12-23-2005

Word Count Toolbar in Microsoft Word

I went to Book People tonight to check out the magazine section and spent some time browsing a copy of Writer’s Digest. The Freelancer’s Workshop column was about tips on hitting the required word count when writing articles. One of the tips mentioned frequently checking the word count as you go along. It’s an obvious tip, but it got me thinking that there might be an easier way to accomplish this task.

When I got home, I tried to find a Microsoft Word macro that might keep a constant tally of the current word count. I didn’t find a macro, but I did find that Word has a Word Count toolbar. The toolbar isn’t as automatic as I’d like—you have to click the “Recount” button or hit Alt-C to refresh the count—but it is at least one step shorter than using the Word Count option on the Tools menu.

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Posted by Matt in communication, tech, writing | RSS 2.0

One Response to “Word Count Toolbar in Microsoft Word”
  1. AIT Word Count Team Says:

    Hi Matt,

    We have produced similar (not real-time) tools.

    If we create such shareware utility, do you think there is a market for that? But I guess it should have more features, like number of words per hour (can be minus during editing though :) ), etc.

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