diff --git a/src/columnCalculator.js b/src/columnCalculator.js
index 593467daa..de1fdce8f 100644
--- a/src/columnCalculator.js
+++ b/src/columnCalculator.js
@@ -42,18 +42,25 @@ function buildColumnWidths(columns, availableWidth) {
 	// http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/tables.html#width-layout
 	// http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-tables-algorithms/Overview.src.htm
 	var minW = autoMin + starMaxMin * starColumns.length;
+	var availableMinW = Math.floor((availableWidth - autoMin) / starColumns.length);
 	var maxW = autoMax + starMaxMax * starColumns.length;
 	if (minW >= availableWidth) {
 		// case 1 - there's no way to fit all columns within available width
 		// that's actually pretty bad situation with PDF as we have no horizontal scroll
-		// no easy workaround (unless we decide, in the future, to split single words)
-		// currently we simply use minWidths for all columns
+		// we leave auto columns with their minWidth
 		autoColumns.forEach(function (col) {
 			col._calcWidth = col._minWidth;
 		});
 
+		// for star columns we go down to the bare minimum
+		// if noWrap isn't set, then we can break single words
+		// otherwise we simply use minWidths for all star columns
 		starColumns.forEach(function (col) {
-			col._calcWidth = starMaxMin; // starMaxMin already contains padding
+			if (col.noWrap) {
+				col._calcWidth = starMaxMin; // starMaxMin already contains padding
+			} else {
+				col._calcWidth = availableMinW;
+			}
 		});
 	} else {
 		if (maxW < availableWidth) {
diff --git a/src/textTools.js b/src/textTools.js
index 138f1da9a..5f72f366e 100644
--- a/src/textTools.js
+++ b/src/textTools.js
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ function measure(fontProvider, textArray, styleContextStack) {
 		item.height = font.lineHeight(fontSize) * lineHeight;
 
 		var leadingSpaces = item.text.match(LEADING);
-		
+
 		if (!item.leadingCut) {
 			item.leadingCut = 0;
 		}
diff --git a/tests/columnCalculator.js b/tests/columnCalculator.js
index 5269cb43b..f263bae6c 100644
--- a/tests/columnCalculator.js
+++ b/tests/columnCalculator.js
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ describe('ColumnCalculator', function () {
 			});
 		});
 
-		it('should set calcWidth of star columns to largest star min-width if there is not enough space for the table', function () {
+		it('should set calcWidth of star columns to availableSpace distributed across star'+
+			'columns if there is not enough space for the table', function () {
 			var columns = [
 				{width: 'auto', _minWidth: 300, _maxWidth: 410},
 				{width: '*', _minWidth: 301, _maxWidth: 420},
@@ -86,8 +87,8 @@ describe('ColumnCalculator', function () {
 
 			ColumnCalculator.buildColumnWidths(columns, 320);
 			assert.equal(columns[0]._calcWidth, columns[0]._minWidth);
-			assert.equal(columns[1]._calcWidth, 303);
-			assert.equal(columns[2]._calcWidth, 303);
+			assert.equal(columns[1]._calcWidth, 10);
+			assert.equal(columns[2]._calcWidth, 10);
 		});
 
 		it('should make columns wider proportionally if table can fit within the available space', function () {
diff --git a/tests/layoutBuilder.js b/tests/layoutBuilder.js
index b28362487..713a890b1 100644
--- a/tests/layoutBuilder.js
+++ b/tests/layoutBuilder.js
@@ -627,27 +627,35 @@ describe('LayoutBuilder', function () {
 				}
 			];
 
+			var fontSize = 12;
 			var pages = builder.layoutDocument(desc, sampleTestProvider, {
 				header: {
 					italics: true,
-					fontSize: 50
+					fontSize: fontSize
 				}
 			});
 
 			assert.equal(pages.length, 1);
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items.length, 5);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items.length, 10);
+
 			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.x, pages[0].items[1].item.x);
 			assert.equal(pages[0].items[1].item.x, pages[0].items[2].item.x);
 
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.y, pages[0].items[3].item.y);
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.y, pages[0].items[4].item.y);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.y, pages[0].items[6].item.y);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.y, pages[0].items[8].item.y);
+
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.inlines[0].width, 5 * fontSize * 1.5);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[1].item.inlines[0].width, 4 * fontSize * 1.5);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[2].item.inlines[0].width, 5 * fontSize * 1.5);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[3].item.inlines[0].width, 5 * fontSize * 1.5);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[4].item.inlines[0].width, 8 * fontSize);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[5].item.inlines[0].width, 2 * fontSize);
 
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[0].item.inlines[0].width, 9 * 50 * 1.5);
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[1].item.inlines[0].width, 10 * 50 * 1.5);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[6].item.inlines[0].width, 8 * fontSize);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[7].item.inlines[0].width, 6 * fontSize);
 
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[2].item.inlines[0].width, 10 * 50);
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[3].item.inlines[0].width, 8 * 50);
-			assert.equal(pages[0].items[4].item.inlines[0].width, 6 * 50);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[8].item.inlines[0].width, 6 * fontSize);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items[9].item.inlines[0].width, 6 * fontSize);
 		});
 
 		it('should support unordered lists', function () {
@@ -1265,6 +1273,20 @@ describe('LayoutBuilder', function () {
 			assert.equal(pages[0].items.length, 3);
 		});
 
+		it('should support wrap long word in columns', function () {
+			var desc = [
+				{ columns: [
+					{ width: "*",
+						text: 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890'
+					}
+				]}
+			];
+
+			var pages = builder.layoutDocument(desc, sampleTestProvider);
+			assert.equal(pages[0].items.length, 3);
+		});
+
+
 		it('should support wrap long word with big font size', function () {
 			var desc = [
 				{