How do I get a word count for a PDF doc or for a selected passage?

I tried this word counter. I got an up to 20% greater word count than using MS Word.

Some of the other tools look useful — basically one-click solutions to things that are done with Preflights. But if you're experienced enough to know how to use them properly* you likely already have custom preflight to do these things.

(* Crop, for example, says it "removes" marks and stuff outside the Trim. If you've ever cropped a PDF before you know it doesn't actually remove these items, just restricts them from view. This is important for people who believe they're removing sensitive data.)

Thanks for your replies!  However I finally got this thing figures out with scripting!  I place the following code in the document level:

Script Name: wordsMax

The code:

function limit_words_ks(max_words)

{

// Get all of the characters in the field

   var s = AFMergeChange(event);

// Reject if more than max_num words

   if (s.split(/[ ]+/).length > max_words) {

      app.alert("You can't enter more than 65 words to this field.");

      event.rc = false;

   }

}

In the field to be typed in I added the following Javascript into the Custom Key Stroke Script:

The code:

{

    var Bio = event.value.split(" ");

    this.getField("WordCount").value = Bio.length;

    limit_words_ks(65);

}

The result was the word input in the field were totaled in the field "WordCount.", When the user attempted to go past 65 words an alert window popped up telling the user "You can't enter more than 65 words to this field."  The user could remove words, but not add.

Where do I find "Edit" and "Select all"

In a message dated 3/5/2017 8:44:34 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,

forums_noreply@adobe.com writes:

Word count on Adobe

created by BarbBinder (https://forums.adobe.com/people/BarbBinder) in

Acrobat Reader - View the full discussion

(https://forums.adobe.com/message/9372213#9372213)

It can be done within Acrobat, but it requires a script. And it's more complicated with a passage. Basically that can't be done directly. You'll need to first do something like highlight the text using the Highlight commenting tool before a script could count the number of words in it.