep it; the applicable retention was X years and this predates that" are complete answers. What looks bad is not the gap: it is answering "it does not appear" without saying why, because the reader will fill the gap with the worst available explanation.

## If the request comes from an inspection or an auditing client

**En corto**

- Answer what is asked, no less and no more.
- Provide what you do have on that matter even if it is not exactly what was requested.
- And keep a record of what was answered and when.

The second helps most: if the certificate is missing but you hold the delivery note, the check record and the supplier's email, that does not replace the document but shows the control existed. And that difference weighs.

> [!NOTE]
> If while searching you discover something genuinely missing that should be there, that is information for you beyond this request: check whether it is an isolated case or whether that document type is being lost systematically.

**Can I ask the supplier to issue it now?**

You can, and you must say it was issued now: a document dated today does not prove what happened then.

**What if someone who has left held it?**

Check their history: what they uploaded is still there; what stayed in their inbox is not.

**Should I say we do not have it while still searching?**

Say you are checking and when you will reply: silence is worse than any answer.

## Ejemplos

**A company tells a client it does not have a three-year-old certificate.**

- First checks whether its installer holds it and searches by the equipment number

→ It turns up in the installer's archive and is delivered in two days, without becoming a finding.

**It is declared missing without searching the file.**

- Searches by content before answering

→ Half the time it turns up and the chase is avoided.

**The document exists under a different name.**

- Searches by something in the content

→ The file name stops deciding whether it is found.

**Someone else on the team has it in their inbox.**

- Asks internally before saying it does not exist

→ You do not ask outside for what was already inside.

**It genuinely does not exist and never was issued.**

- Answers explaining why, and what can be provided instead

→ The other side knows where they stand rather than waiting.

**A document belonging to another group company is requested.**

- Redirects the request to whoever holds it

→ The request reaches somebody who can answer it.