What is a spacebar counter?

A spacebar counter is an exclusive feature of some computer keyboards used to determine how many words a user has typed within a document. The feature is also referred to as a word counter or a word count, and it may be helpful for editors or proofreaders.

When using a spacebar counter, the user presses the spacebar key each time they type a single word. In turn, the counter on the keyboard increments data for each press. When hitting any other key other than the space bar, including punctuation keys and return keys, the counter does not increase.

At anytime while typing, the user can allow their eyes to dart to the side of their keyboard to view their current total word count. Typically this appears in blinking digits at the top of most keyboards indicating up-to-the-second total words typed within a document thus far.

In certain cases - such as with Microsoft Word - document statistics appear at its conclusion including words per minute (wpm) but these differ from an active count using a spacebar counter in that an accurate measure of total words typed can only occur when working within a single page as opposed to across multiple documents at once.