Word Frequency Counter

[Roger J Carlson]

In another thread (Red, Blue, Green--other? (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10116) ), someone expressed an interest in a program that would count word frequency in a document. Since I'm a computer programmer in real life, the idea got under my skin and I wrote one.

The program is written in a MS Word 2000 document (yes, you can do that) and it allows you to find the word frequency of any Word document (.doc), text file (.txt), or Rich Text document (.rtf). It should work with higher versions of Word, but I haven't tested it. In additon to word frequency, it also calculates the closest proximity of any two instances of the same word, so you can see if you are using words too close to each other.

I have a copy on my website, here:
http://www.rogerjcarlson.com/WritingHelp/TechTips.html
I was going to attach it here, but it's too big (77K). I'd appreciate your feedback. The document is zipped so you'll have to unzip it. There are instructions on the document itself which explain how to use it.

[Jamesaritchie]

In another thread (Red, Blue, Green--other? (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10116) ), someone expressed an interest in a program that would count word frequency in a document. Since I'm a computer programmer in real life, the idea got under my skin and I wrote one.

The program is written in a MS Word 2000 document (yes, you can do that) and it allows you to find the word frequency of any Word document (.doc), text file (.txt), or Rich Text document (.rtf). It should work with higher versions of Word, but I haven't tested it. In additon to word frequency, it also calculates the closest proximity of any two instances of the same word, so you can see if you are using words too close to each other.

I have a copy on my website, here:
http://www.rogerjcarlson.com/WritingHelp/TechTips.html
I was going to attach it here, but it's too big (77K). I'd appreciate your feedback. The document is zipped so you'll have to unzip it. There are instructions on the document itself which explain how to use it.

Pretty cool! I especially like the proximity display. And it does work well with Word 2003.

[Euan H.]

Hi Roger,

I can't get the program to work with the copy of word that came with my copy of Word (2002), which is a crying shame, because it sounds like a really useful thing. Problem is: nothing happens when I click the button--even with Macro security set to 'low'.

Cheers,

Euan

[stace001]

Will it work with Windows XP? It sounds fabulous! I'm always worried that I've used some words too often, and this would save me having to go back and reread chapter after chapter to find out.

[Euan H.]

Will it work with Windows XP?
Windows XP is what I'm using, so I don't think it does...unless I'm doing somethign stupid (which is not altogether unlikely).

It sounds fabulous! I'm always worried that I've used some words too often, and this would save me having to go back and reread chapter after chapter to find out.
Yup. All of the people who beta-read my WIP said I had certain pet words I used waaay too much. Whenever my character's had a problem, frex, they 'worried at' it. Which I still think sounds okay...but not *every* *single* flipping time they have a problem!

[Jamesaritchie]

Will it work with Windows XP? It sounds fabulous! I'm always worried that I've used some words too often, and this would save me having to go back and reread chapter after chapter to find out.

It works with the Word XP I have, which is Word 2002.

[Jamesaritchie]

Hi Roger,

I can't get the program to work with the copy of word that came with my copy of Word (2002), which is a crying shame, because it sounds like a really useful thing. Problem is: nothing happens when I click the button--even with Macro security set to 'low'.

Cheers,

Euan

I'm not sure what the problem is. I use Word 2003, but I also have Word 2002 here, and it works fine with it.

[Roger J Carlson]

Will it work with Windows XP? It sounds fabulous! I'm always worried that I've used some words too often, and this would save me having to go back and reread chapter after chapter to find out.Windows XP or Word XP? People get them confused. Regardless, it should work with Windows XP, since my computer uses WinXP. Others have reported that it works with Word XP (or Word 2002, same thing) and Word 2003.

[Roger J Carlson]

Hi Roger,

I can't get the program to work with the copy of word that came with my copy of Word (2002), which is a crying shame, because it sounds like a really useful thing. Problem is: nothing happens when I click the button--even with Macro security set to 'low'.

Cheers,

EuanHmmmm...
This is troubling. What exactly DOES happen. For instance, when you click it, do you get a shaded gray box around the button? Or do you get a solid line around the button with little black boxes in the corners and in the middle of each side (called 'handles')?

[zornhau]

Any chance you could make the code public so I can tweak it for my own purposes?

[bkrrh85]

Roger--

It sounds great, but when I click on the button (it saved itself as a Word Document), I don't get a "file open" window; instead, about four or five different sized windows open, and I don't see any kind of option to open a different word document.

Now, I'm rather computer challenged, and don't do well adapting to new and different programs. I don't really understand how this thing is to work, and I'm not sure what I'm seeing is what I'm supposed to see.

Can you take me step-by-step through the thing? I know, hand-holding and all that, but I would dearly love to be able to figure out how to use this. I have XP, Word 2003 (I think that's the latest edition; bought my in Feb. '05).

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Roger J Carlson]

Any chance you could make the code public so I can tweak it for my own purposes?The code is already publc. It's right in the document. With the document open, go to Tools > Macro > Visual Basic Editor. You should find a section off to the left that looks like the attached bitmap file (vb.bmp). Most of the code is in Module 1. There is a tiny bit behind ThisDocument. Module 2 has code written by a fellow named Ken Getz and it is the code for opening the OpenSave dialog box.

