If you go to Tools, Options, File Locations and check the setting for User
Templates, normal.dot will be found there.

But as the others have said, normal.dot is only created (in some versions of
Word) when you make a change that needs to be stored. Typically and setting
changes to Font or Page Setup will create a normal.dot IF you press the
DEFAULT button at the bottom of the Font or Page Setup dialogs.

--
Terry Farrell - MSWord MVP

"Albert Einstein" wrote in message
...
Awhile ago, I had a problem with Microsoft Word 2003 so, suspecting
corruption in Normal.dot, I sent it to the Recycle Bin.

(As it turned out, my problem had nothing to do with Normal.dot.)

Anyway, I later did a search for all my .dot files and discovered, to my
surprise, that I had no Normal.dot anywhere on my hard drive.

Plenty of other .dot files, but no Normal.dot.

I was always told that Microsoft Word searches for Normal.dot when it
starts up and, finding none, it creates one.

Not this time.

I restored the Normal.dot that was in my recycle bin.

So how was Microsoft Word 2003 running with no Normal.dot?

Was this a miracle?