I have noticed that when I create a table in openoffice writer and I create a formula in a cell in order to add all the numbers in a column (ex. <A>+<B>+...) they work fine but then when I save and quit the document and open it up again the formulas dont work anymore and I have to retype them.

how can I prevent this from happening?

Hello,

That sounds very strange. I use formulas and do not have that problem.
Please give an example of your exact formula - more than what you gave. You might need to let us know what version of OpenOffice you are using.
davesny

openoffice 3.2.0, running on a ubuntu 10.04 lucid machine

What I am talking about is for example:

lets say I create a table in an openoffice word processor document and I want to add up all the numbers in a column automatically.
so what I do is create a formula on the last cell that says <A1>+<A2>+<A3> this will add up all the numbers on the column and post the total in the last column.

I then tried protecting the cell to see if that worked but it doesnt because as soon as I quit the program it doesnt matter if the cell was protected or not when I reopen the document and click on the table the cell no longer contains the formula and is even no longer protected!

Hello,

An example of a formula to add different cells in the Spanish version is:
=suma(A1+A2+B2)
=SUMA(H99-E100+F100)
I think the English version just uses SUM.
There are many more variations to the formulas as well.
=SUMA(C3:C15)

I hope this helps.