Word count excluding specific Styles?

Question

I was wondering if there's a way to get a word count that excludes text with a specific Style in a Microsoft Word 2007 document?

I've seen this related question, but I've got blocks of source code scattered throughout which would mean I'd have to go through each of my documents a section at a time..

Does anyone know a way to do this with a macro or a splash of VB Script or some such?

Answer 1

Based on this answer for previous versions of Microsoft Word, I've found the following manual solution to my question:

1. In the 'Home' ribbon-bar thingy, click on the small pop-out expandy-button in the far bottom right of the Styles group (which shows the Styles window - Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S)
2. For the desired Style you want a Word Count for, click the drop-down next to the style name, and click 'Select All x Instance(s)'
3. The Status bar (bottom left) gets updated with the Word Count for the selected Style (or you can open the 'Review' ribbon, and click 'Word Count' in the Proofing group - which also works on the current selection).

Bonus tip - you can hold the Ctrl key while clicking the 'Select All x Instance(s)' of another Style to have multiple Styles selected!

Answer 2

Old thread, I know, sorry! But I just found a way to do this...

• Edit the style you would like to exclude, choose Format > Font and set the font to "Hidden".
• Click the Big Office Button > Word Options > Display and tick "Show Hidden Text".

This will display the hidden text on the screen but exclude it from the Word count. To ensure that it prints in your final version, either edit the style again, or choose Big Office Button > Word Options > Display and tick "Print hidden text".

Plus... You can also mark individual sections/paragraphs as "hidden" and they will also be excluded from the word count.

Hope that helps somebody!

Simon.