control of overflow of cell content into adjacent cell(s)

[david thompson <thompdump gmail com>]

I suspect the documentation regarding control of "overflow" associated
with cells with content which extends beyond the width of the cell is
staring me in the face on the gnumeric website. Nevertheless...

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnumeric-list/2005-June/msg00158.html
indicates "#### means "too wide to display _and_ cannot overflow into
next column because something is there."

1. Is there a straightforward way -- without changing column width --
to cause the content of a cell, when it exceeds the width of the cell,
to extend into the adjacent cell(s) irrespective of whether the
adjacent cell(s) are 'full' or 'empty'?

2. I see ### in a cell adjacent to (apparently) empty cells,
suggesting that the mailing list content cited above maybe isn't
telling the story -- i.e., gnumeric chooses to not display content
even when adjacent cells are empty. Or... perhaps cells can look
'empty' but have some sort of hidden content? If the latter is the
case, is there a straightforward way to determine if a cell is truly
'empty'?

Thanks for any suggestions/clarification/assistance...

- Alan