Document Word Count

If you submit articles for publication, one of the considerations is word count. Editors of publications need this information because it tells them about how much room they need save for your article. You can sit down with a printed copy and count it yourself, or you can let Word do it for you.

Word Count
1. Open your document.
2. Open Word Count dialog.

In Word 2003, click Tools, and then Word Count. You have a few more options on the Word 2003 dialog. Check the Help (F1) if you want more info on these options.

In Word 2007 or 1010, click the Review tab, locate the Proofing group, and click the Word Count button.

Notice that your word count also appears in the status bar at the bottom of your window.

3. Click Close to exit the Word Count dialog.

Sending the Info to an Editor
If you’d like to simply send the editor a copy of the results in the Word Count dialog, complete these steps.
1. Click in the heading of the dialog beside Word Count to select the dialog.
2. On your keyboard, hold down the ALT key, and press the Print Screen key. A copy of the dialog was just placed on your pasteboard.
Note: On laptop keyboards, you might also need to hold down the Fs or Fn key. On my nifty new laptop, I have an Fs key that I need to hold down when I want to use the Print Screen function.
3. Open an email and paste the dialog into the body of the email. Or, open a document and paste the dialog into the document. To paste, hold down the Ctrl key and type V (Ctrl + V).
4. Email the information to the editor.

You can use this method to copy any Word dialog. This bit of knowledge is handy to know if something is going wrong and you're asking someone else for help. You can send them a copy of the Word dialog so they can perhaps spot your problem.