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Differences in Word Counts

Anonymous
2014-08-08T23:12:44+00:00

Two places claim to display Word count.

1.  In the document.  Lower left, next to the page number.  This display appears to be working.  Deletions show up as, example: 21/159,310 then drop 21 words.  The math does appear to add up while working.

2.  In the folder list.

Select view --> Add Column --> Word Count and BAM! you have a word count listed alongside the defaults: document name, date modified, type, and size.

Problem.

Full MS, in the open document: 308,217 words

On the document list, in the open folder: 251,037 words

Question.

Which number is the correct word count?  This is a necessary number for any MS submission.

Of note.

There is a header in the document.  But, even if those words are being counted, ~6k total in the headers does not explain the 57,180 word count difference between the two totals.

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Anonymous
2014-08-09T02:39:56+00:00

In addition to the status bar count, you will want to examine the small Word Count information dialog found from Review, Proofing, Word Count (e.g. Ctrl+Shift+G). This has a checkbox that toggles the counting of textboxes, footnotes and end notes. I believe that this will affect the count in the status bar. Depending upon restrictions of what is to be counted, this may account for some of the discrepancy.

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  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-08-23T22:17:45+00:00

    I don't think that you can rely upon the Windows Explorer\File Explorer Word Count.

    As an example of why not, a document that contains the following field construction

    is shown as having 55 words in Windows Explorer, which may be correct for the number of words in the field construction, but the field actually displays

    and in Word, the document is reported correctly as containing 3 words.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-08-24T02:26:18+00:00

    Idk that the above it the right answer because the file folder count is always LESS than or equal to the internal word count. Granted, the equal files are few in number.  I've found 2.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-23T19:05:00+00:00

    Actually, I already have that box unchecked, there is still an amazing discrepancy between the file listing count and the internal count.  The image below is the box from the document and the listing, including the word count column, from the documents folder.  The difference in word counts is circled.  My question stands: which word count is correct?

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