Only if you're upgrading to Word 2007.

If you're upgrading to 2003 or earlier, do not put the normal.dot in the startup folder as Word already opens with the normal.dot. Word 2007 has changed the name of this file to Normal.dotm and uses a different file format. If you're upgrading to 2007, you can change the name of the normal.dot to something like myautotext.dot and place the file in the startup folder so you have access to your old AutoText entries.

You can also transfer AutoText to a separate template (.dot file) and place that template in Word's Startup folder, not the template folder. Look up Organizer in Word's Help file for instructions on transferring AutoText to another template.

If you suspect corruption in your normal.dot, I would take the transfer route rather than risk corrupting your new version of Word.