When you go in the “recents” you don’t see it?
‘Recent’. 
The OP’s issue is not with finding the .mlt but the .mlt not loading anything.
It’s difficult to get a clear answer from Kosmani about the source file, unfortunately.
Not so sure…
See post 19
Maybe he recorded it somewhere and can’t find it anymore.
what is the source video file
and how do i save a file properly
I guess I have wasted my time here. 
The source file is the original video file that you first imported into Shotcut for editing.
Once you have finished editing, you need to export your work to a new video file. Saving only saves the project file (the .MLT).
i’m a new user as well…here’s what i have on the subject…i’ve had issues with pretty much the same thing and this is what i’ve noticed…the .mlt file is not the actual video itself, but a project file that works in conjunction with the .mp4, (or the file format that you are working with), and needs the original video file in order to work. when starting out i had either inadvertently deleted the original video file, or had moved the .mlt file to another folder to keep things organized…long story short, the .mlt would, “fail to load”. i did discover however that when i moved the original video file i had been working on into the same folder that the .mlt was in, it would work again…one way to avoid alot of the hoopla, (so to speak), is when saving or using save as, pay attention to what folder the file is being saved in…shotcut will remember your save locations when either saving or exporting…for example, while working on a project and saving, the .mlt updates and is saved to where it is you are working from the original video file. when exporting, shotcut will not only save the newly created .mp4 to either the same or another folder of your choosing, but it will remember that folders location as well…the important thing to remember is that the .mlt file for the project needs to be in the same folder as the source file, (the original video file), as it uses the original file as a point of reference, as it were. just something i’ve noticed, hope it helps. on a side-note, if any other more skilled users out there happen to read this, and what i’ve noticed about the software is in error or could be explained better, i would appreciate the help as well…thank you for your time.
Exactly. You understand. 
This is what I have tried (and failed) to help the OP understand.
i noticed that c", thanks for the confirmation by the way. i’m sure there are other methods for accomplishing the same thing in shotcut; i’m still new and haven’t discovered them yet…like anything else, this software has a learning curve. fortunately it’s not too steep. thanks again.
As I said, you understand the difference, but although it doesn’t hurt to assume some of your other points they aren’t totally true.
The above quote for example is ok but not strictly true insofaras the mlt needing to be in the same folder as the source video. The source video can be on any drive you have, or even on an SD card in your SD reader. Once you save, Shotcut creates the MLT & writes the path to the XML. So long as the path to that source remains unchanged opening the MLT later will load that source video just fine.
that’s good to know. as i’m still new to shotcut, (this being my fourth day), i’ve had the best results by having the source file and the .mlt in the same folder, (that’s just been my experience so far).
it’s eliminated a lot of confusion, and kept things more organized for me. but anyway, i do appreciate the knowledge, and with any luck at all, i’ll be able to apply it in the future. thanks.
As a workflow example, this is how I use Shotcut.
[1] Open SC, drag and drop my video file/s into playlist
[2] Save to TEMP.mlt on the desktop.
[3] Begin editing and press Ctrl+S at each major edit point (in case of a crash).
So in other words, I use TEMP.mlt as a way just to save steps as a work so that if an edit/filter etc causes a crash I can always reload the work at the previous step.
I never have the need to save and keep .mlt files.
I get it now i inserted all the pictures from my passport and i unconnected it to give it to someone so i guess that was why i could not open the file.
But even said when the passport was connected i went to recent and was able to open a random picture that was on the passport but it wasn’t connected
so do i move the .mlt files to the same file as all the pictures i put into it?
im so sorry that i am this dumb i am new to this stuff
So i had the brilliant idea to uninstall shotcut now when i got and try to download the newer versions it says Failed - Network error, then i click it again and it says Failed - Forbidden. I downloaded 64 bit .zip file and .exe files both don’t work
i tried to download an older version but it too does not work. I dont know what to do anymore this is all too complicated.
Sigh. If you remove the source files the MLT has nothing to load.
The MLT is the ‘project’ settings file. It does not and never has or will contain your source files (photos and video and audio).
Not complicated at all, quite logical 
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IM DONE WITH SHOTCUT
I moved on to something i find much easier and simple to understand
Ok that’s absolutely great but who does this help when you have 50+ clips in your video and it fails to open? Then what?
Did you move your source files?
If you move the source video file(s) the saved mlt file doesn’t know where the files are until either you put them back, or point to where they are at.
The mlt file is just lines of code, no actual video is stored within the mlt file.
File test57.mlt file is located with the mp4 file
File test57.mlt is not in the same folder, but in a subfolder, but on the same hard drive.
If it was on a different hard drive, it would show a drive letter and full address of the file location.
if i just saved file normally, how should i open it?