There is a quick and easy way to see your document or selected word count in Pages. In TextEdit, there is a simple trick you can use to reveal the document word count. You can also write a simple two-line AppleScript service in Automator to count the words in selected text in almost any application on your Mac.
Gary, never attempted to use Automator before. Followed your train, but no idea how to define "numwords" so that the Service (script) will actually run.
BTW I wouldn't be trying to do this if WordCount thing did not have value for me. Thanks for your time on this!
John: Just follow the steps in the video. Maybe go over it again carefully to make sure you are making the same choices I am.