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger--

It sounds great, but when I click on the button (it saved itself as a Word Document), I don't get a "file open" window; instead, about four or five different sized windows open, and I don't see any kind of option to open a different word document.

Now, I'm rather computer challenged, and don't do well adapting to new and different programs. I don't really understand how this thing is to work, and I'm not sure what I'm seeing is what I'm supposed to see.

Can you take me step-by-step through the thing? I know, hand-holding and all that, but I would dearly love to be able to figure out how to use this. I have XP, Word 2003 (I think that's the latest edition; bought my in Feb. '05).

Thanks in advance for your help.OK. Let's start at the beginning. The file that you download is a compresses (Zipped) file. I do that to make it smaller and faster to download. The first thing you have to do is extract the document from the zip file. I don't know what kind of software you have, but I use WinZip.

Once you have extracted it to a folder, open the document. By this I mean WordFrequency.doc. It starts out like this:
Word Frequency Counter


What is this?

This document contains a program to count the frequency of word usage in a document. It works with Word documents, Text documents, and Rich Text documents....(and so forth)

Part way down the screen is a button that says: "Click here to open document to be counted"

Is this the button you are clicking?

Now I can't see what is happening on your screen, but what SHOULD happen at this point is a dialog box with the title:"Find Document to Word Count" should open. This box looks EXACTLY like the box that opens when you go to File > Open. This is where you select a .doc, .txt, or .rtf file. From that point, it should be automatic.

If this is NOT happening, can you describe the boxes that are coming up? What is in the title bar? What is displaying in the window?

Hope this helps.

[bkrrh85]

Roger, here's what I did and here's what happened.

First, uninstalled old download so could start fresh.
Went back to AW thread; our link on AW thread wouldn't connect me to your web site; couldn't copy and paste it either
Went to your web site
Chose Word Freq. Ctr
Open vs. Save:
When clicked Open, window said "folder is invalid or corrupted"
clicked ok
Back to W Freq. Ctr
Save
Saved "Word Freq." to Desktop
Save
Download Complete
Choices: Open, Open Folder, Close -- I chose "Open Folder", and window came up that said "target on desktop"
I clicked OK
Dialogue Box disappears
Your web site reappears
Closed it
WFreq icon on desktop
Left click on icon (before did a R click, then open, but result was same)
Window opens w/option to extract all files. clicked on "extract all files"
Folders Extraction Wizard window opens
Clicked "next"
In select destination, chose default setting, that was desktop (1st time changed it to my doc.; end result same)
Clicked "next"
Clicked "finish" (with "show extracted files" box checked)
Same window reopens, that gave me the option to extract: shows the WFreq. file; when place cursor over it, shows as a Word Doc.
Left click on icon
Opens a MS Word window
Your document shows up, like you said in your email
Clicked on "click here to open document to be counted"
Then everything goes bonkers!
It opens several stacked windows in middle of screen (top one first): WFreq. - This Doc (Code); WFeq. - Module 1 (Code); WFreq. - Module 2(Code)
On the left of the screen, see window that says "Project - Template Project"
Title of this whole opened document is: MS Visual Basic - PALMAPP [design]

When click on the top window, "WFreq. - This Doc (Code)" window to move it so the "x" box shows, it opens another window on the left:
Command Button w/ "Alphabetic" and "Command Button" with tables beneath it.

When close all open windows, find a second icon has been added to my desktop.

Even if, after I do the extracted files thing and go through the wizard, I close all the windows and go directly to the Word document, click on your "click here to open doc. to be counted", I get the same gobbledegook.

Any suggestions? Again, I have Windows XP, home edition; latest edition of MS Office

Thanks

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger, here's what I did and here's what happened.

First, uninstalled old download so could start fresh.
Went back to AW thread; our link on AW thread wouldn't connect me to your web site; couldn't copy and paste it either
Went to your web site
Chose Word Freq. Ctr
Open vs. Save:
When clicked Open, window said "folder is invalid or corrupted"
clicked ok
Back to W Freq. Ctr
Save
Saved "Word Freq." to Desktop
Save
Download Complete
Choices: Open, Open Folder, Close -- I chose "Open Folder", and window came up that said "target on desktop"
I clicked OK
Dialogue Box disappears
Your web site reappears
Closed it
WFreq icon on desktop
Left click on icon (before did a R click, then open, but result was same)
Window opens w/option to extract all files. clicked on "extract all files"
Folders Extraction Wizard window opens
Clicked "next"
In select destination, chose default setting, that was desktop (1st time changed it to my doc.; end result same)
Clicked "next"
Clicked "finish" (with "show extracted files" box checked)
Same window reopens, that gave me the option to extract: shows the WFreq. file; when place cursor over it, shows as a Word Doc.
Left click on icon
Opens a MS Word window
Your document shows up, like you said in your email
Clicked on "click here to open document to be counted"
Up to this point, you are OK. You had some false starts with the extraction, but you've got the document now.

