Lost Xl Spreadsheet

[uncle al]

I was working on an XL spreadsheet which had about 76kb of data on it
The sheet became unresponsive and I had to close it down
On trying to reopen the spreadsheet it has no data and 0kb
It won't let me open previous versions as it seem none exist
I'm not a whizz but I know you just can't lose a spreadsheet like this
In layman's terms is there any way I can retrieve this?
This spreadsheet has always been problematic and more often than not I had ro rename it to v2 etc, but i had done a lot of work before it conked and previous versions (v2, new etc)do not have the data
Help please!

[Etch]

Is AutoRecover turned on? If so there should be a copy in the 'AutoRecover save location', possibly something like C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel

[Peter Pedant]

google "how do I recover a crashed excel file"
there is a lot there

IF you find you have to do the lot again - then find autosave and toggle it to auto save - again instructions on the internet

and liberal use of control-s - which saves as a key stroke
ctrl-w closes, cntrl-x excises, ctr-v pastes

I ctl-s every 10 or 20 inputs. - clarly I have lost a few files in my time

[Buenchico]

Both of the following links include perfectly valid possible solutions to your problem (which are well worth trying) but they also contain ads for 'free' software which, I'd be prepared to bet, will try to charge you for recovering your corrupt file. Ignore those bits!

http://beatexcel.com/microsoft-excel-file-is-corrupted-became-0kb/
(Ignore Method 6!)

https://www.repairmsexcel.com/blog/restore-0-bytes-excel-files
(Ignore Method 5!)

[CrapAtCryptics]

Might be worth doing a general search in case the one you are opening was only an early back up. Seach for *.xls or *xlsm if it has macros.