I couldn't find you

Hiya is it ok to say:
- I couldn't find you before I left
- I couldn't find you when I was leaving
- I didn't find you when I was leaving
- I didn't find you before I left
- I was trying to find you when I was leaving (ing repetition doesn't sound good to me?)

Tia ♥️

I tried to... - because you are summarising that 'event'

?

But I want to highlight the fact that I couldn't do that. Tried does not imply exactly what I wanted to say.

'tried' instead of 'was trying'
'was trying' only describes what you were doing at that moment, and so it clases with 'was leaving'

*clashes

Thank you!