TexSense: Real-time word count for Overleaf

TexSense is a browser extension that counts words in LaTeX as you type.

No more recompiling or downloads. See your writing progress in real time.

⭐ If TexSense helps with your writing, consider starring the repo!

Try it on Chrome or Firefox now!

Why I built this

While writing a paper on Overleaf, I realized counting words in LaTeX is surprisingly inconvenient.
Most workflows require recompiling the document or running texcount locally.

TexSense solves this by counting words directly inside the editor and updating the count as you type. So now, you can track your writing in real time.

TODO

• Support multi-file word count

Word Count Rules

The parser counts body words from LaTeX source and excludes non-body content.

Exclusions:

• Comments (% ...)
• Everything outside \begin{document}...\end{document} (when present)
• Commands with arguments:
  • \title{...}
  • \author{...}
  • \date{...}
  • \url{...}
  • \label{...}
  • \bibliography{...}
  • \footnote{...}
  • \footnotetext{...}
  • \section{...}
  • \subsection{...}
  • \subsubsection{...}
  • \caption{...}
• Single commands:
  • \maketitle
  • \tableofcontents
• Full environments:
  • figure, figure*
  • table, table*
  • bibliography, thebibliography
  • equation, equation*
  • align, align*
  • math, displaymath
• Math blocks:
  • $$...$$
  • \[...\]
  • \(...\)
  • inline $...$
• All \begin{...} / \end{...} tags themselves
• Remaining LaTeX commands and escaped control sequences