Word-count goals

The footer#

Everything about your progress lives in the strip along the bottom of the editor:

• N words — the length of the section you’re in. Hover it for an estimated reading time.
• N to go today — how far you are from your daily goal. Once you pass it, this becomes your day’s total with a trophy beside it.
• Saved — the autosave indicator, so you can see your work land.

Setting your daily goal#

The quickest way is straight from the footer:

1. Double-click the to go today figure. (Or tab to it and press Enter.)
2. Type the number of words you want to write each day.
3. Press Enter.

To set it from Settings instead:

1. Open Settings (⌘, / Ctrl+,).
2. Find the Writing section.
3. Enter a number in Daily Word Goal.

Either way it’s the same goal — the footer starts counting against it immediately, and it carries across every project.

Giving sections their own target#

When you’re drafting to a chapter length, a per-section target is more useful than a daily one:

1. Go to Books (⌘1 / Ctrl+1).
2. Click the Book settings button on the book’s card.
3. Set Default Section Target to the word count a typical section should reach.

Reviewing your writing history#

1. Press ⌘⇧A / Ctrl+Shift+A, or choose Go → Analytics. It’s also on the welcome screen as Writing History.
2. Read the heatmap of the past 365 days — darker squares are heavier days.
3. Switch between Daily, Weekly, and Monthly to change the grain.
4. Filter to one book, or leave it on All books for the whole project.

   

If you drafted somewhere other than Verkilo on a given day, you can type a manual adjustment against that date so the record stays honest.

Pairing with a writing mode#

A target and a writing mode work well together: set the number, enter composition mode, and stay there until the footer says you’re done.