Trados Report word count much higher than MS Word

Question

Hi There, 
 
 I work with trados 2017 and i'm very confused beacuse usually the trados word count is always a bit higher then MS word count. But recently the opposite is true. 
 And difference is very, very high since it can go up to 20%. I use Office365. 
 Anyone can help me? 
 
 Thanks, 
 
 Giulio Marseglia

Alison Field · Answer

Hi Guilio ( Biagio Marseglia ) 
 There has always been this question of whether SDL Trados Studio's wordcount is more accurate than Microsoft Word's. When both wordcounts are accurate, it is basically down to how the words are counted, i.e. the parameters set for the wordcount in each program. It isn't really a problem so long as you use the same method each time after agreeing with the client which you will use - and whether you will base the count on the source or the target text. 
 However, the wordcounts displayed at the bottom of the translation window are not always up-to-date and accurate, a known issue, and this may be one of the causes of your confusion. It is possible to find the accurate wordcount in Studio when this happens by looking at either the wordcount given in the Files view or by opening the report generated when you created your project/opened the file/imported the package etc. SDL are working on alleviating this inaccurate display. 
 Then there is the issue of whether you wish to give an estimate based on source wordcount then an accurate target count after translation... 
 for a dependable and consistant target wordcount it may suit you better to use this external wordcount tool created by Jesse Good which you can download from the SDL AppStore after signing in with your SDL Account details: 
 Target wordcount tool 
 Give it a try... I hope this helps! 
 All the best, 
 Alison

Alison Field · Answer

Hi Giulio, 
 Are you comparing the source text in both Word and in Studio? 
 As you say, Word tends to have a lower count than Studio, for example: 
 
 You will notice, however, that the number of characters is the same in both counts. 
 If you're getting a much lower count in Studio then it may be due to the content of the files, e.g. a higher or lower percentage of numbers or spaces than usual and Studio's assessment of this being different to Word's. 
 Anyway, I've done a quick search on the Community and your question has already been discussed in depth. 
 First of all, Paul Filkin wrote an excellent article which should answer any questions you have about wordcounts plus many more you hadn't even thought of, here... 
 wordcount 
 Then if that doesn't tell you all you need to know, take a look at this thread: 
 Word count result very different to MS Word 
 It discusses the difference between Word and Studio's wordcounts and suggests a different piece of free SDL software you can use to count and invoice. 
 Take a look at all the above information and if there's anything you need clarified, post again here. 
 Happy reading! 
 All the best, 
 Ali :)

Paul · Answer

Hello Biagio Marseglia 
 Nobody is going to be able to tell you where the difference is without seeing your file. But perhaps check and see whether you have got hidden text, or a non-translatable style, in that file for example? Word will count the hidden words whereas Studio won't extract them at all by default. Maybe that's where your difference lies?

Alison Field · Answer

Hi again Biagio Marseglia 
 Paul's explained better than I how some content can be detectable by Word and not by Studio but, as he says, we can't help accurately if we don't know what's in the file. Naoko's idea is a good one if you know how to do it. Ask her help if not. 
 Briefly, if you wish to see whether the entire content of the document is being taken through from start to finish, open the untranslated sdlxliff then save it to Target and compare the wordcount of both documents. They should be the same. I doubt anything is being lost on conversion to sdlxliff, that is not usual. 
 Then compare the target Word document after translation, to the original source Word document. The wordcount will of course be different because different languages use different amounts of words in different contexts but you will then be able to see if anything is untranslated (stayed in the background content of the sdlxliff during translation). 
 If there is nothing then Word is most likely counting 'untranslatables' as well as the translatable text and normally you'd only charge for the text that you translated, i.e. that which is counted by Studio. 
 If required content hasn't been translated then your Studio settings have to be changed to bring it into the sdlxliff for you to translate. How you achieve that depends on the content... 
 All the best Ali

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Trados Report word count much higher than MS Word