Current behavior: Document with single line of [[test link|test]] gives a word count of 3.
Desired behavior: Word count should be 1, using only the link text, not the hidden info for the link.
16 Likes
A bigger difference comes when I have comments written using “%% —%%” throughout the document are included in the word count. This gives a feeling of a bloated note when in preview the note looks much smaller for that word count.
2 Likes
Same issue, but as I refactor notes, the word count drops. That is fine, but for transcluded text I need to have that counted as well. Preview word count seems the right answer.
+1
I was just about to request this myself, specifically with the ability to exclude comments from the word count.
Character/word count includes the contents of Front Matter and characters inside markdown links or wiki links, formatting characters, multiple end of lines or whitespace that is stripped from the resulting formatted text.
It is a problem because for all purposes I can imagine, I need the char/word count of the resulting formatted text, not of its source. Could you please add an option to only count chars/words of the formatted (previewed) text without Front Matter? Thanks in advance.
2 Likes
Yes, I’d really like to second this request. Word cout may seem like a minor feature, but it’s extremely useful to us writers who are trying to track and measure our progress.
It really needs to work correctly.
2 Likes
at least frontmatter chars should excluded.
or run the coutner in the editing/preview context.
1 Like
+1. Being able to exclude frontmatter and comments would make a big difference when using eg Longform plugin for writing.
+1, especially with links! [obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) should count as one word, it currently counts as 4.
1 Like
+1, this would help a lot in my research notes where the word count gets bloated very quickly with links!
+1 especially with links this gets messed up quickly!
2 Likes
Plus one for this! I am writing an abstract that has an upper word count. At the same time I am using comments for my work and the word count is unreliable. Had to resort to Word 
+1 I write a ton of math which completely throws my word count out of the window
Use case or problem
Like many people I know, I frequently use commented text (wrapped in %%) as a way to keep outline and main text in the same document. Notes to self, notes from collaborators, it all gets tucked in a comment. The problem is that these notes show up in the word count, and there is no easy way to see my progress.
Proposed solution
Many of the other built in plugins (Templates, for example) have options screens, and I would like to nominate “Exclude commented text” as an option for the Word Count plugin.
Current workaround (optional)
Using a custom script. (Here’s the gist : noCommentWordCount.sh · GitHub )
Related feature requests (optional)
Adding my +1 here.
Just made an account to add my +1. I’ve been using Obsidian for school. I like being able to keep an assignment’s writing prompt in a comment so that I can quickly reference it. But that comment, along with the frontmatter, is included the word count, so it’s harder to know how many words I’ve written. My current workaround is to just use two files.
Just dropping a note here. In Obsidian v1.5, the YAML/Properties section will be excluded from word count. No ETAs.
2 Likes
+1
Is there a community plugin for this?
Better word count does not cover this feature request, as far as I see.
1 Like
The changelog for 1.5 says that it should now ignore frontmatter, but it still counts markdown formatting characters, and urls of links, wildly scewing the count. I’ve tried reinstalling Obsidian, but the problem persists.
I’ve tried 1.5.12 (Installer 1.4.16) on MacOS 14.5 and 1.5.12 (Installer 1.5.12).