As far as I can tell, there’s no way to highlight a piece of text and get the word count for it. Assuming I’m not missing something, is there any chance this feature might get added at some point?
Thanks!
I’ve wondered this, too. It’s a minor thing, but it would be nice if implemented. Devs: Thanks for considering.
You mean “dev”, surely? 
There is indeed no way to do this currently. Let me ponder on it.
I’d like to add that, as a scriptwriter, this function is ESSENTIAL. As I’m sure you’re aware, while working on a script page, the word count gets replaced with text that shows what element we’re working with, allowing us to have the dropdown menu of different elements to choose from. No word count unless we stop editing text, and even then, it’s a word count for the whole page (which in a page of script isn’t all that useful). The ability to highlight a block of dialogue to see how many words in it would be such a relief and a time saver.
The MOST amazing trick you could pull off would be the ability to see how much text is in a particular element, like dialogue. Like how on a regular text document you can tap the word count to see the project goals, it would be incredible if you could have a similar goals setting to allow us to see how much text is in different elements in the sheet, like dialogue and panel description and such.
Thanks again for all the hard work you’ve put into Scrivener!
Another eager request for seeing the word count of selected text here. For my needs, it’s one of the only “pro” features missing from the excellent iOS version of Scrivener.
Popclip (pilotmoon.com/popclip/) will give you a very close word count on selected text, as well as text transformation, direct insertion into to-do and notes apps, Alfred, Tembo, link shortening, web search and a bunch of other stuff.
Only throw-off on the word count is that, unlike the same function in Scriv, it includes — and … and other non-word items, so the count will be a bit high.
ps
Popclip looks great, but isn’t on iOS, so therefore not too helpful for the iOS version of Scrivener.
I have made a solution using the amazing app Workflow, though, which is a powerful automation app for iOS. It takes a few taps, but is still faster than counting, at least for me. All you do is highlight the text, tap “share”, then “Run Workflow”, then tap “Word Count”.
Here it is for anyone who has workflow. If you don’t have it, I would highly recommend getting it.
https://workflow.is/workflows/2db9f2e7e7634995894a19e9fbe5894a
I love the idea, but how are you getting the share button to appear when editing? When I select text on my iPad, it disappears. I added “get clipboard” to the workflow, so if I copy text I can get the word count, but automating it would be much better, especially since a “return to app” action could be added to take users right back into Scrivener once the alert is cleared.
I originally did the same thing you did, copying the text and then having the workflow do a word count of the clipboard. I’m not sure why you aren’t seeing the share button, but I’m wondering if it is because we’re talking about different share buttons? The one I’m referring to is in the series of black buttons that appear immediately above the text that you highlight in the editor. The ones that should say "Cut | Copy | Paste | Replace… | BIU | Define | Speak | Share… | Unstyled Paste | etc.
If you tap that black “Share…” button, you should get another popup window of the standard three-tiered share menu. The top row is to share over airdrop, the second is the list of apps that you can open the text in, and the third is actions, one of which being “Run Workflow.”
I have problem in word count progress bars. When I open in the morning, it hasn’t reset. I suspect this might be to do with using the same project in the app which also has a word count. I’ve tried using the reset options but no joy. Am I missing something?
Yup, I had completely missed that, THANKS!