General ⇒ Spell check and word count support for LaTeX editors?

[ptrcao]

Latex editors often don't come with spell check or word count. I use TexWorks and TexMaker.

I know some scripts are available that do the job, but I'm technically challenged; I would know where to put or how to use the scripts.

So please, what is a solution for me?

[localghost]

Latex editors often don't come with spell check or word count. […]

I don't know any LaTeX editor or IDE that isn't shipped at least with a spell checker. Word count is rarely needed thus not a candidate for a built-in feature.


Thorsten

[ptrcao]

Students like me who submit documents for assessment purposes are subject to strict word limits on the penalty of mark deduction.

[localghost]

There are some packages and tools you can try for the present.

• latexcount
• texcount
• wordcount

[ptrcao]

Thank you kindly, for the very practical suggestions localghost. I like texcount's coloration feature.

Scientists (as I hope to in a few years) and academics submitting journal articles may also find word count useful. Publishing houses probably want to consider word counts also. I know it sounds like an esoteric feature, but I think they should really should consider building in a word count facility into LaTEX editors. Especially since academia accounts for a large chunk of the LaTEX user base...

[meho_r]

• Kile:
  Spell-checking (+inline) = true
  Word count (File > Statistics) = true
• TexMakerX:
  Spell-checking (+inline) = true
  Word count (Tools > Analyse Text) = true
• LyX 2.0+:
  Spell-checking (+inline) = true
  Word count (Tools > Statistics) = true

[ptrcao]

Very good Meho_r. TY for identifying those options. I'm using TexWorks atm and though people have requested a word count feature for some time now and its relevance has been noted by developers, it doesn't appear to have been implemented...

http://tug.org/pipermail/texworks/2009q3/001283.html

Any suggestions there?


(P.S. apparently a dictionary spell check is a self-installable feature on TexWorks so that helps)

[meho_r]

As Mojca noted, it is really hard to count words in source files and PDFs. If I were you, I'd probably consider using MS Word/OpenOffice.org Writer or similar apps for writing and editing, and then using LaTeX for typesetting when the document is finished and ready for publishing/print.