diff --git a/src/lib/import/CLAUDE.md b/src/lib/import/CLAUDE.md
index 2638b33..41b2da1 100644
--- a/src/lib/import/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/src/lib/import/CLAUDE.md
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ docDefaults ← the table style ← the cell paragraph's own style chain ← dir
 style name; read as an override the way a table style zeroing `w:after` reads, every table
 loses the space after its cells' paragraphs and a long document comes out pages short.
 
+**A `w:cols` gap the section's text cannot hold is no gap at all.** `w:space` is twips, and
+a producer writing EMU there (360000 = 1cm in EMU, 635cm read as twips) would otherwise
+leave columns of no width. Under that width LibreOffice lays the declared gap out literally
+— probed to 10.16cm on a 15.24cm text — so only the unholdable value is dropped.
+
 Body text with no resolved font falls back to the *document's own theme minor font*
 (`docx.ts` `runMarks`), not the editor default — Word's implicit body default. Headings don't
 (they keep the editor heading default); DOCX page margins default to Word's 2.54cm.
diff --git a/src/lib/import/docx.ts b/src/lib/import/docx.ts
index e6989c9..5cc0b5c 100644
--- a/src/lib/import/docx.ts
+++ b/src/lib/import/docx.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import { applyUniformRunFont, pairAlignedFrames, sinkOffsetFrames, type OdtImpor
 import { chartDataUrl } from './chart';
 import { deobfuscateOdttf, type EmbeddedFont } from '../fonts/embeddedFonts';
 import { cellPaddingAttr, DEFAULT_CELL_PADDING, type CellPadding } from '../editor/extensions/tableCellPadding';
+import { clampColumnGap } from '../editor/extensions/columns';
 import { astToLatex } from '../math/latex';
 import { parseOmml, OMML_NS } from '../math/omml';
 
@@ -2089,7 +2090,12 @@ function sectPrColumns(sectPr: Element | null, ctx: Ctx): { count: number; gapCm
     count = 3;
   }
   const space = intAttr(cols, W, 'space') ?? (colEls[0] ? intAttr(colEls[0], W, 'space') : null) ?? 283;
-  return { count, gapCm: Math.min(5, Math.max(0, round2(twipToCm(space)))) };
+  // A gap the section's text has no room for is a producer's unit slip — EMU written into
+  // a twips attribute — and lays out as no gap at all, not as columns too narrow to hold a
+  // word. Below that LibreOffice honours the declared value literally (probed).
+  const gapCm = round2(twipToCm(space));
+  const fits = gapCm > 0 && (count - 1) * gapCm < sectionContentWidthCm(sectPr);
+  return { count, gapCm: fits ? clampColumnGap(gapCm) : 0 };
 }
 
 // Block types a columns node can contain (mirrors import/odt.ts).