diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 73e90dc6..67dbe238 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org).
 
 ## Unreleased - TBD
 
+- Fixed `ReferenceHelper@insertNewBefore` behavior when removing column before last column with null value
+
 ### Added
 
 - Improved support for passing of array arguments to Excel function implementations to return array results (where appropriate). [Issue #2551](https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet/issues/2551)
diff --git a/samples/Basic/02_Types.php b/samples/Basic/02_Types.php
index 79f109f5..965071b8 100644
--- a/samples/Basic/02_Types.php
+++ b/samples/Basic/02_Types.php
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <?php
 
+use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataType;
 use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\RichText\RichText;
 use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Shared\Date;
 use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Spreadsheet;
@@ -144,6 +145,11 @@ $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()
 $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()
     ->setCellValue('C18', '=HYPERLINK("mailto:abc@def.com","abc@def.com")');
 
+$spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()
+    ->setCellValue('A20', 'String')
+    ->setCellValue('B20', 'inline')
+    ->setCellValueExplicit('C20', 'This will not be added to sharedStrings.xml', DataType::TYPE_INLINE);
+
 $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet()
     ->getColumnDimension('B')
     ->setAutoSize(true);
diff --git a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Xlsx.php b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Xlsx.php
index bf696a60..f7625d5e 100644
--- a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Xlsx.php
+++ b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Reader/Xlsx.php
@@ -1691,13 +1691,17 @@ class Xlsx extends BaseReader
                     } else {
                         $objText = $value->createTextRun(StringHelper::controlCharacterOOXML2PHP((string) $run->t));
 
-                        $attr = $run->rPr->rFont->attributes();
-                        if (isset($attr['val'])) {
-                            $objText->getFont()->setName((string) $attr['val']);
+                        if (isset($run->rPr->rFont)) {
+                            $attr = $run->rPr->rFont->attributes();
+                            if (isset($attr['val'])) {
+                                $objText->getFont()->setName((string) $attr['val']);
+                            }
                         }
-                        $attr = $run->rPr->sz->attributes();
-                        if (isset($attr['val'])) {
-                            $objText->getFont()->setSize((float) $attr['val']);
+                        if (isset($run->rPr->sz)) {
+                            $attr = $run->rPr->sz->attributes();
+                            if (isset($attr['val'])) {
+                                $objText->getFont()->setSize((float) $attr['val']);
+                            }
                         }
                         if (isset($run->rPr->color)) {
                             $objText->getFont()->setColor(new Color($this->styleReader->readColor($run->rPr->color)));
diff --git a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/ReferenceHelper.php b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/ReferenceHelper.php
index 0d72b305..98c4807a 100644
--- a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/ReferenceHelper.php
+++ b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/ReferenceHelper.php
@@ -398,6 +398,26 @@ class ReferenceHelper
             }
         }
 