Then everything goes bonkers!
It opens several stacked windows in middle of screen (top one first): WFreq. - This Doc (Code); WFeq. - Module 1 (Code); WFreq. - Module 2(Code)
On the left of the screen, see window that says "Project - Template Project"
Title of this whole opened document is: MS Visual Basic - PALMAPP [design]

When click on the top window, "WFreq. - This Doc (Code)" window to move it so the "x" box shows, it opens another window on the left:
Command Button w/ "Alphabetic" and "Command Button" with tables beneath it.OK, where you are now is the Visual Basic Editor. You are seeing the actual code behind the document. You probably also have another button/icon on your taskbar called "Microsoft Visual Basic". You can close the whole thing by clicking the Close "X" button in the far upper right. Now you will see your document again.

In all likelyhood, you are in "Form Design Mode". This is not something you would ordinarily deal with when creating a document. This only comes into play when you have buttons and such on the document (as I have). To fix this, go to View > Toolbars. If there is NOT a check mark next to Control Toolbox, click it (Control Toolbox). This will open the Control Toolbox toolbar. (If there IS already a check mark there, that means the toolbar is already open and you can just use it as below.)

In the upper left corner of this toolbar there will be a button that looks like a green triangle with a ruler and pencil. This button looks like it is depressed if you are in Design Mode. If you hover your pointer over it, you should get a tooltip that says "Exit Design Mode". Click the button so it looks like it is "unpressed". You are now out of Design Mode and you can close that toolbox. The button on my document should now work.

Whew!

Give that a try.

[bkrrh85]

I'll give it a try and get back to you. Got a couple other things to do first. Thanks!

Oh, BTW, Jenna was kind enough to readjust my username; don't know how I managed to stick my whole email address on there before, so it's still me!!

[bkrrh85]

Roger--

Opened the document off the desktop, extracted files and sent them to Word. Opened the Word doc. named "Word Frequency".

Clicked on your button, saw all the gobbledegook, closed it like you said.
Then with your WFreq. doc once again in front of me, I went to veiw, clicked the Control Toolbox and the toolbar showed up.

Saw the button, and exited "design mode." Closed the toolbox.

The button on your document does NOT work. Single click, double click. Nothing.

Any more ideas?

Thanks,
Ranneh

[bkrrh85]

Roger--

Yippee!! I got it!! I actually read (I know...) part of your Word Freq. doc and did the macro thing.

The only thing was, even though I made the changes in the security setting, I had to restart my computer for it take effect (I'm slowly getting used to that to enable/disenable things). You may want to add that to your handy macro security sheet.

Ranneh

[bkrrh85]

Roger--

Yippee!! I got it!! I actually read (I know...) part of your Word Freq. doc and did the macro thing.

The only thing was, even though I made the changes in the security setting, I had to restart my computer for it take effect (I'm slowly getting used to that to enable/disenable things). You may want to add that to your handy macro security sheet.

BTW, when I restarted the computer, now the enable/disable macros comes up with every screen. Is that because I changed the security setting, and will it always come up even if I click on disable for a certain program?

Thanks! The program is COOLY AWESOME!!! Oh, one last question, the "closest proximity" column--does that mean how close that word is to the last time it was used?

Ranneh

[cwfgal]

I had the same problem with the button not working but after closing everything down, rebooting, and trying it again, it worked. I didn't get the macro box until after rebooting so maybe that's an issue. Very cool program! Thanks!

Beth

[stace001]

Roger,

I have read all of the posts here, and followed their directions (and yours) but it keeps coming up as a "read only" document. I'm about to throw the computer out the closest window!! What am i doing wrong? I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to computers, but this program is going to get me there fast.

[bkrrh85]

Hee, hee, retired Demon hunter--pretty good! I like that . . .
BTW, I have a "cheat" drawer to my left, full of a nice, big (and very fat) bag of Hershey's kisses. Yum, yum!!!

I hear you about the computer program. One thing I HATE worse than about anything is a computer not working the way it's supposed to . . . or me not understanding WHY it's not working the way it is supposed to!!!

Most things are easy - if you know the solution, but sometimes getting there can be a real pain in the, ah, hiney.

Hope you figure out your problem.

Ranneh

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger--

Yippee!! I got it!! I actually read (I know...) part of your Word Freq. doc and did the macro thing.

The only thing was, even though I made the changes in the security setting, I had to restart my computer for it take effect (I'm slowly getting used to that to enable/disenable things). You may want to add that to your handy macro security sheet.

BTW, when I restarted the computer, now the enable/disable macros comes up with every screen. Is that because I changed the security setting, and will it always come up even if I click on disable for a certain program?

Thanks! The program is COOLY AWESOME!!! Oh, one last question, the "closest proximity" column--does that mean how close that word is to the last time it was used?

RannehWell, this is something of an experiment for me. Normally, I develop applications in MS Access. It is a much more robust development environment, but not everyone has it. I figured everyone who uses Word HAS Word, so that was the best way to do it. I'm still discovering glitches like we've seen here and I am very interested in any reported problems.

