JohnDarr Posted December 15, 2014 Report Share Posted December 15, 2014 One feature of Scrivener that I found useful was the ability to see the total word count for a section, a folder, or a selection of text files, even if the items were in different folders. I used this feature often when editing down my total word count. In Storyist, if I select more than one text file, the word count for the first text file selected is displayed and not a total word count for the group of selected files. Switching the manuscript to Outline view, as was suggested in a forum, only lists the word counts next to individual text files. Can we have this Total Word Count ability in Storyist, at least at a folder level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Hi JohnDarr, Thanks for the request. As you noticed, Storyist shows word counts for text files, and the outline view can show counts for sections, chapters, and the entire file. Adding support in the outline view for folder word counts is fairly straight forward, and could be added if there is enough interest. As of version 3, Storyist also shows word counts for the entire project, which can consist of any number of text files. You can use the project info inspector to specify which text files you consider to be counted as part of the project. There isn't currently a UI metaphor for displaying information about multiple selections in the project view, so that would be more difficult. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddPetersen Posted March 10, 2015 Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 I'd also love to see a multiple select word count option. It seems to me that the UI for it could simply by that when multiple files are selected, the word count could be computed in status bar. I'm working on my third book using Storyist, and the project word count targets are just fine, but I need this granularity to judge the relative length of chapters. I'd like to be able to do this as a daily process, right in the document view. The only clean way for me to do this is after export, unless I'm missing something. That said, Storyist is a pretty great alternative to Scrivener. I'm all for minimalism, and love the aesthetic here. I'm excited to see how this app develops. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narayume Posted March 26, 2015 Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 Oh my god, this is genius! I have been hunting for a way to see chapter word count for almost three hours now. It didn't even occur to me to use the split view (for which I now feel dumb). It might be worth sticking it as a suggestion for stupid people like me into the instructions. Thank you so very much again. I thought I was going crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitch Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 I used WriteWay Professional for three years. It has a word count report that sums the document at manuscript, act, chapter, and scene levels. It's an amazing tool for balancing the book. I miss it. WWP has a bunch of other features I miss. Alas, there is no Mac version. If I can get it running on this Mac under Parallels I may go back to it. I migrated to the Mac, after using a PC to write since the dual floppy 8088 days (character based MS-WORD with fantastic easy to manage style sheets, writing auto exec.bat files in edlin to customize the boot) to get a reliable quality computer that wasn't under siege by malware terrorists. Parallels would undo part of the reason for going to a Mac. Fitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Hi Fitch, Just to be clear, Storyist does show word counts for all headings and body text in a file, which for a novel manuscript are usually chapter and section, though if you have a different heading structure, (book/chapter/section in the attached screenshot), you'll see that instead. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitch Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Hi Fitch, Just to be clear, Storyist does show word counts for all headings and body text in a file, which for a novel manuscript are usually chapter and section, though if you have a different heading structure, (book/chapter/section in the attached screenshot), you'll see that instead. Outliner.png -Steve Hi Steve, This is probably the wrong place for this, but I don't know how to duplicate what it shows in that picture. I have not been able to have the roll up word count show. I've tried everything I can think of but the only word counts that show are those for individual text documents in a folder, the folder total doesn't appear. Ever. Neither does a manuscript total that I've been able to find. Fitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nen1000 Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Hi Fitch, I only recently discovered/realised that Storyist could do what Steve shows in that shot - I was taking word counts by section and compiling in an Excel spreadsheet! I now run Storyist with side-by-side editor views, (button top left beneath OS X's red, amber green buttons), so I have project view on the left, then in the centre my manuscript (top right of that window, icon that looks like sheet of paper with folder corner, select so it turns blue) and on the right the 'outline view' (middle of those three icons, that looks like a bulleted list). I shrink (by dragging) this panel so that I just see the chapter titles and word count columns. My project view has, hierarchically, the name of the Storyist project file, a series of folders starting with 'Manuscripts', with which I have each MS, and with that the list of chapters. (I also have a bunch of other folders, characters, locations etc. - just look at built in novel template for an idea) If your work is organised in this way, you should see chapter titles, word counts etc. without too much stress. If you have the work organised in different ways (e.g. across multiple storyist files - so when you refer to 'folder' you're talking about an OS-level folder - then you need to pull everything into a single Storyist file, which has 'folders' internally to organise content.) Assuming that everything is inside a storyist file, then the status bar in the Storyist window will give you a total word count. If you tap on the progress bar and then the gear icon, you can specify which of the internal-to-storyist folders you want to include in the count. If you have only one manuscript in the 'manuscripts' internal-to-Storyist folder, then the folder word count is the same as the MS word count. If you have multiple MS (which you might if you want to share characters, settings etc.), then you'll need to select which of these to count if you want the count for a single MS. Hope that helps. -Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitch Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Hi Fitch, I only recently discovered/realised that Storyist could do what Steve shows in that shot - I was taking word