When you exit Word after changing an autotext entry, are you prompted to save
changes to your Normal.dot global template, and do you say Yes to the prompt?
Is Adobe Acrobat 7.0 installed on the computer? If so, the Acrobat 7.0
Create Adobe PDF toolbar add-in for Word prevents Word from automatically
saving changes to the normal.dot template (which is where autotext is
stored). Create/change the autotext again, and click "Shift+File | Save All"
to force Word to save the normal.dot template. Alternatively, you can
prevent the add-in from loading as described in the last section of
http://www.gmayor.com/lose_that_adobe_acrobat_toolbar.htm , but you'll lose
the PDF toolbar if you do this.