It will continue to ask you to enable/disable macros until you change your setting back to High. I don't know if you will have to reboot or not. It would be interesting to know. If enabling the macros is a hassle, you might want to set it back to High and only set it to Medium when you want to run this program. I wouldn't set it to Low because you might forget to set it back.

The "closest proximity" is the shortest distance (in number of words) between ANY consecutive pair of the word. It doesn't matter where it occurs. You can use the Find feature to find every instance of it. In fact, a better thing would be to use Find and Replace to replace every instance of the word with the same word highlighted in yellow (or some such). Then go to Print Preview and change the size to 25%. Then you can scan through the pages in the document to see where they all occur.

I've got ideas for a couple of other programs that might be helpful, but I'd be grateful for suggestions. I don't guarantee I'll do it, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger,

I have read all of the posts here, and followed their directions (and yours) but it keeps coming up as a "read only" document. I'm about to throw the computer out the closest window!! What am i doing wrong? I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to computers, but this program is going to get me there fast.Hmmm... This is unusual. Is the WordFrequency.doc document itself Read-Only? It shouldn't really matter because the program should still run.

Have you tried running the program? Does it work? If not, what exactly happens (or doesn't happen) and what exact steps are you taking?

You can see how ranneh91 described her problem. With that level of detail, I was easily able to see the problem.

[HConn]

I guess I'm a moron, because I have a pretty basic question: How does this help?

It sounds like a cool trick, but I don't understand why it's useful. Would someone please explain it?

[Roger J Carlson]

I guess I'm a moron, because I have a pretty basic question: How does this help?

It sounds like a cool trick, but I don't understand why it's useful. Would someone please explain it?
OK. This program is fairly limited. It will only suggest things to review. But if you have uncommon words that are used very frequently or have close proximity, it can help to identify them.

Suppose you use the word "ironic" 10 times in a 2000 word document (say a chapter in your novel). Now because you like the word, it doesn't jump out at you, but it bugs readers. (My beta readers often find words that I use too frequently.) What's more, you see from the listing that the Closest Proximity is 10 words. It's pretty likely that you've used it in two consecutive sentences. Even if the closest proximity is 100 words, it's likely that they are on the same page. Perhaps you ought to use the Find feature to find these instances and change one of them to something else. (Did you notice how I use the word "likely" here twice? I didn't until I re-read the post before submitting.)

I added the exclude-words table so you can leave out common words like "said." Who cares how many times you used it? On the other hand, if you're using it in a sentence like: "How do you know he said what he said." This will identify a close proximity. Perhaps you like this sentence, but perhap you'll decide that it could be written better.

Does that help?

[Roger J Carlson]

Well, I think I have corrected the problems we've been having.

1) I added code to check if the document is in Form Design Mode and if it is, turn it off.

2) I also added a Digital Signature to get around the Macro Security problem. I added a ReadMeFirst file to the Zip file explaining the new security stuff. I've also added it below.

Lastly, I've uploaded the new version to my website http://www.rogerjcarlson.com/WritingHelp/TechTips.html. The file is now called WordFrequencyV2.zip. Also, the zip file is significantly larger because of the added explanation (and the embedded pictures). I hope this won't be a problem.

Text of the ReadMe file:
-------------------------------
This document contains program code. Program code can be used to write Word viruses, which is why Microsoft added technology to disable foreign macros. However, they created a mechanism called a Digital Signature that allows you to identify trusted sources. This document has such a signature.

As a result, the first time you open this document, you will get a dialog box like this:


<<picture of form here>>

If you decide to trust me (Roger J. Carlson), check the box next to "Always trust macros from this source" and click the Enable Macros button. MS Word will now trust ALL documents with this digital signature. You should only do this if you have downloaded this file from my website (www.rogerjcarlson.com (http://www.rogerjcarlson.com/)). If you receive it from another source it could have a compromised signature.


If you don't want trust this, you can change your Macro Security setting to Medium. This setting will allow you to decide on a per document basis whether or not to enable macros. To change the security settings, go to Tools > Macro > Security. The pop-up dialog box should be set like this:


<<picture of form here>>
-------------------------------

If you decide to give it a try, set your Macro Security back to High. I appreciate you guys being my beta testers!

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger,

I have read all of the posts here, and followed their directions (and yours) but it keeps coming up as a "read only" document. I'm about to throw the computer out the closest window!! What am i doing wrong? I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to computers, but this program is going to get me there fast.I think I know what the problem is. You are opening the program in the zip folder, rather than extracting it. If you've got Windows XP, right-click on the zip folder and choose Extract from the pop up menu.

You also might want to wait and download version 2 that I just sent up. I believe it corrects several of the problems we've been having.

[bkrrh85]

It helps, oh yes, it does! When I did a "find and replace" function on Word, I found I had used the word "just" over 200 times in my novel. Other similar misuses included "really" and "almost" and other such words that I hadn't a clue I was doing! With Roger's tool, it makes finding words (especially those pesky adverbs) much easier, and helps to see where you may need to chose a different or stronger verb.

Ranneh

[HConn]

Thanks for the explanation.

