With OS X’s Messages app now able to send SMS, some might find it useful to have an idea of how many characters have been typed in the message field.

Here’s a bit of AppleScript and Automator magic that will do that for you. Assign it a hotkey to make it a Service, and you can quickly get a character count with the stroke of a key (alternatively, you can invoke it from the Services menu).

Download ⬇︎.

After downloading, click through to install (it’s code signed, so it should pass GateKeeper’s default settings). For the hotkey, you’ll need to set that up in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services, like so:

When you run it for the first time, you may be asked to allow Automator and/or Messages access to System Events in Accessibility here, too: