linerce.blogg.se - Microsoft word word count not accurate

Out of all the writing platforms, we will be walking you through today, Pages consistently shows users the highest word count. This language processing tool is the alternative to Microsoft Word and, thus, behaves differently. If you have an Apple device, you have likely used Pages before. Let this remind you that no matter how advanced computers are, they still don’t behave like us and will tolerate all kinds of nonsense! The Algorithm for Pages Combinations of characters and numbers are counted as words if they are between spaces: So, LibreOffice will tell you that “Cat123 $1.34 * ” is four words because they are all between spaces-whereas you and I would agree that the example has no words, just random numbers, and characters.But in the second example, the space is there instead of the hyphen, which tells LibreOffice it must be two words. That is because, in the first example, there is a hyphen separating the two strings of letters. Hyphenated words only count as one word: We can gather that, according to LibreOffice, “fast-paced” counts as one word, while “fast-paced” counts as two.

Every string of letters between two spaces is considered a word: This means “and / or” are three words, but “and/or” is only one word.

Let’s break down the formula LibreOffice uses to tell you how many words are in your document: Thus, if you understand Microsoft Word’s counting feature, you also know LibreOffice’s! It works very similarly to its Microsoft counterpart, which is to say it follows an algorithm that is practically identical to that of Microsoft Word. LibreOffice might not be as widely used as Word, but it is still a handy tool for content writers and their clients. However, you can change the settings so that the algorithm starts counting these if you want. Plus, the curiosities don’t end there! Microsoft Word typically counts fewer words than other writing platforms because it does not include headers, footers, and the words in text boxes in its count. However, if you guide yourself by Microsoft Word’s algorithm, the first sequence is only one word (because there are no spaces), and the second is three words (because it counts everything between spaces as a word, even the slash symbol). For example, “12345” is a word according to Microsoft Word!Īnother example of how this algorithm works is looking at these two sequences: “and/or” and “and / or.” You and I might say each sequence counts as two words. It could simply be a long string of numbers or symbols. A word doesn’t necessarily have to contain letters.

Its programmers taught it to consider any string of “things” between two spaces of a word. Microsoft Word might be the most popular writing platform out there. The Algorithm for the Microsoft Word Count Feature To better understand how and why word counts differ between programs, let’s look at the science behind this commonly used feature (hint: it’s easier than it sounds). And because all the platforms we use have been made by different companies (Microsoft, Apple, Google, and so on), no two formulas are the same. That is a fancy way of saying a programmer fed the platform a formula for counting words. When these platforms are designed, they have word count algorithms programmed into them.

Have you ever noticed a slight difference between the word count in one word-counting program and another? If you have, hats off to you! You weren’t just “seeing things”-there is a difference between how writing platforms count words.