The Word Count Widget is a small floating counter that stays on screen while you write. It can show your word count, progress toward a goal, your typing pace, or a sprint timer, and it always follows the section open in the editor.
Moving and hiding it
Move: drag the widget anywhere on the screen. It starts in the bottom-left corner, and remembers where you put it.
Hide: click Hide on the widget, or choose Hide Widget from its menu.
Show again: click Show Word Count in the bottom-left corner of the editor.
The widget menu
Right-click the widget to open its menu. On a touchscreen, press and hold. The menu is where you choose what the widget displays, set your goals, and run the timer.
Display modes
Word count: total words in the open section.
Words / Session: words written in this session, against your session goal.
Words / Chapter: words in the section, against the active goal.
Words until goal: how many words are left to reach the active goal.
Words Per Minute (WPM): your current typing pace.
WPM + Timer: your pace alongside a countdown timer, for writing sprints.
Goals
Under Goal, choose whether the widget tracks your Chapter goal or your Session goal. The one you pick is the Active goal, and it drives the progress modes and the coloured border.
Chapter goal: the section's target word count. Enter a number and click Save, or Clear to remove it. This is the same target shown elsewhere in your project. Front and back matter have no chapter goal.
Session goal: a personal target for this sitting. It's kept in your browser and doesn't change anything in your project.
Timer
Set a Duration (min) (25 minutes by default), then Start, pause, or Reset it. The timer shows in WPM + Timer mode.
The progress border
The widget's border fills from red to green as you make progress: toward your active goal in the word-count modes, as the timer runs down in WPM + Timer, and with your typing speed in WPM mode, like a speedometer.
How session words and WPM are worked out
Session words count what you've added in your current writing session. If you come back shortly after a session, Writing Crucible picks up where you left off.
WPM counts the words you've typed over the last 15 seconds and scales that to a per-minute rate, so it reacts quickly as your pace changes. Short pauses make it dip; it settles when you write steadily. It's a pacing guide, not a long-term average.
Good to know
The count covers whichever section is open, including front and back matter such as a dedication or acknowledgements. Whether those words also count toward your book's word count is up to the section's Counts setting in the editor header: the story counts by default, front and back matter don't. Your plan's word limit counts every section either way.
Dialogs and the editor's toolbar open over the widget, so it never covers them.
The first time you see the widget, a Quick tips box explains dragging and the right-click menu. Close it whenever you like.
Progress modes show nothing? Set a chapter or session goal in the menu, and make sure the right one is selected as the source.