Note: Some tips are only available for the registered users.
Word List Maker doesn't accept some files I drag into it nor does it show these files in the Open File dialog.
Word List Maker accepts only plain TEXT files. Some files created by text-processors (for example by MS Word) are not the plain text files, but they have a special format to be used only with these text-processors. Every text-processor can save files as Text Only and this format is suitable for Word List Maker, so open the file with your text-processor and Save it as a 'text only' file. Then Word List Maker will accept this file.
You can deliberately force Word List Maker to accept any file if you check the check-box Show all file-types? in the Extra Options window. Then you can use the Open File dialog (by pressing the Make Word List button) to process any file-type. Drag&Drop works only for text-files.
I created a word-list with several fields in each line but when I edit this word-list with my text-editor then the columns are not aligned.
Word List Maker separates fields with TABS. This allows to align columns with almost every text-editor. If you use the word-processor program (like MS Word for example) then you can set TAB distances in the Ruler. Set the TAB distances larger than the length of the longest word in the file. For text-editors (like BBEdit for example) you can set the number of spaces per TAB. Set this number to 15 or higher (so it is more than a length of the longest word).
I want to see which words I have used most frequently in my text but Word List Maker shows the rarely used words first.
Make sure to check the check-box Reverse sorting? and select Frequency for the first field. Then the words which are most frequently used will be shown first.
I want to see the output word-list file after Word List Maker creates it without any action from my side.
Check the check-box Automatically open output file? in the Extra Options and Word List Maker will open the output text-file using a text-editor of your choice. You can choose the text editor to open the output text-file with the button Set Creator for Output File located at the top of the Extra Options window.
When I work with my favorite text-processor program I want Word List Maker to create the frequency list of the selected passage of text. Can I do this without saving the text into a file?
Yes you can do this easily. Just keep Word List Maker open in the background while you are working with your text-processor. If your Mac supports Drag & Drop (every Mac with system 7.5 and above supports Drag & Drop) you can select a passage of text and drag this text into the Word List Maker window. Word List Maker will process the text and then it will show the results in a separate window in your text-processor program. To make this feature working as described make sure that the check-box Automatically open output file? (in the Extra Options) is checked and your text-processor is selected as the Creator for the Output File. If your Mac does not support D&D then you can copy a passage of text to the clipboard and paste it onto the WLM window.
I want to use Word List Maker to create the index and it would be helpful to filter out the most frequently used words from the output word-list.
If you are working with the English text then you can use the enclosed ready-made Sample Omission File which contains 3000 most frequently used words in English.
