Forum Discussion
Word Count in Published Word file
Hello Community!
I need to gather the word count for a Storyline course I'm creating. When I publish as a Word file, I'm able to get a total word count. Yet, is the count of my words in Notes, words on a slide or both?
Thank you for your help!
Holly
Hello Miriam!
The app doesn't store the file or do any submittal as it's all local.
Once you install it from the MS Windows store, you'll need to
1. Export your XLIFF file from either Rise or Storyline.
2. Tell HEROWORDCOUNT where to find it.
3. Identify the file as Rise 360 or Storyline and then
4. Click Get Word Count.
That's it - and the latest version improves on the accuracy of the word count, too.
Hello Thor.
This app is absolutely superb and thank you very much for developing it.
Saving me hours of time messing about doing it other ways.
Hi Thor,
We need the exact word count for the Onscreen Text, Transcript, and Note Sections for translation. The storyline is great but, unfortunately, there is no provision to get an exact word count.
Have you tried the latest version of HEROWORDCOUNT?
https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9ND6JRMKF74Q
It's free and gets almost everything you listed and you don't have to use a XLIFF file, either.
The one item I'm not sure what you mean by is 'transcript' - if you're meaning captions for audio/video, that is not available directly to retrieve as Storyline files (.story or XLIFF) do not supply this information readily. If you're interested in a method on how to get word count for captions, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or privately here if the forums provide that option.
This is not compatible with a MAC :(
Hello Jennifer,
Are you running Storyline in Parallel Desktop or another type of virtual machine on your Mac? If so, HEROWORDCOUNT should be able to run.
Let me know what error message you're seeing, and I'll do my best to troubleshoot with you.
If the back and forth gets to be too much, we can continue via e-mail.
If you want to try a different approach to getting a word count, you can try the app I created to do this. It's a Windows 10 app (completely free and doesn't require Amazon Web Services like my other apps) and can be found here:
https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9ND6JRMKF74Q
You'll need to export the XLIFF file and then load it into the application. Works with both Rise 360 and Storyline courses. Hopefully it will be more accurate than publishing as a Word option but your mileage will vary depending on how you create your courses.
Some notes:
- Storyline courses will vary on word count because slide names, scenes, etc. are included in the word count
- Storyline courses will *not* count closed caption files as they're not accessible in how they're stored
- For Rise 360, this method *should* be faster to get a count as you won't have to wait for the export to PDF. It should also count your answer-based feedback in quiz questions.
I hope this helps and *crossing my fingers* the word count is more accurate to boot!
Hi Thor, this is amazing and exciting, but not sure I'm allowed to use it because of security concerns. Does your app in anyway store the file I submit, or the information in it?
This worked GREAT!!! Thanks for sharing this tool - saved me a ton of copying and pasting or slowly timed clicking through the course!
Thanks Lisa! Be on the lookout for an update in a few days. I found another way to increase the accuracy just a bit more. I've been busy upgrading one of the other 'heroes' and another one will be joining, soon. :)
Hi Holly
the best way to check is to do a test slide - I did
Highly recommend watching this short video: Word Count in Articulate Storyline: Quick & Easy Guide | BlinkSolve Tutorials
https://youtu.be/giK2KKpxEzIIt not only provides a clear step-by-step guide on how to get a word count for your project using Alec Martelle's method, but it also offers insights into what exactly is counted. This includes every 'Source Text' box, scene names, slide names, and more. Plus, for those who need a specific word count (like content on slides but excluding slide notes and menu items), the video offers an easy method to achieve this.
I checked this out and good to know. But would be too time consuming when I have 180 page word document for a module. But will keep it in mind for smaller modules. For this request I had I just needed an approximate and I think the slide names would have to be updated in the source file anyway to be included in any menu. But again thank you for sharing this as well. All of this came in handy today.
Hello Teresa -
It's been almost 4 years since I last updated HEROWORDCOUNT and I've learned a lot since then!
With that knowledge gain, I've made significant changes to not only get better results but also so it's faster while meaning less work to get word counts.
Rise Improvements
•Same process as before (you need to download the XLIFF files) but it's more accurate with word counting [likely will never be 100% accurate as not everything is presented in XLIFF files]
Storyline Improvements
•Faster and more accurate - No need for XLIFF files which limited accuracy and
added another step to get a word count
•No mental gymnastics - Presents the following so you don't have to work out what's there:
•Overall words used in course
•Slide Content
•Notes section
•Scene, Slide, and Layer NamesHEROWORDCOUNT is free and Teresa since you're already using the app, the next time you open it, you'll have the latest version - if it's not showing, just go to the Microsoft Store Library to request the update.
Others can find it here on the Microsoft Store
https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9ND6JRMKF74Q
Great! Thanks Wendy.
Holly
Version 1.2 now available in the Microsoft Store. If yours is showing a different version, please go to the Microsoft Store app and update.
File > Translation > Export to Word gives you a word count in the document. The actual word count of your storyline is listed in the table, the word count for the word document itself is the one in the bottom corner.
I also tried Thor M's free tool and found it to be fairly close. For the file I tested (and show in the image attached), the export says 1602 words and Thor's tool reported it as 1684 words, so only an 82 word difference. I'm not sure which is the correct number, but it's close enough for me to use for approving translation quotes.Hey Alec!
Thanks for the shout out here. Nice call on the Translate to Word feature from Storyline featuring the Word Count. My solution for SL is likely reporting higher as it's also looking at slide names, too.
Thor
Feature request to Articulate: please add Word Count to show at the bottom of the screen in Rise or Storyline. Thank you!
Happy to have stumbled across this, someone asked me for a word count for a storyline file to translate to French and get a cost. Excited to try it