[bkrrh85]

Glad I could contribute! Have a great day!

[Euan H.]

I've got it to work now. Cool, thanks very much.

[Humourwriter]

Great tool, Roger! I'll be using it for my web site to make sure I've got the best keywords (the ones that appear most frequently in the text) in my meta tags.

A couple of suggestions:
- how difficult would it be to search for frequency of phrases (two or three words)? That could come in real handy.
- this program is too good to be buried in this part of the forum. I might see if we can set up a specific board for 'geek' stuff like this. (And no, I'm not trying to be nasty -- I'm a geek myself.)

Bill.

[Ella]

A couple of suggestions:
- how difficult would it be to search for frequency of phrases (two or three words)? That could come in real handy.
- this program is too good to be buried in this part of the forum. I might see if we can set up a specific board for 'geek' stuff like this. (And no, I'm not trying to be nasty -- I'm a geek myself.)
Bill.

I have 38 'door's in my WIP? Yeesh.

I'm with Bill. It would be great to be able to search for phrases.
I have XP Pro, with Word 2000, and I didn't have any problems, but I haven't shut it down yet.

[Ella]

Whoaaa duuude.
I just ran the Passive Word Highlighter. Verrry interesting.

I have a lot of 'had been's and 'was's. Obviously a lot of them need to stay, but I don't have a clue how to go about trying to change a few to spice it up. Need some grammar experts, I guess.
*AHEM* Another plug for a grammar board. (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10866)

[Roger J Carlson]

Great tool, Roger! I'll be using it for my web site to make sure I've got the best keywords (the ones that appear most frequently in the text) in my meta tags.I never thought of using it like that. You could save your HTML page as text to run it, or if you know VB programming at all, you could modify the program to accept .html files in the files list. In Module1 in the CountWords() subroutine, change this line:

strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Documents(*.doc, *.txt, *.rtf)", "*.doc;*.txt;*.rtf")

to this:

strFilter = ahtAddFilterItem(strFilter, "Documents(*.doc, *.txt, *.rtf, *html)", "*.doc;*.txt;*.rtf;*.html")


- how difficult would it be to search for frequency of phrases (two or three words)? That could come in real handy.Actually it would take a separate application to do that because of the way the Word Frequency Counter works. However, I could create an app where you would list the phrases (or words) you want counted (much like the Passive Word Highlighter) and run a frequency count against that.

Great idea! Look for the Phrase Frequency Counter soon!


- this program is too good to be buried in this part of the forum. I might see if we can set up a specific board for 'geek' stuff like this. (And no, I'm not trying to be nasty -- I'm a geek myself.)OK. Jenna suggested I put it in the Bargin Board, but a Geek Board might be better.

BTW, I don't mind being called a 'geek'. In the old time circus sideshows, there were 'freaks' and 'geeks'. The freaks, of course, had unusual deformities, but the geeks were those with unusual skills - strongman, sword swallower, contortionist, and the like. I have an unusual skill and I'm proud of it. (I juggle too.)

[Roger J Carlson]

Whoaaa duuude.
I just ran the Passive Word Highlighter. Verrry interesting.

I have a lot of 'had been's and 'was's. Obviously a lot of them need to stay, but I don't have a clue how to go about trying to change a few to spice it up. Need some grammar experts, I guess.
*AHEM* Another plug for a grammar board. (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10866)Extreme Example:

Blah:
"The wind was howling. Jonah was sitting at the kitchen window watching the birdfeeder. The little birds were huddling on the east side, desperately snatching seeds so they could get back to the shelter of the big pine trees nearby."

Better:
"The wind howled. Warm and cozy at the kitchen window, Jonah watched chickadees and finches huddled out of the wind on the east side of the birdfeeder. They desperately snatched seeds so they could flit back to the shelter of the nearby Ponderosa pines."

I suppose this could be made better still. I've got 3 prepositional phrases in a row. But the point is that many "was"s and "were"s can be removed by changing the tense of the verb: howling --> howled, sitting --> sat, etc.

[Roger J Carlson]

- how difficult would it be to search for frequency of phrases (two or three words)? That could come in real handy. I've written another program called the Phrase Frequency Counter that counts phrases that you designate.

You can find it here:
http://www.rogerjcarlson.com/WritingHelp/TechTips.html

[Jamesaritchie]

I've written another program called the Phrase Frequency Counter that counts phrases that you designate.

You can find it here:
http://www.rogerjcarlson.com/WritingHelp/TechTips.html

I'm finding all these little programs very useful. Now, do you suppose you could write one that turns my fiction into a bestseller?

Of course, in a sense, I suppose that's the aim of these programs, isn't it?

[bkrrh85]

Roger--

These programs are GREAT! Got a question . . . since the program is saved as a Word document, can I delete the desktop icon without compromising the program (any of the three)?

Thanks for your help (imagine a big, fat smack on the cheek from the hottest chick your imagination can dream up)!

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger--

These programs are GREAT! Got a question . . . since the program is saved as a Word document, can I delete the desktop icon without compromising the program (any of the three)?

