Plugin icon

Word Count & Reading Time

by Muhammad Zohaib Irshad
productivity
Install Plugin

Description

A simple utility to track word count and estimated reading time.

Additional Information

Links:
Maintainers: developerzohaib
Version:1.0.0
Minimum app version:3.5
Downloads: This version:28
Last updated:2026-03-01T11:52:06Z

Joplin Word Count, Spell Check & Reading Metrics

A lightweight, real-time statistics panel for Joplin. This plugin helps writers, students, and researchers track their progress by providing live word counts, estimated reading times, and instant spell checking — all directly within the Joplin interface.

Features

  • Real-time Word Count: Updates automatically as you type.
  • Reading Time Estimation: Calculates how long your note takes to read (based on a 200 wpm average).
  • Spell Checker: Detects and lists misspelled words in a scrollable box, with a count badge showing how many errors were found. Markdown syntax, code blocks, URLs, and capitalised words (proper nouns) are automatically excluded from checking.
  • Theme Aware: Automatically matches your Joplin theme (Light, Dark, Dracula, etc.) using native CSS variables.
  • Sync Status: Displays a "Last Synced" timestamp so you know your metrics are current.

Installation

Via Joplin (Recommended)

  1. Open Joplin and go to Tools > Options (or Joplin > Settings on macOS).
  2. Click on Plugins in the left sidebar.
  3. Search for joplin-plugin-wordcount-by-developerzohaib.
  4. Click Install and restart Joplin.

Manual Installation

  1. Download the .jpl file from the GitHub Releases page.
  2. In Joplin, go to Tools > Options > Plugins.
  3. Click the gear icon (top right) and select Install from file.
  4. Select the downloaded .jpl file.

How to Use

  1. Once installed, a panel titled Note Metrics will appear automatically.
  2. The panel shows:
    • Words: total word count of the current note.
    • Reading Time: estimated reading time in minutes.
    • Misspelled Words: a numbered, scrollable list of words not found in the English dictionary, with a total count badge.
  3. To show or hide the panel, click the spell-check icon button in the Note Toolbar (top-right area of the editor).
  4. To reposition the panel, go to View > Change application layout, drag the Note Metrics box to your preferred location (e.g., right sidebar or bottom panel), then click Back.

Technical Summary

The plugin monitors your workspace for changes and note selections. It uses a robust regex to ensure that extra whitespace or empty lines do not inflate your word count.

  • Word Count Logic: note.body.split(/\s+/).length
  • Reading Time: Math.ceil(wordCount / 200)
  • Spell Check: Uses an-array-of-english-words (~275k words) loaded into a Set<string> for fast O(1) lookups. Markdown syntax, fenced code blocks, inline code, URLs, image/link syntax, and capitalised words are stripped before checking. Duplicate words are deduplicated so each misspelling is shown only once.

License

MIT © developerzohaib