I have a simple flat file of about 6000 records. There are 32 fields, each in simple text, although 4 are for hyperlinks. I have been using it for a year almost daily. About 3/4 of the records were imported as text from a .dbf a year ago.
I often filter on a specific field to perform editing on just those records. I make moderately frequent use of sorting and Find, sometimes Find & Replace. I have a few simple queries to show records for a specific field match, sorted. I use these 2-3 times a month. I do nothing more complex. No relationships, no macros, no Vis. Basic.
I get a simple text file a few times a month from a remote helper. The fields are tab separated.
Yesterday, I had filtered down the table to records containing one specific field. There were about 420 such records. I was doing simple edits. A file arrived from the helper, about 20 records, using only about 20 of the fields. I made sure the fields I was showing matched the fields in the to-be imported file, then pasted it in. I have done that process before 50 times. Never a problem.
I then sorted the filter file on its first field and the new imported records disappeared from sight, as they did not share the field I was filtering on. I made a few more edits and all of a sudden the filtered records disappeared. I undid the filter and searched for any instance of the field. Nothing. The record count was now about 420 less than it should be. I made a backup copy, opened that. Records still missing. I opened the original file -- the one I had been working on. The 420 records were still missing. I rebooted. Same results. I downloaded trial copies of 3 recovery programs. They each showed my file with the 420 records missing. No trace of them. The 20 new records just pasted in are missing, too.
How can I find these missing records?
Thanks!