Thanks for your help (imagine a big, fat smack on the cheek from the hottest chick your imagination can dream up)!The programs are completely self-contained in the Word document. You don't need to install anything. However, if you save the ZIP file to the Desktop and this is what you are referring to, I'd suggest you keep it somewhere. If anything happens to the program, you can unzip a new copy.

Hmmmm....you must look just like my wife!

[bkrrh85]

I'm sure your wife must be very beautiful!!!

Pardon my ignorance, but how do I save the files from the desktop "somewhere" else, and where would that be, AND how would I do it?

Thanks (another hot smooch)...

[Ella]

Hmmmm....you must look just like my wife!

GOOD SAVE!

[Roger J Carlson]

I'm sure your wife must be very beautiful!!!

Pardon my ignorance, but how do I save the files from the desktop "somewhere" else, and where would that be, AND how would I do it?

Thanks (another hot smooch)...Where do you save things normally? My Documents? If so, open My Documents but don't have it fill the screen. (if it does, hit the middle button in the upper right corner to Restore the screen.) Size the My Documents screen until you can see the Desktop file you want to save and then just drag it to the folder you want.

Make sense?

[stace001]

Hi Roger,

I finally figured it out ! (i'm not really sure how, but it works so i'm not going to mess with it) Thank you soooooo much. It's a God send. I just ran it thru my latest novel, and DAMN!!!!! it's lit up like a christmas tree!! I guess the ms needs some more work...? But at least with this fabulous program, I know where my weak points are. Thanks again. :-)

[bkrrh85]

Where do you save things normally? My Documents? If so, open My Documents but don't have it fill the screen. (if it does, hit the middle button in the upper right corner to Restore the screen.) Size the My Documents screen until you can see the Desktop file you want to save and then just drag it to the folder you want.

Make sense?

Roger, I'm going to confess my ignorance. I don't know WHERE I save things!!! I try really, really hard not to download things from the Internet, because I don't understand all the strings and where things end up.

If I happen to download something, and it ends up on the desktop, or actually shows up in "My Doc" I consider myself fortunate and wonder how the heck I did it!:o

Right now, my questions is HOW to move your nifty programs from my desktop to someplace OTHER than my doc, since the programs are already there. You said I should save it somewhere besides my doc., so I don't lose it.

But, I just don't know how!!! Sigh. I'm learning more about my computer than I ever wanted to know. :Headbang:

Anyhow, thanks for your response and help!

[Roger J Carlson]

If I happen to download something, and it ends up on the desktop, or actually shows up in "My Doc" I consider myself fortunate and wonder how the heck I did it!:o

Right now, my questions is HOW to move your nifty programs from my desktop to someplace OTHER than my doc, since the programs are already there. You said I should save it somewhere besides my doc., so I don't lose it.There are lots of ways and places to save things in Windows. That may be part of the problem. It can be confusing. I generally recommend that new users adopt ONE of two ways to organize files:

1) Desktop. You can save all of your files directly to the desktop. This is similar to the way that the Mac works. Unfortunately, this can leave your desktop incredibly crowded. To fix this, you can create Folders on your desktop to organize your files.

To do this, right-click (that is, click the right mouse button) anywhere on the desktop. You will get a pop-up menu. One of the options is NEW>. If you put your mouse pointer on that, you will get another menu. One of the options there is Folder. This will create a new folder. When the new forlder is created, it will be called New Folder and this name will be highlighted. You can then name it what you want. For instance, you could name it Writing Tools. Now you can simply drag files from the desktop to each folder and it will be stored there. (Note: if for some reason you can't rename the folder, simply right-click the folder and choose Rename in the pop-up menu.)

You can create as many folders as you want to organize your files. You can also create new folders within those folders to further organize your file storage. For instance, you might have a folder called Novels. In this folder you could have a folder for each of your novels or WIPs. Within each of these folder, perhaps you want to have a separate folder for each chapter, and so forth.

2) My Documents. A second way to organize your files is to use the My Documents folder that Windows provides. Think of it as a ready-made folder on the desktop as I described above. Microsoft has also provides a number of ready-made sub-folders here as well: My Pictures, My Webs, My Music, and so forth. (The actual folders that it has by default varies with the version of Windows you have.)

If you open My Documents, you can create folders there just like on the desktop and in the same way. Therefore you can organize your files any way you want. You might want to create folders like My Novels, My Correspondence, My Writing Tools, etc. If you share the computer with family members, you might want to create a folder for each of them too.

You move files that are on the desktop to My Documents (or a sub-folder therein) by opening My Documents and making sure it is not Maximized (that is, it does not fill the screen). If the screen is maximized, the middle of the three buttons on the top right corner of the screen should look like two little boxes rather than one big box. Clicking that will Restore the window to its non-maximized state. Then you can size and position the window. From there you can drag the file to the appropriate folder.

One difference between dragging from the Desktop to a desktop folder and dragging from the Desktop to My Documents is that dragging to a desktop folder Moves the file. Dragging to My Documents folder Copies the file. If you want, you can drag the file to the folder, check that it is there, then go back and delete it from the desktop. OR there is another way. If you RIGHT-CLICK and drag the file, you will get a pop-up menu that gives you the choice to Copy or Move the file. Choose Move and you are all set.

