You might find this useful as well: #+BEGIN_SRC elisp (defun count-words-in-subtree-or-region () (interactive) (call-interactively (if (region-active-p) 'count-words-region 'count-words-in-subtree))) #+END_SRC
I bound that to M-= in org-mode to replace the default count-words, so now one command does both. :)