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Arranging Document Windows

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Counting Words the Old Fashioned Way with WordBasic

Summary: Using the old editorial method of figuring out the number of words in a document. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 6, and Word 95.)

You probably already knew that Word provides a way to determine the number of words in a selection or in your entire document. Word has its own internal algorithms to figure out the proper count. This is great, if you need to know actual word counts.

Before the days of actual word counts, however, typists figured out the number of average words in a document. This was done by figuring out the number of characters typed, and then dividing that figure by five. For some purposes you may still need to figure word counts using this old-fashioned approach. This can be done with a simple WordBasic macro, as follows:

Sub MAIN
    Title$ = "WordCount"
    On Error Goto HugeString
    InSelection = SelType()
    If InSelection = 2 Or InSelection = 6 Then
        WordCount = Int((Len(Selection$()) / 5) + 0.5)
        WordCount$ = Mid$(Str$(WordCount), 2) + " word"
        If WordCount > 1 Then WordCount$ = WordCount$ + "s"
        MsgBox WordCount$, Title$
    Else
        Beep
        MsgBox "No text selected", Title$, 16
    End If
    Goto Done

    HugeString:
        MsgBox "Selection too large", Title$, 48

    Done:
End Sub

Tip #756 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95

More Power! For some people, the prospect of creating Word macros can be scary. WordTips: The Macros can help you conquer your fears and you'll discover you're much more confident and productive as you make Word do exactly what you want. This is an invaluable source for learning macros. You are introduced to the topic in bite-sized chunks, pulled from past issues of WordTips. Learn at your own pace, exactly the way you want.
 
Check out WordTips: The Macros today!