In Word, click on Tools | Options | File Locations, and note the
folder designated for User Templates. That is where your
normal.dot file is located, but it is a hidden folder in Windows
XP, and normal.dot is a hidden file in recent versions of Word.
To display hidden files, start Windows Explorer, and click on
Tools | Folder Options | View tab | check the radio button for
"Show hidden files and folders".

Word will automatically save certain changes (style definitions,
page setup, default font, etc.) to normal.dot without you having
to modify normal.dot directly. But if Adobe Acrobat 7.0
installed on the computer, then the Acrobat 7.0 Create Adobe PDF
toolbar add-in for Word prevents Word from automatically saving
changes to the normal.dot template. You can make changes to
normal.dot as desired, and click "Shift+File | Save All" to force
Word to save the normal.dot template. Alternatively, you can
prevent the Adobe add-in from loading by editing the Windows
registry key
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word \Addins\PDFMaker.OfficeAddin"
and changing the "LoadBehavior" subkey value from 3 to 0, but
you'll lose the PDF toolbar if you do this.

Suedona wrote:

I can't find the normal.dot template in any folder (including user
templates). As a result, I can't make any permanent modifications to the
template, and each time Word opens, it reverts to the original default. Any
suggestions? Do I need to re-download the application?
Thanks.