NoteTabLight

Here's a great program for counting the number of times a specific word is used in your documents. The program is called Note Tab Light. What the software does is list every word in the document or chapter you paste into it. It tells you how many time you used each word and the percentage that each word makes up for the whole document.

I don’t pay much attention to the percentage and I don’t care if I used the word “the” 100 times in the chapter. I look over the list of words and look for high word counts. If Note Tab shows that I used the word “fizzle” ten times in a chapter, that is a bit much and I would go back and look for the word in my document and adjust it.

I also look over the list for words that don’t do a lot…. Such as words like “just, really, very, like, such, etc.” and highlight those on my list. It has also helped me catch unusual words that I’ve spelled differently in different locations. I had Az Zubair one time and Az Zubayr in another place in the same document. When I was proofing it showed it as a misspelled word but I skipped each time, knowing the word dictionary didn’t include it. But… I had not been consistent in my spelling. I go back to my document and search for the words that I have highlighted in my list. I look at each instance where the word was used. Sometimes I leave them as they were, but at least I do so knowingly. Usually I make changes that I hope are better.

Go to this web site.

http://www.notetab.com/ntl.php

It’s a free software. Once you download and install it, paste your words into the program.

1. Go to tools and then to

2. Text Statistics then

3. when a little screen pops up, click “more”

and you will get a list of all the words you used and how many times you used them. I usually copy the list and paste it into a word document, print it out, and go over it sitting in my recliner. I highlight words that I want to go back and run a “find” on in my original document. If the document comes out real long after putting it into word, try splitting it into two or three columns. For three columns I adjust the margins and tabs. Also, note at the end, it tells you how many different words you used, how many characters, how many paragraphs, etc. At the beginning, it tells you how many commas, periods, quote marks, etc. that you have.

Enjoy.

Judy

Contact Judy at judy@judyvandiver.com.