Hi! If I understand your point correctly, I think your task can be easily accomplished if you Find-Replace tabs followed by "(" with tabs followed by "means" followed by "(" BEFORE converting your txt to a tbl. After doing what you need just reverse the replacements:
Code:
Sub Enter_Wd()
Dim oRng As range
Set oRng = selection.range
oRng.Find.ClearFormatting
oRng.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With oRng.Find
.text = "(^9)\("
.Replacement.text = "\1means("
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Format = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End With
End Sub