Linda wonders if there is a way to count the number of words that are within the comments (and only the comments) in a document.
The easiest way to accomplish this task is to use a macro. This is because Word makes available to VBA a Comments collection which includes all of the comments in the document. All you need to do is to step through each comment and then look at the Count property for the Words collection for the comment, in this manner:
Sub CommentWordCount1()
Dim c As Comment
Dim lWords As Long
Dim sMsg As String
For Each c In ActiveDocument.Comments
lWords = lWords + c.Range.Words.Count
Next c
sMsg = "There are " & ActiveDocument.Comments.Count
sMsg = sMsg & " comments in the document. & vbCrLf & vbCrLf
sMsg = sMsg & "Word count: " & lWords
MsgBox sMsg
End Sub
If you prefer, you could also use the ComputeStatistics method to come up with the word counts, like this:
Sub CommentWordCount2()
Dim c As Comment
Dim lWords As Long
Dim sMsg As String
For Each c In ActiveDocument.Comments
lWords = lWords + c.Range.ComputeStatistics(wdStatisticWords)
Next c
sMsg = "There are " & ActiveDocument.Comments.Count
sMsg = sMsg & " comments in the document. & vbCrLf & vbCrLf
sMsg = sMsg & "Word count: " & lWords
MsgBox sMsg
End Sub
When you compare the results from the two macros, you may notice a difference in word counts. This is because of the way that the CompuStatistics method treats punctuation when doing its calculations. You'll want to compare the results and, based on the characteristics of the information in your comments, choose the approach that best suits your needs.
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