Word count, reading time, and goals

See your word count and estimated reading time, and track progress against a goal for any section.

Every chapter, section, and scene in your manuscript tracks its own word count automatically.

Word count and reading time

Word count and an estimated reading time show at the top of any open document, and the manuscript tree shows a combined count for anything with children, so a chapter’s number always reflects everything nested inside it.

In Whole Chapter View, where a chapter’s scenes are open together, the info bar’s Info tab counts the scene you’re in. Its Chapter section adds the whole chapter’s words and reading time, shown against the chapter’s goal if it has one.

Setting a goal for a section

You can set a word-count goal on any chapter or section. It’s useful for a target chapter length, or for pacing a section you know needs to stay short. Once set, a progress bar tracks your current count against that goal as you write.

Marking a draft complete

A book’s own page has a Draft section, collapsed until you open it. Mark draft complete is you saying the draft is done — it’s your call, not a word count’s. Nothing locks: you keep writing, and Reopen draft puts it back to in progress. Marking it earns The End for everyone who has written in the project, and reopening doesn’t take the badge away.

Looking for your daily writing goal?

The per-section goals here are separate from your overall daily word-count goal and writing streak, which apply across your whole account rather than to an individual chapter.