"No such column on entity" error for an existing custom field

Question

I am trying to run a simple SOQL on a custom object:

SELECT Id, Course_Link__c
FROM Course__c

But instead I am getting an error saying:

SELECT Id, Course_Link__c ^ ERROR at Row:1:Column:12 No such column 'Course_Link__c' on entity 'Course__c'...

I checked this field in the Setup section for this object and surprisingly see it there. I event copy-pasted the API name of the field and re-run the query, but still saw no effect.

When I checked this fields in the Developer Console (Ctrl + Shift + O > Look Up Course.obj), I found that Course_Link__c was missing:

Does anybody know why the Course_Link__c field is not recognized by Developer Console? In general, why Salesforce exposes such strange behavior?

Answer 1

Make sure that this field is actually visible to your user via Field Level Security.

1. Click the field name in your Setup UI to view the field definition detail.
2. On this detail view, there will be a Set Field-Level Security button.
3. Make sure Visible is selected for your Profile.

Answer 2

This is usually if the system administrator profile does not have access to Read access to the fields .

I would recommend checking the Field Level Security for the System Administrator Profile for the field Course_Link__c