Thanks. I'll give it a try. If nothing else, at least I now know the name of the para tag (pilcrow).

Hi rphox2003 did you find a better solution than Ulodesk's? Although is a very smart solution, it still messes up the links.

P.S.: Im a tech writer also, and have the exact same problem. Thanks for posting your question.

Hi, Wordhostage. I would be interested to know how the links get messed up. Is is not possible to select all and update links? In my experience, Word is generally pretty good at doing so. Also, it is unlcear to me why inserting a body text or similar non-heading/auto-numbered style paragraph would affect the links. Usually, such mysteries have solutions.

Actually the links aren't the problem, as you point out Ctrl+A+F9 takes care of the links.
What gets 'messed up' when adding a paragraph is the bookmark to were the link was pointing.
So the link may be pointing to the right bookmark, but now the bookmark got displaced for the added paragraph.
For instance, I got a table and immediately a heading after it which I have bookmarked and somewhere else I have a link pointing to it.
When I copy & paste the para tag as suggested, a paragraph is added between the table and the heading, but now if you click on the link it will take you to the new paragraph and not the heading; even after updating all the links in the document.
By the way, the c&p the para tag it's a pretty nifty solution in itself. Solves one mystery.

I really don't have time use Ulodesk's suggestion, so I've been taking the easy way.

I created a style with a very small font size and no pre- or post-lines. Then I leave the empty para that Word automatically puts after each table and attach that style so the space following the table is negligible. That leaves an empty para for future updates, doesn't add much white space, and leaves cross-refs alone.