diff --git a/contrib/lisp/org-lparse.el b/contrib/lisp/org-lparse.el
index fbc902490..ac98ff53b 100755
--- a/contrib/lisp/org-lparse.el
+++ b/contrib/lisp/org-lparse.el
@@ -1316,13 +1316,12 @@ version."
 	(org-lparse-format-table-table lines))))
 
 (defun org-lparse-table-get-colalign-info (lines)
-  (let ((forced-aligns (org-find-text-property-in-string
-			'org-forced-aligns (car lines))))
-    (when (and forced-aligns org-table-clean-did-remove-column)
-      (setq forced-aligns
-	    (mapcar (lambda (x) (cons (1- (car x)) (cdr x))) forced-aligns)))
-
-    forced-aligns))
+  (let ((col-cookies (org-find-text-property-in-string
+			'org-col-cookies (car lines))))
+    (when (and col-cookies org-table-clean-did-remove-column)
+      (setq col-cookies
+	    (mapcar (lambda (x) (cons (1- (car x)) (cdr x))) col-cookies)))
+    col-cookies))
 
 (defvar org-lparse-table-style)
 (defvar org-lparse-table-ncols)
@@ -2059,12 +2058,13 @@ See `org-xhtml-entity-format-callbacks-alist' for more information."
 	    (make-vector org-lparse-table-ncols nil))
       (let ((c -1))
 	(while  (< (incf c) org-lparse-table-ncols)
-	  (let ((cookie (cdr (assoc (1+ c) org-lparse-table-colalign-info))))
+	  (let* ((col-cookie (cdr (assoc (1+ c) org-lparse-table-colalign-info)))
+		 (align (nth 0 col-cookie)))
 	    (setf (aref org-lparse-table-colalign-vector c)
 		  (cond
-		   ((string= cookie "l") "left")
-		   ((string= cookie "r") "right")
-		   ((string= cookie "c") "center")
+		   ((string= align "l") "left")
+		   ((string= align "r") "right")
+		   ((string= align "c") "center")
 		   (t nil))))))))
   (incf org-lparse-table-rownum)
   (let ((i -1))
@@ -2075,11 +2075,15 @@ See `org-xhtml-entity-format-callbacks-alist' for more information."
 	(when (and (string= x "") text-for-empty-fields)
 	  (setq x text-for-empty-fields))
 	(incf i)
-	(and org-lparse-table-is-styled
-	     (< i org-lparse-table-ncols)
-	     (string-match org-table-number-regexp x)
-	     (incf (aref org-lparse-table-num-numeric-items-per-column i)))
-	(org-lparse-format 'TABLE-CELL x org-lparse-table-rownum i))
+	(let (col-cookie horiz-span)
+	  (when org-lparse-table-is-styled
+	    (when (and (< i org-lparse-table-ncols)
+		       (string-match org-table-number-regexp x))
+	      (incf (aref org-lparse-table-num-numeric-items-per-column i)))
+	    (setq col-cookie (cdr (assoc (1+ i) org-lparse-table-colalign-info))
+		  horiz-span (nth 1 col-cookie)))
+	  (org-lparse-format
+	   'TABLE-CELL x org-lparse-table-rownum i (or horiz-span 0))))
       fields "\n"))))
 
 (defun org-lparse-get (what &optional opt-plist)
diff --git a/contrib/lisp/org-odt.el b/contrib/lisp/org-odt.el
index 5c3f7fb34..f088b0519 100644
--- a/contrib/lisp/org-odt.el
+++ b/contrib/lisp/org-odt.el
@@ -703,14 +703,20 @@ implementation filed under `org-odt-get-table-cell-styles'."
    (or label "") (or (nth 1 org-odt-table-style-spec) "OrgTable"))
   (setq org-lparse-table-begin-marker (point)))
 
+(defvar org-lparse-table-colalign-info)
 (defun org-odt-end-table ()
   (goto-char org-lparse-table-begin-marker)
   (loop for level from 0 below org-lparse-table-ncols
-	do (insert
-	    (org-odt-format-tags
-	     "<table:table-column table:style-name=\"%sColumn\"/>"
-	     "" (or (nth 1 org-odt-table-style-spec) "OrgTable"))))
-
+	do (let* ((col-cookie (and org-lparse-table-is-styled
+				   (cdr (assoc (1+ level)
+					       org-lparse-table-colalign-info))))
+		  (extra-columns (or (nth 1 col-cookie) 0)))
+	     (dotimes (i (1+ extra-columns))
+	       (insert
+		(org-odt-format-tags
+		 "<table:table-column table:style-name=\"%sColumn\"/>"
+		 "" (or (nth 1 org-odt-table-style-spec) "OrgTable"))))
+	     (insert "\n")))
   ;; fill style attributes for table cells
   (when org-lparse-table-is-styled
     (while (re-search-forward "@@\\(table-cell:p\\|table-cell:style-name\\)@@\\([0-9]+\\)@@\\([0-9]+\\)@@" nil t)
@@ -837,17 +843,26 @@ styles congruent with the ODF-1.2 specification."
   (when org-lparse-table-is-styled
     (format "@@table-cell:style-name@@%03d@@%03d@@" r c)))
 
-(defun org-odt-format-table-cell (data r c)
-  (let* ((paragraph-style-cookie
-	  (org-odt-get-paragraph-style-cookie-for-table-cell r c))
-	 (style-name-cookie
-	  (org-odt-get-style-name-cookie-for-table-cell r c))
-	 (extra (if style-name-cookie
-		    (format " table:style-name=\"%s\""  style-name-cookie) "")))
-    (org-odt-format-tags
-     '("<table:table-cell%s>" . "</table:table-cell>")
-     (if org-lparse-list-table-p data
-       (org-odt-format-stylized-paragraph paragraph-style-cookie data)) extra)))
+(defun org-odt-format-table-cell (data r c horiz-span)
+  (concat
+   (let* ((paragraph-style-cookie
+	   (org-odt-get-paragraph-style-cookie-for-table-cell r c))
+	  (style-name-cookie
+	   (org-odt-get-style-name-cookie-for-table-cell r c))
+	  (extra (and style-name-cookie
+		      (format " table:style-name=\"%s\""  style-name-cookie)))
+	  (extra (concat extra
+			 (and (> horiz-span 0)
+			      (format " table:number-columns-spanned=\"%d\""
+				      (1+ horiz-span))))))
+     (org-odt-format-tags
+      '("<table:table-cell%s>" . "</table:table-cell>")
+      (if org-lparse-list-table-p data
+	(org-odt-format-stylized-paragraph paragraph-style-cookie data)) extra))
+   (let (s)
+     (dotimes (i horiz-span)
+       (setq s (concat s "\n<table:covered-table-cell/>"))) s)
+   "\n"))
 
 (defun org-odt-begin-footnote-definition (n)
   (org-lparse-begin-paragraph 'footnote))
diff --git a/contrib/lisp/org-xhtml.el b/contrib/lisp/org-xhtml.el
index f4f9181d9..188678c5b 100644
--- a/contrib/lisp/org-xhtml.el
+++ b/contrib/lisp/org-xhtml.el
@@ -1558,7 +1558,7 @@ lang=\"%s\" xml:lang=\"%s\">
    (cons (eval (car org-export-table-row-tags))
 	 (eval (cdr org-export-table-row-tags))) row))
 
-(defun org-xhtml-format-table-cell (text r c)
+(defun org-xhtml-format-table-cell (text r c horiz-span)
   (let ((cell-style-cookie (or (and org-lparse-table-is-styled
 				    (format "@@class%03d@@" c)) "")))
     (cond