Disappearing word count

[bodsham]

In Word 2004 the running word count disappears once you pass 100,000 words. So if you're a novelist this is pretty annoying. I can't believe that, after four years of work and going Intel native, the same thing happens in Word 2008. Is there really no fix for this annoying omission?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

In Word 2004 the running word count disappears once you pass 100,000
words. So if you're a novelist this is pretty annoying. I can't
believe that, after four years of work and going Intel native, the
same thing happens in Word 2008. Is there really no fix for this
annoying omission?

I'm seeing the same thing here. Please use Help | Provide Feedback in
Word to send your comment directly to MS.

In the meantime, you can use Tools | Word Count. Assign it to a keyboard
shortcut if you want to.

I personally hate Live Word Count in the Status Bar, I think it's
psychologically unhealthy and I don't understand why constant access to
the word count is so popular, especially outside journalism. It seems to
prioritize word count over making the language do what is necessary. But
that's just me.

 

[bodsham]

Well as a former journalist I guess I am probably word count obsessed. But when you are editing a book it is useful to know at a glance whether you're under or over the 120k mark or something. I have complained. To be honest I no longer use Word for writing novels - it isn't terribly suitable in many ways. But publishers still expect books to be delivered as Word files, though for writing I use Scrivener (which can give you instant word counts of sections - which is really useful for someone like me).
I have sent feedback to MS.