I recorded an interview earlier this week and left the file open without saving it. Come today, I am starting a new project and a message pings up for the old project asking if I want to save any changes. Like an absolute FOOL, I said no. Totally forgot what the file was. Is it now lost forever? Can I retrieve it?? Answers in plain English appreciated as I no longer trust my ability to comprehend or responsibly use a computer.
The project is gone. Once you closed the project the menu bar collapsed to File, Window and Help - no Edit, no Undo. Closing a project also clears the temp directory. Opening a new project starts a new undo chain.
Please update to the latest version of Audacity, available here. It won’t help you when you close a project without saving, but it has many significant improvements.