Now, in terms of my writing tools files, I'd create a folder (on the Desktop or in My Documents) called Writing Tools and move the Zip files there. Also move the unzipped documents there. From that point, you can easily get to this folder from the desktop to use the tools. Saving the Zip file means that if anything happens to the program file, you can alway unzip a new copy.

[Jamesaritchie]

Roger, I'm going to confess my ignorance. I don't know WHERE I save things!!! I try really, really hard not to download things from the Internet, because I don't understand all the strings and where things end up.

If I happen to download something, and it ends up on the desktop, or actually shows up in "My Doc" I consider myself fortunate and wonder how the heck I did it!:o

Right now, my questions is HOW to move your nifty programs from my desktop to someplace OTHER than my doc, since the programs are already there. You said I should save it somewhere besides my doc., so I don't lose it.

But, I just don't know how!!! Sigh. I'm learning more about my computer than I ever wanted to know. :Headbang:

Anyhow, thanks for your response and help!

If you look at the download dialogue box, it actually tells you where the file is being saved.

[bkrrh85]

Yes, the download dialogue box does tell, but it doesn't always SHOW the whole link. Also, I was asking how to move from desktop to somewhere else. The dialogue box is no longer an issue, unless I wish to redownload it, which would be a pain.

Thanks, Roger, I scrolled down and saw your response.

[bkrrh85]

Roger,

Worked through your response. Solved my problem nicely. HUGE thanks!!!

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger,

Worked through your response. Solved my problem nicely. HUGE thanks!!!You're very welcome. Check out the Tech Help board if you have more questions.

[caharel]

Just wondering if you've ever thought of creating an Excel version of the Frequency Counter.

I have a challenge of trying to read a few columns and over 500 rows in Excel. To determine some kind of commonality among all the rows.

It's nasty trying to do it by hand.

[bubblegirl]

The free novel software I use, yWriter, has a built-in word frequency counter. They are very helpful for eliminating your crutch words.

http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.html

The writer, Simon Haynes, is a new talent in Australian writing. His books are selling very well. He began self-published until a publisher (I think) picked up his book in a bookstore and they offered him a contract. That's special karma for you!

[bubblegirl]

Oh, and if sharing that link upsets anyone due to competition, I apologise. I was just trying to be helpful to those the Microsoft Word verison doesn't work for.

s.

[Old Hack]

Roger, I've downloaded your program and while it works OK for me on short documents (3,000 words or so) it freezes when I use it on anything much longer. I've tried it repeatedly. It particularly hates my novels which are around 90k words! I'm running Windows XP and Word from Office 97 (I think). Any ideas?

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger, I've downloaded your program and while it works OK for me on short documents (3,000 words or so) it freezes when I use it on anything much longer. I've tried it repeatedly. It particularly hates my novels which are around 90k words! I'm running Windows XP and Word from Office 97 (I think). Any ideas?Actually it isn't freezing, it's still running. Longer works take longer and it is not an arithmetic progression. Give it more time.

[Jamesaritchie]

Actually it isn't freezing, it's still running. Longer works take longer and it is not an arithmetic progression. Give it more time.

Could Word 97 be the problem? I have a writer friend who tried the word frequency counter, and had all sorts of problems. The only difference between his computer and mine was that he used Word 97 and I was using Word XP, and the Word 2003.

[Thomma Lyn]

Just this morning, I downloaded and used the Word Frequency Counter - great tool! Thanks for sharing it, Roger. :)

[Roger J Carlson]

Just wondering if you've ever thought of creating an Excel version of the Frequency Counter.

I have a challenge of trying to read a few columns and over 500 rows in Excel. To determine some kind of commonality among all the rows.

It's nasty trying to do it by hand.I'm sure it can be done, but I've never done it. The programming would be very different and it would depend a great deal on the structure of your spreadsheets.

I'm not an Excel developer, but I could probably get you in touch with one who could help you. It would probably cost, though.

There are also on-line forums and newsgroups devoted to helping people solve problems like this. Here's one:
http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx

Choose your language (English, I assume), then choose Office and Desktop Applications, then Excel. There are several newsgroups listed. Programming is probably the one you want. Just ask a detailed question and someone will try to help.

There are also two email lists you might try:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/excel-g.html
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/excel-l.html

You have to subscribe to them, but they're free and you'll probably get more detailed help.

[Roger J Carlson]

Just this morning, I downloaded and used the Word Frequency Counter - great tool! Thanks for sharing it, Roger. :)You're welcome.

[Roger J Carlson]

Could Word 97 be the problem? I have a writer friend who tried the word frequency counter, and had all sorts of problems. The only difference between his computer and mine was that he used Word 97 and I was using Word XP, and the Word 2003.It should work with Word 97. At least is does for me.

[Jamesaritchie]

It should work with Word 97. At least is does for me.

I'm sure you're right. I was just grasping at a straw because my friend happened to have the same version of Word.

I haven't had any problems with any of your software.

