diff --git a/core/pom.xml b/core/pom.xml
index a8cafd883..99844ad7a 100644
--- a/core/pom.xml
+++ b/core/pom.xml
@@ -119,7 +119,8 @@
             <groupId>com.github.haifengl</groupId>
             <artifactId>smile-data</artifactId>
             <version>1.5.2 </version>
-            <scope>provided</scope>
+            <optional>true</optional>
+            <scope>provided</scope> <!-- because the shade plugin doesn't exclude optional dependencies -->
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>tech.tablesaw</groupId>
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriterTest.java b/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriterTest.java
index 048fb5f26..c20048564 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriterTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriterTest.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 package tech.tablesaw.io.html;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ public void setUp() throws Exception {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testWrite() {
+    public void testWrite() throws IOException {
         StringColumn byColumn = table.stringColumn("who");
         TableSliceGroup group = StandardTableSliceGroup.create(table, byColumn);
         Table result = group.aggregate("approval", AggregateFunctions.mean);
diff --git a/excel/pom.xml b/excel/pom.xml
index fcd2bffeb..060258eb9 100644
--- a/excel/pom.xml
+++ b/excel/pom.xml
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>tech.tablesaw</groupId>
       <artifactId>tablesaw-core</artifactId>
-      <version>0.32.1</version>
+      <version>0.32.2</version>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/html/pom.xml b/html/pom.xml
index 7ad4ba617..28e86fb0a 100644
--- a/html/pom.xml
+++ b/html/pom.xml
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>tech.tablesaw</groupId>
       <artifactId>tablesaw-core</artifactId>
-      <version>0.32.1</version>
+      <version>0.32.2</version>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/html/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriter.java b/html/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriter.java
index 97e203a6f..81e0b96f6 100644
--- a/html/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriter.java
+++ b/html/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/html/HtmlWriter.java
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ public static void register(WriterRegistry registry) {
         registry.registerOptions(HtmlWriteOptions.class, INSTANCE);
     }
 
-    public void write(Table table, HtmlWriteOptions options) {
+    public void write(Table table, HtmlWriteOptions options) throws IOException {
         StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
         builder.append("<table>").append(System.lineSeparator());
         builder.append(header(table.columnNames()));
@@ -51,13 +51,10 @@ public void write(Table table, HtmlWriteOptions options) {
         builder.append("</tbody>").append(System.lineSeparator());
         builder.append("</table>");
         String str = builder.toString();
-        try {
-            Writer writer = options.destination().createWriter();
-            writer.write(str);
-            writer.flush();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
-        }
+
+        Writer writer = options.destination().createWriter();
+        writer.write(str);
+        writer.flush();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -100,7 +97,7 @@ private static String header(List<String> columnNames) {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void write(Table table, Destination dest) {
+    public void write(Table table, Destination dest) throws IOException {
         write(table, HtmlWriteOptions.build(dest).build());
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/json/pom.xml b/json/pom.xml
index 610c56f1b..46bfa8947 100644
--- a/json/pom.xml
+++ b/json/pom.xml
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>tech.tablesaw</groupId>
       <artifactId>tablesaw-core</artifactId>
-      <version>0.32.1</version>
+      <version>0.32.2</version>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/json/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/json/JsonWriter.java b/json/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/json/JsonWriter.java
index ec59b8d82..57f3735db 100644
--- a/json/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/json/JsonWriter.java
+++ b/json/src/main/java/tech/tablesaw/io/json/JsonWriter.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public static void register(WriterRegistry registry) {
         registry.registerOptions(JsonWriteOptions.class, INSTANCE);
     }
 
-    public void write(Table table, JsonWriteOptions options) {
+    public void write(Table table, JsonWriteOptions options) throws IOException {
         ArrayNode output = mapper.createArrayNode();
         if (options.asObjects()) {
             for (int r = 0; r < table.rowCount(); r++) {
@@ -67,18 +67,15 @@ public void write(Table table, JsonWriteOptions options) {
                 output.add(row);
             }            
         }
-        try {
-          String str = mapper.writeValueAsString(output);
-          Writer writer = options.destination().createWriter();
-          writer.write(str);
-          writer.flush();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          throw new IllegalStateException(e);
-        }
+
+        String str = mapper.writeValueAsString(output);
+        Writer writer = options.destination().createWriter();
+        writer.write(str);
+        writer.flush();
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void write(Table table, Destination dest) {
+    public void write(Table table, Destination dest) throws IOException {
         write(table, JsonWriteOptions.builder(dest).build());
     }