counts by section and compiling in an Excel spreadsheet! I now run Storyist with side-by-side editor views, (button top left beneath OS X's red, amber green buttons), so I have project view on the left, then in the centre my manuscript (top right of that window, icon that looks like sheet of paper with folder corner, select so it turns blue) and on the right the 'outline view' (middle of those three icons, that looks like a bulleted list). I shrink (by dragging) this panel so that I just see the chapter titles and word count columns. My project view has, hierarchically, the name of the Storyist project file, a series of folders starting with 'Manuscripts', with which I have each MS, and with that the list of chapters. (I also have a bunch of other folders, characters, locations etc. - just look at built in novel template for an idea) If your work is organised in this way, you should see chapter titles, word counts etc. without too much stress. If you have the work organised in different ways (e.g. across multiple storyist files - so when you refer to 'folder' you're talking about an OS-level folder - then you need to pull everything into a single Storyist file, which has 'folders' internally to organise content.) Assuming that everything is inside a storyist file, then the status bar in the Storyist window will give you a total word count. If you tap on the progress bar and then the gear icon, you can specify which of the internal-to-storyist folders you want to include in the count. If you have only one manuscript in the 'manuscripts' internal-to-Storyist folder, then the folder word count is the same as the MS word count. If you have multiple MS (which you might if you want to share characters, settings etc.), then you'll need to select which of these to count if you want the count for a single MS. Hope that helps. -Nick Hi Nick, The only difference between how you and me run Storyist is the words in the story. I'm using it the exact same way. The same except, I only see the word count from what ever chapter is selected. I have three columns, Status, Rating, and Word Count to the right of the out line. I did manage to get the total word count to show in the status bar at the very top, but if I have the outline on the Project level folder, or the Manuscript level folder, there are no word counts at all. Show Word Count is checked, but nothing shows up unless I select a particular chapter. Fitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nen1000 Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 Hi Nick, The only difference between how you and me run Storyist is the words in the story. I'm using it the exact same way. The same except, I only see the word count from what ever chapter is selected. I have three columns, Status, Rating, and Word Count to the right of the out line. I did manage to get the total word count to show in the status bar at the very top, but if I have the outline on the Project level folder, or the Manuscript level folder, there are no word counts at all. Show Word Count is checked, but nothing shows up unless I select a particular chapter. Fitch I've found that the total word count in the status bar only shows up if I have either the MS panel (i.e. "view as Text") active, or the project panel (left side) active and have selected a specific MS or chapter within (this i guess makes sense). If I have the 'View as Outline' panel active (i.e. I've clicked on it) then the word count disappears from the status bar, and is replaced with "[X] items" (this also happens if I select a different folder in the project panel). This seems to be a count of the number of items within that folder. However, if the 'view as Outline' is highlighted, I can get full word count by clicking on the progress bar, along with the daily count - although if I just want the total count, clicking on the MS itself I find easier and more intuitive! I'm puzzled if you're only seeing the word count for a single chapter in the outline view - my list is each chapter title and the associated word count. Based on your other posts, I wonder if Storyist is seeing your chapters appropriately - each chapter heading formatted with the Chapter Title style? I suggest following Marguerite's advice from the other tread; once everything's properly formatted (styled?) in Storyist, everything should work. Hopefully! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitch Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 I've found that the total word count in the status bar only shows up if I have either the MS panel (i.e. "view as Text") active, or the project panel (left side) active and have selected a specific MS or chapter within (this i guess makes sense). If I have the 'View as Outline' panel active (i.e. I've clicked on it) then the word count disappears from the status bar, and is replaced with "[X] items" (this also happens if I select a different folder in the project panel). This seems to be a count of the number of items within that folder. However, if the 'view as Outline' is highlighted, I can get full word count by clicking on the progress bar, along with the daily count - although if I just want the total count, clicking on the MS itself I find easier and more intuitive! I'm puzzled if you're only seeing the word count for a single chapter in the outline view - my list is each chapter title and the associated word count. Based on your other posts, I wonder if Storyist is seeing your chapters appropriately - each chapter heading formatted with the Chapter Title style? I suggest following Marguerite's advice from the other tread; once everything's properly formatted (styled?) in Storyist, everything should work. Hopefully! Hi nen1000, I think you have a valid point. I learned, today, my novel in storyist is not structured as Storyist was designed to be used. It was imported from Scrivener. Each chapter is a folder, each scene is a text file. That doubtless explains a lot of the differences between what I'm experiencing and what would happen were it properly structured. I have a lot of work to do to get it properly structured, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. This thing is closing in on a rough draft. It's going to go through a lot of revision and editing. It would be good to start that process with it structured properly in the software. Fitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitch Posted April 29, 2015 Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 To drop the other foot, I restructured the book to be all in one text file like the Novel Templet suggests. With that done, the word count works like it should in outline view, sums to each level of the story structure and makes it very easy to understand the situation in the story. A really nice feature is that it's live so the changes to chapter word counts cause by rearranging scenes is immediately evident. Fitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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