FineCount for Windows

FineCount from Tilti Systems is a free tool that provides highly accurate document analysis and statistics; it's sort of like word count on steroids. It analyzes a document and counts the number of words, numbers, characters, repetitions, spaces, redundant spaces, lines, sentences, pages, and file paths. It can export statistics, calculate rates, and create reports. It can analyze Microsoft Word documents, text files, PDFs, HTML documents, and other file types. It's suitable for freelance writers, translators, editors, and others who provide document services.

FineCount is free for noncommercial users, but you must obtain a free registration to keep using it after 15 days. The free version is a downgraded version of FineCount Pro, but all the features it offers are fully functional in the trial. We opted to register immediately via a quick and easy process that involves entering some details and copying and pasting the provided PC Code into the Registration wizard, and then entering the serial number that arrived via e-mail moments later. FineCount's businesslike interface displays file name and various totals in a gridded list view with expandable, draggable headings that we could edit and customize by right-clicking them. A summary panel on the right and a tabbed report panel below offered numerous ways to display and export results; most are available only in the Pro version, though. A small tool for calculating pay rates for services such as translations would display our calculations but not create invoices; that feature is only available in the Pro version. FineCount is easy to use. We simply browsed to and selected a Word document. Almost instantly, FineCount displayed counts of every specified category. We clicked the large green Add button to analyze another document, but FineCount informed us that the ability to analyze multiple documents at once is (wait for it!) limited to the Pro version. We simply removed the first document before opening the second.

FineCount's freeware version offers much more detailed document analysis and statistics than any built-in Windows or Office feature, and it's probably more than enough for many freelancers. And, if you like FineCount but need invoicing and other pro-level features, the software offers many opportunities to upgrade.