Section word count for Microsoft Word

This is a very simple VBA macro that counts the number of words in the current section of a Word document. It is very useful for grant applications or any document where you need to count the number of words in a particular passage rather than the whole document, without having to manually select the text.

Install it by pasting the code below into a new module in Word’s Visual Basic Editor.

You need to add section breaks before and after the text of interest.

I suggest assigning a shortcut key to the macro.

Sub SectionWordCount()
   Dim SectionWordCount As String

   SectionWordCount = ActiveDocument.Sections _
      (Selection.Information(wdActiveEndSectionNumber)). _
      Range.ComputeStatistics(wdStatisticWords)
   MsgBox "The current section has " & SectionWordCount & " words."

End Sub

It’s offered freely but I make no promises as to accuracy. Use it at your own risk.