Q159791: WD97: Word Count Appears Inaccurate

Article: Q159791
Product(s): Word 97 for Windows
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbmacro kbusage kbdta kbdtacode word8 kbwordvba word97
Last Modified: 13-MAY-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Word 97 for Windows 
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For a Microsoft Word 2002 version of this article, see Q291447.

SYMPTOMS
========

When you use the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Words property to
return a word count, the number of words returned appears to be inaccurate.

CAUSE
=====

The Words property returns a collection that represents all the words in a
range, selection, or document. The collection includes all punctuation and
paragraph marks in the selection or the document.

For example, if you attempt to determine the word count of the following three
lines of text using the Words property, the result is 21 words:

  This is x number of words<return>
  This is x number of words<return>
  This is x number of words<return>

WORKAROUND
==========

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty
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warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This
article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being
demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft
support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular
procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added
functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have
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  http://www.microsoft.com/partner/referral/

For more information about the support options that are available and about how
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  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

To return only the number of words in a document or a selection, exclusive of
paragraph marks and punctuation, use the Dialogs object instead of the Words
property.

The Dialogs object returns a word count that does not include paragraph marks or
punctuation. Using the example from the "Cause" section, the Dialogs object
returns a count of 18 words.

The following Visual Basic for Applications code shows the difference between
using the Words property and the Dialogs object method to return a word count
for a document.

     Sub CountWords()

        ' Retrieve the number of words including paragraph marks and
        ' punctuation using the Dialogs collection. This  returns the
        ' same result as if you used the Word Count command (Tools menu).
        Set wdDTWC = Dialogs(wdDialogToolsWordCount)
        wdDTWC.Execute
        dlgwordcount$ = wdDTWC.Words
        MsgBox "Word Count from Tools Word Count: " & dlgwordcount$

        ' Retrieve the number of words from the Words collection.
        selwordcount$ = ActiveDocument.Words.Count
        MsgBox "Word Count from Words Collection: " & selwordcount$

     End Sub

For more information about the Dialogs Object, from the Visual Basic Editor,
click the Office Assistant, type "Dialogs" (without the quotation marks), click
Search, and then click to view "Dialogs Object."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the
Standard toolbar. If the Assistant is not able to answer your query, please see
the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q176476 OFF: Office Assistant Not Answering Visual Basic Questions

MORE INFORMATION
================

For additional information about word counts, click the article number below to
view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q241316 WD97: Word Count Macro Available to Count Words in a Selection

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications,
click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:

  Q163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

  Q173707 OFF97: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles


Additional query words: wordcon vb vba vbe

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Keywords          : kbmacro kbusage kbdta kbdtacode word8 kbwordvba word97 
Technology        : kbWordSearch kbWord97 kbWord97Search kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : :
Issue type        : kbprb

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