⚡️ Ideas
Mario Gomez Mario Gomez Mar 22, 2023

Word Count and other stats for nodes

Explain the problem as you see it

As Tana is becoming more of a node for capturing notes and information, as well as my everyday life, I have found myself doing more writing in Tana. The problem is that a lot of my writing has strict parameters when it comes to word count (or on occasion character count), such as grant writing, articles, or other technical submissions.

Why is this a problem for you?

As a lot of my writing depends on word/character count and I cannot surface this information on Tana, I have found myself switching to other apps to do writing or rely on alternate workarounds (like an Alfred workflow) to do this. This is impacting my writing workflow as some of my information/notes is on Tana, but then I have to switch to another app to write.

Suggest a solution

Having an option to display a word count per node or per selection would be really useful. One version that I have found really useful is the native word count or the word-count plugin in Obsidian:
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⁨5⁩ ⁨Comments⁩

I will have to switch to another app for actual writing for the same reasons. Most of my writing is to length — or in scripts, spoken time — constraints.

The Obsidian edge of pane real-time view of word and character count, which also shows the metrics of a specific selection, is as good as it gets. Worth imitating.

In reply to Ian Greig Ian Greig

Writing in a PKM app without a word-count feels like flying an aircraft without an altimeter.