When I click on New to open a new file, the blank page that appears does not have the settings that I created for Normal (placement of the page number, line spacing, etc.). However, to make things more confusing, if I click on Open and open the Normal.dotm file, the blank file that appears is correct and has all of my settings. It's as if the normal isn't shaking hands with the blank page or something like that. I had this problem a couple of months ago, and upon somebody's advice, I went to the control panel/programs and highlighted Word 2010, click change, click to repair, and it fix this. I just tried this procedure now, and it didn't get fixed. Any suggestions?

Only Word can create a normal template. I assume yours is one where you opened the normal template and made the changes, not one you created from a new document.
How to Open the Normal Template

The normal template that Word uses to create new documents is stored in the User Templates folder.

My problem. As I stated, the problem is that my Normal.dotm file is not communicating properly with Word. So when I open a New file, it doesn't open with a blank that has all of my defaults. However, if I open Normal.dotm, it has all of my defaults.

That suggests the Normal.dotm you're opening isn't in the folder where Word looks for Normal.dotm.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Cross-posted at: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...6-08b151fa6df4
For cross-posting etiquette, please read: http://www.excelguru.ca/content.php?184

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Any further responses will be posted in the other thread.