microsoft word training central london - Searching for an amended Word document saved in My Documents as

I saved an email in My Documents with a Word document attached. After almost completing 4 hours of amending the document I had to leave my laptop for about 1 hour. When I returned the document was no longer on the screen or on the toolbar at the foot of the screen. I looked in the saved document which showed the unamended version. I conducted a search but the document was not found. I had pressed Ctrl/S before leaving my laptop. My laptop was attached to my employer's (CSCI) broadband connection at the time. I now attach the Word document as a separate file in My Documents but was there anything else I could have done to retrieve the document.

With thanks, Lawrie