[Roger J Carlson]

I haven't had any problems with any of your software.I'm gratified that you've used them.

[Old Hack]

Roger, I've left it for ages--a whole afternoon--and it freezes, and when I hit ctrl-alt-del it tells me that Word is not responding. So I don't think it needs more time.

I'll try downloading it again and see if that makes any difference. I'll report back.

[Roger J Carlson]

Roger, I've left it for ages--a whole afternoon--and it freezes, and when I hit ctrl-alt-del it tells me that Word is not responding. So I don't think it needs more time.

I'll try downloading it again and see if that makes any difference. I'll report back.If it works for a short document, it will work for a long document. I don't believe it is "frozen" perse but simply processing. The reason Word says it's (Not Responding) is because the VBA program that is running will not release focus back to Word until it is done.

I warn you about the processing time on the main document. These are the times on my laptop, which is a Pentium 4, 2.00GHz, and 512MB of Ram:

10,000 words: 1½ minutes
60,000 words: 14 minutes
125,000 words: 36 minutes

The same 125,000 word document on my new computer Pentium 4, 3.00GHz, and 3.0 GB of Ram is 20 minutes. So the speed and memory of your computer is also a factor.

The way to tell if the program is frozen or running is to hit Ctrl-Break. If the program is frozen, nothing will happen. If the program is still running, you'll get a box that will interrupts the code execution. You can stop execution by clicking [End].

[Old Hack]

OK, Roger, I've downloaded the newer version and am running it now. I started off with one Word doc open--WordFrequencyV2.doc--then clicked on the button to open the doc to count, and bingo, a second one opened (funnily enough, the one I wanted to count). After a while (just a few minutes--I started counting at 19.54 and it is now 20.07) a third doc opened, and after another while, I started to see a table with words and numbers scrolling rapidly down the page.

That continued fine until I clicked onto another window (to a website I had open at the time). When I then tried to look at any one of the three Word docs I had open all I could see was a blank white screen with the name of the doc at the top, and the Windows taskbar (I think--with the Start button on the LHS and the time in the RHS) along the bottom. All three Word docs show the same blank whiteness with the two bars, top and bottom.

I'll leave my computer on now and see if this changes, but thought you'd like an update. This is just what happened last time, and it didn't change no matter how long I left it. I'm counting a document of about 85,000 wrods, and have a newish computer (Feb 2006) with a fast processor (P4 and 3.2Ghz) and 2.5 Gig RAM.

[Old Hack]

Another point--when I clicked between your doc and mine, before the third doc opened, I could see TWO versions of the "click the document you want to count" button (can't remember exactly what it's called) and the other button to the left of it (perhaps the one, "ignore words of [1] character or less"?), one which was fixed in place on the doc and one which was fixed in place on the screen, and remained on top of everything else as I scrolled up and down. I'll leave the count running for now and check that later, if you'd like. Sorry to have found fault--I really want this to work as it would be SO useful for me.

[Roger J Carlson]

OK, Roger, I've downloaded the newer version and am running it now. I started off with one Word doc open--WordFrequencyV2.doc--then clicked on the button to open the doc to count, and bingo, a second one opened (funnily enough, the one I wanted to count). After a while (just a few minutes--I started counting at 19.54 and it is now 20.07) a third doc opened, and after another while, I started to see a table with words and numbers scrolling rapidly down the page.

That continued fine until I clicked onto another window (to a website I had open at the time). When I then tried to look at any one of the three Word docs I had open all I could see was a blank white screen with the name of the doc at the top, and the Windows taskbar (I think--with the Start button on the LHS and the time in the RHS) along the bottom. All three Word docs show the same blank whiteness with the two bars, top and bottom.

I'll leave my computer on now and see if this changes, but thought you'd like an update. This is just what happened last time, and it didn't change no matter how long I left it. I'm counting a document of about 85,000 wrods, and have a newish computer (Feb 2006) with a fast processor (P4 and 3.2Ghz) and 2.5 Gig RAM.That behavior, including the blank screen after you switch away, is normal. This, of course, is not optimum for a software package, but it was written directly in Word's macro language, so there are limits to what I can do. It should come back in less than an hour.

[Old Hack]

Roger, you're right! At 20.38 the three Word docs reappeared and the counting was done. It has worked and I'm ashamed to say that I apparently used the word "sheep" 137 times, and the word "hair" 178 times. "Sheep" is OK as the book is set on a sheep farm, but "hair"? So often? I need to work on that.

In other words, it's worked just as you said and has already shown me something I need to work on. Thank you. A very useful utility which I will use many times, I am sure.

[Carmy]

Wow! Incredible programs I'll be using every time I write something. Fantastic! Thank you, Roger.

I used Autocrit when it was free but didn't buy the program when they started charging. Thank you for making the downloads free. I think all writers should download and use them.

I checked out each download to see if it worked, and they all work fine. I'm on Windows 98SE and Word 2000.

I think AW should make you Man Of The Century.

[Roger J Carlson]

You're welcome. I'm glad they're working for you. Now if I could just write a program that would FIX all my writing errors...