How can I display 'word count' in Calibre while browsing my Library?

Question

I use Calibre, to manage my library of eBooks. It is easy to include the size of the book, but with images and such that can be misleading. I notice on Smashwords they often include a word count in the books in the description. Is the word count an attribute that Calibre can display? If so how?

Answer 1

This is not straightforward but there is a Calibre extension that you can install : Count Pages (it counts pages but it also counts words). It works only for MOBI and EPUB files so it won't be able to show the word count of books you have only in Amazon Kindle format for instance.

First you need to install Count Pages :

• In Calibre Preferences window, go to Extensions, then click on Get new extension modules
• Look for Count Pages and install it

You also have to create a custom column :

• In the Preferences window, click on Add a custom column and then on the + button
• Name the column "Words" for instance (the first field is used for advanced search and does not allow capitals so you can enter "words")
• Select Integer as the column type
• Create the column and apply changes
• Check that the column now shows up in your library (but it is empty and you need to populate it)

Finally, use Count Pages to populate your new column :

• You should have a new Count pages button in the main menu : Select Customize the extension module in the drop-down list
• In the Word count options select your custom column
• You don't need to bother with the other options but you could create a "page" count column too if you'd like
• Select all the books you need counted and click on the Count pages main menu button
• You might get an error message saying that it could not process x books because it did not find them in a supported format
• It takes a while because the plugin needs to open and process each file
• Your column finally gets updated.

Each time you add a new book in the library you will need to use that Count Pages button to fill in the column for this book.

Calibre will need to be restarted several times in the process. My Calibre is in French so the words I used in my answer might not exactly be the ones used in the English interface, sorry.