Urgent! Word File Recovery (2003 on Vista)

I was writing something on Word 2003 (on a Vista computer) and I accidentally saved over the file that I had written. Does anyone know how I can get that earlier file back?!

Thanks eternally in advance.

 

you can check the folder that the file is saved in for temp files (they start with ~) and see if they have any of the previous version, though those files are usually deleted when you close out of word.

if you already closed out, you could possibly find the temp files with a recovery program, but your chances are slim.

 

If you're lucky there might be a shadow copy of the file: file properties>previous versions tab.

I'd probably make a copy of the file before attempting to restore older version. Once you restore you can't go back.