You may think that it would have to be in one of my computers, or in an external hard drive. And you're right.
However, there was a problem that got me terribly worried. The week before I'd been backing up the files in both my computers, because I needed to have them formatted. Worse than that. After the backup process, I decided to organize my external hard drive folders and files. During this process I deleted lots of repeated files from previous backups done in a hurry. Could I have deleted the e-dictionary file inadvertently?!
I looked several times in my Radical English folder and the only Excel file I had just showed a few hundred words. I couldn't believe my eyes. I kept doing searches everywhere possible. I could have misplaced the file in another folder. But nothing came up.
I tried to keep calm and think positive. "This isn't the end of the world," I thought to myself. "If you deleted the file, forget about the dictionary. Move on to some other project."
Easier said (or thought) than done. I couldn't get it out of my mind.
When taking a break to try to stay cool, but at the same time going over all the possibilities I could think of to find the file, I decided to open the only Excel file I had related to this project.
All of a sudden, my eyes moved down to the bottom of the file and I finally noticed the different sheets I had created. Why didn't that happen the first time around?!
I went through the first sheet. No, that wasn't it. When I got to the second sheet, it started to look more like it. And even more as I scrolled and scrolled down. I was almost sure it was "the one". It had to be it. When I got to the bottom of the file, there were the three thousand plus lines of words. Oh, my! What a relief!!
I calmed down and everything started coming back to mind after a 7-month break in my work. My, time does fly. Yes, everything was crystal clear. I had created different sheets for different things, but I'd saved the file in one of the sheets that had the smallest amount of words. And that's where it was always opening.
All's well that ends well!
I'm ready to resume work. In fact, I'm very excited about it. :-)