TextEdit word count

Another way to see a word count in TextEdit involves the Find (command+F) tool. Once you have launched it, press the search icon in the left of the input field. At the bottom of this menu, select Insert Pattern. Then click the menu item, Any Word Characters. The word count will appear on the right side of the Find input window.

This was also verified with WordService Statistics service from the free Devon Technologies WordService collection in the OS X App Store.

You can also save this Automator Workflow (as WordCount) as an Automator Service, then ⌘A in TextEdit, right click and select WordCount:

osascript <<-AppleScriptHereDoc

tell application "TextEdit"

set word_count to count words of document 1

set char_count to count characters of document 1

set show_words to (word_count as string) & " words. (" & (char_count as string) & " characters.)"

set dialog_title to "TextEdit Word Count"

display dialog show_words with icon 1 with title dialog_title buttons {"Ok"} default button "Ok"

end tell

AppleScriptHereDoc

This is a reasonable way to find word count. Thank you, Viking.

The whole automator solution is hilarious! So many steps, so sophisticated, so complex and time consuming for something so fundamental and basic as a word or character count! Hahahahaha!

Even this Find dialogue search is unnecessarily complicated. I had to read the post carefully 3 times before I saw that we needed to click on the tiny magnifying glass and then go to some completely non-intuitive menu, which eventually led me to a word count, thanks to Viking. I wish Apple would just clean up these old NEXT applications and add a few things like a simple one click word count. Geez! It's ridiculous. I own Pages and Word and should not have to open them for something simple like this.

I love something simple like TextEdit to write in without all the bells and whistles, but word count is neither bell nor whistle.

I have genuine sadness to see the MacOS slide into so many non-intuitive directions where basic settings are hidden from users and far too difficult to fine without going to a tech support forum.

This is not your father's Apple...

Choose Utilities from the Finder's Go menu, open the AppleScript Editor, and run:

tell application "TextEdit"

count words of document 1

end tell

(124834)

You're supposed to run the script as posted or put the document's name inside double quote marks.

(124836)

Correct.

(124838)

Niel's solution worked, and I found another by clicking here. I'm so not an expert. So it took me awhile to realize that the author's first step means to select the wheel icon marked "Service" right off in automator. The plain Workforce that is already highlighted does not have that top step 1. business you need. After everything and clicking untitled in the top middle to save the creature as Word Count, I do not know if I was supposed to click Run. I did quit automator and couldn't find my Word Count anywhere. Then I went back in automator and tried to Open Recent. It offered me the option to Install, which I did. Then Word Count worked every time I right clicked on my highlighted text in the text edit. Yippee!