Windows 7: No Temp Internet Files, could it be this .DAT file?

Please forgive me if this has been addressed earlier. I've searched in vain

Using a new netbook w/ Windows 7 Starter Edition yesterday, I accessed my gmail, opened an attached Word Doc, and did some work. I hit the "save" icon several times while I was working. (Yes, I know I should have 'saved as' into a specific location, but I didn't )

Later, I go back to locate the file, and I cannot find it. Anywhere.
I search *.doc and find nothing. I drill down looking for Temporary Internet Files and find nothing.

So digging around I locate a .dat file with a time stamp that looks likely. The filepath is (and forgive me for untraditional punctuation) C: Users > [my name] > AppData > Local > Microsoft > Office > 12.0 > msodata005.dat

Could this be my file? Or a version of it?

When I open the .dat file with Word or Notepad it is unusable. Tech support tells me to download a DAT converter. Does this sound right?

Thanks in advance for any advice.