Microsoft KB Archive/60446

Word: Obtaining Character Counts for a Document

PSS ID Number: Q60446 Article last modified on 11-02-1994

4.00 5.00

MS-DOS

= SUMMARY =

Word’s Library Document-retrieval command can be used to determine the actual number of characters that a document contains. This character count is more accurate than the file size displayed by the DOS Directory command (DIR), since DOS allocates space to files one cluster at a time, resulting in file sizes that are larger than the actual number of characters typed in the document.

= MORE INFORMATION =

To obtain the character count for a document, perform the following steps within Word:


 * 1) Choose Library Document-retrieval (ESC L D).
 * 2) Choose View. Select the Full option and press ENTER.
 * 3) Choose Query (ESC Q).
 * 4) At the path prompt, enter the disk drive and directory path where the document files are located. Multiple paths can be entered if they are separated by commas. Word automatically displays all files with a .DOC extension, unless another extension or a DOS wildcard character is entered.
 * 5) Press ENTER. Word displays a list of files that matches the query criteria. Use the directions keys to highlight the document to be checked for its character count. When the document is highlighted, the actual number of characters in the file will appear in the “char count:” field.

For more information about using the Library Document-retrieval command, refer to Chapter 15 of the “Using Microsoft Word” 4.0 manual, and Chapter 16 of the “Using Microsoft Word” 5.0 manual.

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================================================================ Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1994.