Alan, have you sent the file to anybody? if so there may be a copy in your
e-mail program, you say that you are seniors, in school or age? If this was
a file at school check with the IT person and see if there servers make a
backup of the files on it.you say that you emptied the recycle bin last
week, if that is the case I think the chances of retrieving the file are
very small, the data has most likely been overwritten on the hard drive by
now. You have probably looked but there is an option in excel to always save
a backup, if this option was on the backup will have the original file
name and the suffix .xlk. It will be in the same folder as the original.
May be to late this time but ALWAYS back up your data on some kind of
removable disk or drive.

--
Paul B
Always backup your data before trying something new
Please post any response to the newsgroups so others can benefit from it
Feedback on answers is always appreciated!
Using Excel 2002 & 2003

"Alan" wrote in message
...
Hi Chip & George,

Thank you so much for the prompt response; we still have the same problem,
though.

We already emptied the recycle bin last week [not thinking!] and now, the
problem of the lost document remains.

Any help would be most appreciated!

Loretta & Alan