I’m four days into Dorico. This is going to be a super noob question, but I’ve worked on this for a few hours and searched and can’t find the answer.
I’ve made alterations to the First Page Layout in the default score, and when I Apply/Close, the frames I’ve moved and/or resized in the score are in their original position/size.
Just a guess. Do your pages have overrides (red triangles showing in the pages panel)? If so, they prevent subsequent template changes from taking affect.
Have you ported the changes from the (say) left page to the right page? Often we forget that most music starts on the right page. One needs to change the layout of both pages of a Page Template to be sure the file reflects that in Write and Engrave mode (etc.)