Is there an update on an optional setting for displaying word counts in student submissions? All of my discussion and assignments require minimum word counts. Not having a word count display like in Moodle and Blackboard has made my grading time significantly longer. I am wondering if this is an option that is already available and I have simply missed it, or if it is something that is currently (or being considered) in development.
Hello, Michele DeGraffenreid 
Hello Stefanie,
Any idea approximately when the update will be released? Thanks.
Tom , if and as updates are available, they'll be posted on the relevant feature idea, so please be sure to "follow" the linked idea to your Inbox to receive the notifications of those updates.
Hi Michele DeGraffenreid! Word counts are a feature of some of my assignments also. I have my students do their own word counts (they "declare" their work for the class, and word count might be one of the items on the checklist for an assignment). So, that means they are doing the word count checks, not me.
To help them do that, I encourage them to use the Chrome extension "Word Count Tool" or something equivalent if they are using a different browser, and I also make this quick tool available to them:
Online Course Wiki / Wordcounter
I can see that having this feature built into Canvas will be useful but, in the meantime, it's a way to teach students about the options available to them for doing their own word count. I like introducing students to browser-based tricks and tools that might be useful to them in other ways, for other classes, etc.
Dear Stefanie Sanders,
I'm new to Canvas and am very curious about the word count development. I now "follow" the idea, but the discussion started in 2015 and I'm not sure what the current vote of 187 means. Could you give us some indication?
Thank you so much, best,
Christine
Hi, Christine Moser 
"Following" the idea is definitely the best approach; we'll post updates directly to the idea as they become available.
If you were to wait for votes before doing anything, Canvas itself would not exist. Please, add the word count tool. It's likely I won't even be a student by the time it is added anyway, seeing how long this has been an issue, but it still should be done.
I appreciated your post, Shaun. Forgive me for dampening your hopes, but our "Canvas Community" has been trying to get a word counter since April of 2015. It would be much more convenient than a browser extension requiring installation by every student – an ever-accumulating waste of time that includes the time involved with highlighting and extra clicks just to get the count.
Support for this obvious necessity has currently reached 229 favorable votes in our forum (with 3 against, rumored to be members of the Flat-Earth Society). Yet the best the Canvas reps can do with that level of support and urgency is move this idea to the Product Radar stage.
Another example of the glacial pace of change in Canvas (even for the most basic necessities) was the 4-year effort to add a "Like" feature – even though the Canvas Community Forum already had one, and most pleas to add it to the Canvas discussion app garnered multiple Likes! In any case, thanks for contributing to a better discussion app for future students, Shaun.
Hello, Michele DeGraffenreid
Welcome to the Canvas Community! Yes, Word Count is currently in development. For updates on the feature's status, please click on the link to the idea and use the Actions dropdown at the upper right of that page to "follow" it to your inbox.