HOW TO RECOVER AN AUTO-SAVED FILE?

HOW TO RECOVER AN AUTO-SAVED FILE?

Hi,
THIS IS URGENT. I CAN SEE THAT MY DOC HAS BEEN AUTO-SAVED because there is an asterisk appended to the doc name, BUT I DIDN'T FIND ANY WAY TO RECOVER IT. The doc displayed is two days old whilst in the Information boxes at the bottom I can see "modified 1 day ago*". HOW CAN I RECOVER THE AUTO-SAVED VERSION ?
I have checked in History, and as explained in other threads, the last autosaved version is not there, only a version two days old.
I am adding this thread because I searched all other related post to the AUTO-SAVE feature and didn't find any clue.
PLEASE HELP ME QUICKLY, as it's a professional issue for me,
thank you!
djidji