I'm newly wading into Office 2010 at work and looking at rebuilding some templates. I'm wondering if I can copy a custom table style in a certain way. Here's what I'm after.

Custom templates I create are available from a shared drive in an internal network. In the past, in Word 2007, I have had problems maintaining the ability to apply a custom table style. In 2007 and 2010, I can create the style, save it as a table style, and have it available as a custom or quick style to apply to a plain or other table in a document based on the template. However, in 2007 I've have the problem of the table sometimes being available in the QAT Table Styles drop-down and sometimes not, for reasons I don't understand. Again, this is not the insertion of a blank copy of a custom table, which gives no problem, but the application of the style to an existing one. Word's built-in styles are always available, but the custom ones do disappearing acts. Since we lost table styles as a item in the styles pane after 2003, it seems to have become trickier.

Since the QAT is locally determined by the individual user, I assume that I'll have to have the relevant ones put the Table Styles item on theirs. The question then is, can I avoid having each one (or me, on each computer) recreate the custom style? That is, is there any surer way than sending blank custom tables in the template or other document and having each user add it to his/her available styles?

I'd like to be able to put the table in the relevant new templates in a way that will "stick" as the template is posted and variously downloaded by DTP staff from the drive.

Any suggestions?