Thank you so much Sherry C!
But, I didn't know Notation had an auto save feature because it always asks me if I want to save before I exit so I assumed that it didn't autosave.
But back to the issue, last night trying to figure things out on my own because I'm impatient....I downloaded the Notation 3 trial to see if the file would open and the same problem persisted. But I figured it probably was because the file was corrupted because of the computer crash.
So in order to download version 3 I had to uninstall version 2, but last night right when the crash happened, I sent an email to
support@notation.com which I assume might be you. So now I'm still waiting for a new download key.
I'd also like to say that the comment about switching was out of anger and that Notation is literally the easiest software to use. After last night I requested for a Sibelius trial and from the looks of it, I doesn't have the same ease as Notation.
SO anyway, thank you so much for the help, when I get the key to re-download notation I will try what you suggested and see.