diff --git a/R/mpf_exporters.R b/R/mpf_exporters.R
index 873787f4..ec9da77a 100644
--- a/R/mpf_exporters.R
+++ b/R/mpf_exporters.R
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ mpf_to_rtf <- function(mpf,
   }
 
   rtfpg <- r2rtf::rtf_body(rtfpg,
-    col_rel_width = colwidths,
+    col_rel_width = colwidths + 0.5,
     text_justification = c("l", rep("c", ncol(myfakedf) - 1)),
     text_format = "",
     text_font = 9,
diff --git a/R/tostring.R b/R/tostring.R
index cea31f0e..5b6ba84d 100644
--- a/R/tostring.R
+++ b/R/tostring.R
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ set_default_hsep <- function(hsep_char) {
         nj <- spans[i, j]
         j <- if (nj > 1) {
           js <- seq(j, j + nj - 1)
-          cell_widths_mat[i, js] <- sum(cell_widths_mat[i, js]) + col_gap * (nj - 1)
+          cell_widths_mat[i, js] <- sum(cell_widths_mat[i, js]) + col_gap * (nj - 1) + 1
           j + nj
         } else {
           j + 1
@@ -1166,7 +1166,7 @@ wrap_string_ttype <- function(str,
 
   rawspls <- strsplit(str, "[[:space:]](?=[^[:space:]])", perl = TRUE)[[1]] # preserve all but one space
   nctt <- nchar_ttype(rawspls, fontspec, raw = TRUE)
-  pts <- which(cumsum(nctt) <= width)
+  pts <- which(cumsum(nctt) <= width -5)
   if (length(pts) == length(rawspls)) { ## no splitting needed
     return(str)
   } else if (length(pts) == 0) { ## no spaces, all one word, split it and keep going