Why does my table style change when I move to a new section of my document?

Question

I've inherited a gigantic document with lots of tabulated data. I created a custom table style, and applied it to all tables within a section of my document. I move onto the next section to apply the table style, and the table style will not apply in its entirety. Specifically, the heading row has none of my customization. Not only that, but the actual icon for my custom table style changes: the first section shows the custom table style as I intend it to look. When I move to the second section, the icon itself changes to represent a different table style. When I open the table style for modification, however, all my customization is there.

What am I doing wrong? Is my document corrupt? Is there some interim step I need to take with the tables in the second section before applying my custom table style? I tried selecting the entire table, and reverting all text to "Normal," then applying my table style, but this doesn't work, either.

Answer 1

Styles in Word have always had an awkward implementation.

To copy styles to other documents/sections, use one of the following :

• Copy a fragment of text containing this style.
  This will establish the new style and you may then delete the pasted text.

• Copy the style through the clipboard.
  Click inside the text to be copied and enter Ctrl+Shift+C, then paste it via Ctrl+Shift+V

If you would like to have this style always available in every document, then you need to add it to your document template, by default Normal.dotm.