diff --git a/calibre-plugin/plugin-defaults.ini b/calibre-plugin/plugin-defaults.ini
index 6720a9ac..b9ed012a 100644
--- a/calibre-plugin/plugin-defaults.ini
+++ b/calibre-plugin/plugin-defaults.ini
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ keep_summary_html:true
 ## Example: To add 'style', 'title' and 'align' to the list to keep,
 ## in your personal.ini [defaults] put:
 ## add_to_keep_html_attrs:,style,title,align
-keep_html_attrs:href,name,class,id
+keep_html_attrs:href,name,class,id,colspan,rowspan
 
 ## Tags listed here will be replaced with <span class="tagname">.
 ## For example: <u>underlined text</u> becomes
@@ -323,6 +323,12 @@ keep_html_attrs:href,name,class,id
 ## HTML and EPUB standards.
 replace_tags_with_spans:u,big,small
 
+## By default, empty tags are removed as part of cleaning up the
+## source HTML.  However, a few tags should be kept even if empty.
+## (Whitespace only, including &nbsp; is considered empty.)  This
+## setting can adjust which tags are kept.
+keep_empty_tags:p,td,th
+
 ## If a chapter range was given, use this pattern for the book title.
 ## replace_metadata and include/exclude will be applied *after* this.
 ## Set to empty value to disable.
diff --git a/fanficfare/adapters/base_adapter.py b/fanficfare/adapters/base_adapter.py
index a21518fb..fc3c2135 100644
--- a/fanficfare/adapters/base_adapter.py
+++ b/fanficfare/adapters/base_adapter.py
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ class BaseSiteAdapter(Configurable):
                         t['class']=t.name
                         t.name='div'
                     # removes paired, but empty non paragraph tags.
-                    if t.name not in ('p') and t.string != None and len(t.string.strip()) == 0 :
+                    if t.name not in self.getConfigList('keep_empty_tags',['p','td','th']) and t.string != None and len(t.string.strip()) == 0 :
                         t.extract()
 
                     # remove script tags cross the board.
diff --git a/fanficfare/configurable.py b/fanficfare/configurable.py
index 4f1a0057..e62e518e 100644
--- a/fanficfare/configurable.py
+++ b/fanficfare/configurable.py
@@ -372,6 +372,7 @@ def get_valid_keywords():
                  'keep_title_attr',
                  'keep_html_attrs',
                  'replace_tags_with_spans',
+                 'keep_empty_tags',
                  'keep_summary_html',
                  'logpage_end',
                  'logpage_entries',
diff --git a/fanficfare/defaults.ini b/fanficfare/defaults.ini
index 59276c85..decea770 100644
--- a/fanficfare/defaults.ini
+++ b/fanficfare/defaults.ini
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ keep_summary_html:true
 ## Example: To add 'style', 'title' and 'align' to the list to keep,
 ## in your personal.ini [defaults] put:
 ## add_to_keep_html_attrs:,style,title,align
-keep_html_attrs:href,name,class,id
+keep_html_attrs:href,name,class,id,colspan,rowspan
 
 ## Tags listed here will be replaced with <span class="tagname">.
 ## For example: <u>underlined text</u> becomes
@@ -326,6 +326,12 @@ keep_html_attrs:href,name,class,id
 ## HTML and EPUB standards.
 replace_tags_with_spans:u,big,small
 
+## By default, empty tags are removed as part of cleaning up the
+## source HTML.  However, a few tags should be kept even if empty.
+## (Whitespace only, including &nbsp; is considered empty.)  This
+## setting can adjust which tags are kept.
+keep_empty_tags:p,td,th
+
 ## If a chapter range was given, use this pattern for the book title.
 ## replace_metadata and include/exclude will be applied *after* this.
 ## Set to empty value to disable.