Word count

Erica · October 27, 2016, 5:30am

(Moved from Trello; you can vote for this feature and see past discussion at https://trello.com/c/Mb8nYQtc/29-word-count)

Shows the number of words in a document or in the selected part of the document.\

Parts

Word count for current document (or zoom level)
Word count for the selected items
Item count/paragraph count?

Kevin_Murray · June 11, 2017, 12:52pm

One case scenario is writing grant applications or answering questionnaires which have specific word and character limits for different answers. A counter for words/characters in each note would be very useful for this.

Erica · June 11, 2017, 5:32pm

It’s easier to display the word count for the note only when it’s actively edited. If the word count is displayed at all times, I imagine it would bring a lot of clutter.

Kevin_Murray · June 12, 2017, 1:15am

Yes, there’s no need for it when in other cases.

Juan_Noriega · November 3, 2018, 6:24am

Hi there, any news?

Jamie_Sandhu · January 15, 2019, 2:26pm

I’m using Dynalist to write a phd thesis. It’s useful for isolating specific sections. I’m currently copying/pasting sections into another program to get the word count. The problem is that notes also get pasted, which, for me, aren’t part of the main text and must be removed one by one to get a word count. It would be great if this feature was built in.

Maybe an optional bit in a status bar that shows the word count for the current ‘list’ being shown (with an option to ignore notes)

Erica · March 14, 2019, 8:54pm

@Juan_Noriega @Jamie_Sandhu: thanks for the patience guys.

There’s no concrete dates for this yet, but we’re closer to it on the roadmap than ever before I think. Thanks for being patient!

jan.riha · April 13, 2019, 5:18am

This is very good news. I also use Dynalist for academic writing, word count feature would mean a huge improvement for me.

hao_zheng · October 6, 2019, 8:01pm

Any updates, really need it everyday to count the word:joy:

m_vinthund · March 28, 2020, 11:41pm

Yes, this would be useful.

Steven_Jackson · April 12, 2020, 6:19am

A really robust word count feature would be really useful. I’d like it to be granular — show me how many words in my current item, how many words in current+children, etc.

Steve.

Steven_Jackson · April 16, 2020, 11:33am

Just seen the new word count option in Settings. Very nicely implemented — thank you, Dynalist!

Just one request — could we get a word count for currently selected items?

Steve.

Philipp · April 16, 2020, 2:20pm

Cool! Just noticed it as well. You’re right it counts per document atm. Per selected or per “zoomed in tree” would be nice as well.
Dropbox backup support and search&replace seems to be new as well

Erica · April 18, 2020, 2:16am

Nice idea – and that part would be hidden if nothing is selected.

We’re already thinking of counting words under the current zoomed in item already. Would that solve the same use case that you’re requesting?

Steven_Jackson · April 18, 2020, 6:20am

Partially, I suppose, but personally I don’t tend to zoom-in to documents very often. I have long documents with lots of nested items but I usually stay at the highest level of zoom. It would be nice to select one or more items, along with their children, and be able to see how many words there are.

Steve.

Kevin_Murray · April 19, 2020, 12:14am

I would use it for a word count in a note that I have zoomed into. The number of the words in the document as a whole is not relevant to me.

Jonathan_Leung1 · April 28, 2020, 5:23pm

We’re already thinking of counting words under the current zoomed in item already. Would that solve the same use case that you’re requesting?

I love this idea, any idea when this will be implemented by @Erica ?

Erica · April 30, 2020, 5:32am

In the next release!

Jonathan_Leung1 · May 1, 2020, 12:16pm

Hell yeah!

francesca_colaiori · October 10, 2022, 10:45am

The word count is great!
Will a character count be implemented as well? Often documents have character limits (including spaces) and this feature would be extremely useful.