Numbers a table and names it by an Anno Fabri tag (run af for a fresh one). Put it where the number belongs, in the caption:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Table {{tablabel|0Tqz5}}: Lifetimes measured on each sample.
! Sample !! τ (ps)
|-
| A || 12
|}

It prints the table's number on the page (tables are counted in order of appearance, apart from the figures of {{figlabel}}), puts the anchor T-0Tqz5 on it, and shows the tag when the number is hovered. Insert a table above and the numbers below move; the tag does not, and that is what everything links by.

Refer to it with {{tab}}: {{tab|0Tqz5}} gives Table 1, linked, from this page or any other. A plain link works too: [[Page#T-0Tqz5]].

Or Ctrl-click the table (MediaWiki:Gadget-tab.js, for editors): a table already labelled just puts {{tab|tag}} in the clipboard; one without a label is given a fresh tag, and after a confirmation its caption becomes Table {{tablabel|tag}}: … (or a caption is added). A hand-typed "Table 3:" in front of the caption is replaced. Links, pictures and formulas inside the table keep their own Ctrl-click.

Built on Module:Tab.