sentences length indicators

Word's grammar checker can be set to show you sentences that are longer than 60 words, although that limit is not changeable.

To use this, go to Office button > Word Options > Proofing. Under "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word", click the Settings button. In the dialog that opens, scroll down to the Style section and check the box for "Sentence length (more than sixty words)". Click OK. Back in the Options dialog, check the boxes for "Mark grammar errors as you type" and "Check grammar with spelling". You'll be warned by a wavy underline under any long sentences, and if you press F7 to do a spelling check.

If you want to stay with your original request for a visual cue, and/or if you want to choose your own maximum sentence length, you'll need a macro like the following one. Use the steps in http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm if you need to know how to install it.

Sub MarkLongSentences()

    Dim sntc As Range

    Dim rg As Range

    Dim maxWords As Long

    Dim triangle As String

    maxWords = 50   ' <==== change this number if needed

    triangle = ChrW(9660)

    For Each sntc In ActiveDocument.Sentences

        With sntc

            If .Words.Count > maxWords Then

                If .Characters.Last = " " Then

                    .Characters(.Characters.Count - 1).InsertBefore triangle

                Else

                    .Characters(.Characters.Count).InsertBefore triangle

                End If

            End If

        End With

    Next

    Set rg = ActiveDocument.Range

    With rg.Find

        .Text = triangle

        .Replacement.Text = triangle

        .Replacement.Font.Color = wdColorOrange

        .Replacement.Font.Superscript = True

        .MatchWildcards = False

        .Wrap = wdFindStop

        .Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

    End With

End Sub

After you've edited the document to shorten some or all of the sentences, if there may still be some triangles in the text, you can run this macro to remove all of them (if there are no triangles, the macro will do nothing).

Sub UnmarkSentences()

    Dim triangle As String

    Dim rg As Range

    triangle = ChrW(9660)

    Set rg = ActiveDocument.Range

    With rg.Find

        .Text = triangle

        .Replacement.Text = ""

        .Wrap = wdFindStop

        .Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll

    End With

End Sub

Word can't do you are asking, but the grammar checking feature can check sentence length, sorta.

Office button > Word Options button > Proofing option > "When correcting Spelling and Grammar in Word" section.

Turn on:

• "Check Grammar with Spelling" option.
• Show Readability statistics

Click on the "Settings..." button. Turn on "Sentence Length (more than 60 words)".