Unless otherwise explicitly stated, as is becoming normal practice, invoicing is based on the final target word count (of the translation or the editing job).

Some firms and translators count by line, character or page. But we believe that these options also present problems of arbitrariness requiring additional procedures:

• Lines: How many words, characters, or spaces per line?
• Pages: How many words, lines, characters per page? A typing concept like this becomes even more incoherent with current word processors.
• Characters: Do we include spaces or not? How do we interpret spaces in special formats? Do all operating systems and office programs calculate them in the same way? This may come very close to the ideal system but, besides the previous observations, it also requires a double mathematical and mental operation when it comes to establishing rates in euros for a hundred or for a thousand character/spaces.
• Words: Although this does not completely escape from being arbitrary, it requires "fewer" conventions or dual operations. This is also the system that is becoming more frequently used, though not categorically, within the sector. In a multi-format environment (HTML, software, etc. with many labels and codes) it is easier to differentiate between texts to be translated (in words) and codes (arbitrary character).

Word: It is well-known that Word leaves out many elements when counting, especially text boxes. Try it.

Neither does it count text to be edited in objects inserted into the document (graphics with text to edit, Word files, Excel or PowerPoint inserts in the document, etc.), and they need to be counted separately.

And Word does not correctly or clearly manage the functioning of the group of delimiting characters for each language (full stop, comma, numbers, electronic addresses, etc.).