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Question

MS Word: Tracking characters per line as you type

Feb 14, 2014 5:54PM PST

Hi. First, I just posted this but it turned out with a weird sort of HTML in it, and I can't find the Edit or Delete feature. So I'm posting it again. I apologize for how lunatic this seems.

I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. I work in subtitling, and we have a maximum number of characters allowed per line. When I started working I used Word 2003 and it shows the maximum number of characters as I type (below the red arrow in the pic). I haven't been able to find the same option in either Word 2007 or Word 2010. Both versions do have a word count, but not a character-per-line count and especially not one that tracks the number of characters as you type, which is critical because otherwise I would take a ludicrous amount of time to finish any assignment. So does anyone know of a way I can... "turn on" that feature, for lack of a better term, in Word 2010?

Any help would be immensely appreciated. Have a lovely day, everyone.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I deleted that one
Feb 14, 2014 6:29PM PST
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Answer
Did you try turning the Column Position?
Feb 14, 2014 11:18PM PST
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Answer
Another idea.
Feb 22, 2014 9:29PM PST

Set the font to a font with fixed size, so that each letter is the same width (Courier New will do fine).
Then set the right margin such that it is exactly the right amount of characters from the left margin.
If OK, save it as a template.

There's your dedicated subtitle processor.

Kees