>My problem is tables in a template document that have some of the data. And clients who add other tables without calling me. I'd love to find a way to refer to a given table without knowing its position in oWord.tables(n).
>

I haven't tested this, but would the Parent property of the Cell object help you here? I'm assuming you can search for a particular string or bookmark to find a cell, then from the description, it sounds like Parent will take you up. Row and Column also have Parent, so you should be able to climb back to the table.

Tamar