+        // Find missing coordinates. This is important when inserting column before the last column
+        $missingCoordinates = array_filter(
+            array_map(function ($row) use ($highestColumn) {
+                return $highestColumn . $row;
+            }, range(1, $highestRow)),
+            function ($coordinate) use ($allCoordinates) {
+                return !in_array($coordinate, $allCoordinates);
+            }
+        );
+
+        // Create missing cells with null values
+        if (!empty($missingCoordinates)) {
+            foreach ($missingCoordinates as $coordinate) {
+                $worksheet->createNewCell($coordinate);
+            }
+
+            // Refresh all coordinates
+            $allCoordinates = $worksheet->getCoordinates();
+        }
+
         // Loop through cells, bottom-up, and change cell coordinate
         if ($remove) {
             // It's faster to reverse and pop than to use unshift, especially with large cell collections
diff --git a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Worksheet/Worksheet.php b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Worksheet/Worksheet.php
index 51cf3c52..362f20f0 100644
--- a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Worksheet/Worksheet.php
+++ b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Worksheet/Worksheet.php
@@ -1291,7 +1291,7 @@ class Worksheet implements IComparable
      *
      * @return Cell Cell that was created
      */
-    private function createNewCell($coordinate)
+    public function createNewCell($coordinate)
     {
         $cell = new Cell(null, DataType::TYPE_NULL, $this);
         $this->cellCollection->add($coordinate, $cell);
diff --git a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xls/Worksheet.php b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xls/Worksheet.php
index 2387ceb0..979d3cb7 100644
--- a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xls/Worksheet.php
+++ b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xls/Worksheet.php
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ class Worksheet extends BIFFwriter
             } else {
                 switch ($cell->getDatatype()) {
                     case DataType::TYPE_STRING:
+                    case DataType::TYPE_INLINE:
                     case DataType::TYPE_NULL:
                         if ($cVal === '' || $cVal === null) {
                             $this->writeBlank($row, $column, $xfIndex);
diff --git a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xlsx/Worksheet.php b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xlsx/Worksheet.php
index 86f966e7..ab390a90 100644
--- a/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xlsx/Worksheet.php
+++ b/src/PhpSpreadsheet/Writer/Xlsx/Worksheet.php
@@ -1189,10 +1189,12 @@ class Worksheet extends WriterPart
     {
         $objWriter->writeAttribute('t', $mappedType);
         if (!$cellValue instanceof RichText) {
+            $objWriter->startElement('is');
             $objWriter->writeElement(
                 't',
                 StringHelper::controlCharacterPHP2OOXML(htmlspecialchars($cellValue, Settings::htmlEntityFlags()))
             );
+            $objWriter->endElement();
         } elseif ($cellValue instanceof RichText) {
             $objWriter->startElement('is');
             $this->getParentWriter()->getWriterPartstringtable()->writeRichText($objWriter, $cellValue);
diff --git a/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/Reader/Xlsx/Issue2542Test.php b/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/Reader/Xlsx/Issue2542Test.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ad970001
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/Reader/Xlsx/Issue2542Test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheetTests\Reader\Xlsx;
+
+use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Reader\Xlsx;
+use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\RichText\RichText;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+class Issue2542Test extends TestCase
+{
+    /**
+     * @var string
+     */
+    private static $testbook = 'tests/data/Reader/XLSX/issue.2542.xlsx';
+
+    public function testPreliminaries(): void
+    {
+        // Rich text without 'sz' tag
+        $file = 'zip://';
+        $file .= self::$testbook;
+        $file .= '#xl/sharedStrings.xml';
+        $data = file_get_contents($file);
+
+        // confirm that file contains expected namespaced xml tag
+        if ($data === false) {
+            self::fail('Unable to read file sharedStrings.xml');
+        } else {
+            self::assertStringContainsString('<si><r><rPr><rFont val="Arial"/><b/><color theme="1"/></rPr><t xml:space="preserve">Factor group
+</t></r><r><rPr><rFont val="Arial"/><b val="0"/><color theme="1"/></rPr><t>(for Rental items only)</t></r></si>', $data);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testIssue2542(): void
+    {
+        $filename = self::$testbook;
+        $reader = new Xlsx();
+        $spreadsheet = $reader->load($filename);
+        $sheet = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet();
+        $value = $sheet->getCell('P1')->getValue();
+        if ($value instanceof RichText) {
+            self::assertSame("Factor group\n(for Rental items only)", $value->getPlainText());
+        } else {
+            self::fail('Cell P1 is not RichText');
+        }
+        $spreadsheet->disconnectWorksheets();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/ReferenceHelperTest.php b/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/ReferenceHelperTest.php
index 874dbfb5..2c016b0b 100644
--- a/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/ReferenceHelperTest.php
+++ b/tests/PhpSpreadsheetTests/ReferenceHelperTest.php
@@ -149,4 +149,32 @@ class ReferenceHelperTest extends TestCase
         self::assertSame($oldValue, $newValue);
         self::assertSame($oldDataType, $newDataType);
     }
+
+    public function testRemoveColumnShiftsCorrectColumnValueIntoRemovedColumnCoordinates(): void
+    {
+        $spreadsheet = new Spreadsheet();
+        $sheet = $spreadsheet->getActiveSheet();
+        $sheet->fromArray([
+            ['a1', 'b1', 'c1'],
+            ['a2', 'b2', null],
+        ]);
+
+        $cells = $sheet->toArray();
+        self::assertSame('a1', $cells[0][0]);
+        self::assertSame('b1', $cells[0][1]);
+        self::assertSame('c1', $cells[0][2]);
+        self::assertSame('a2', $cells[1][0]);
+        self::assertSame('b2', $cells[1][1]);
+        self::assertNull($cells[1][2]);
+
+        $sheet->removeColumn('B');
+
+        $cells = $sheet->toArray();
+        self::assertSame('a1', $cells[0][0]);
+        self::assertSame('c1', $cells[0][1]);
+        self::assertArrayNotHasKey(2, $cells[0]);
+        self::assertSame('a2', $cells[1][0]);
+        self::assertNull($cells[1][1]);
+        self::assertArrayNotHasKey(2, $cells[1]);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/data/Reader/XLSX/issue.2542.xlsx b/tests/data/Reader/XLSX/issue.2542.xlsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..85faa63a
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/data/Reader/XLSX/issue.2542.xlsx differ