How to count words in a document

Where to find the word count in Microsoft Word

Word counts as you type. Look at the status bar along the bottom of the window: the entry near the left says something like '1,254 words'. Click it and a dialog opens with pages, words, characters with and without spaces, paragraphs and lines. The same dialog is under Review, Word Count.

If the status bar does not show a count, right-click the bar and tick Word Count. To count only part of the document, select the text; the status bar then shows '312 of 1,254 words'.

In the Word app on a phone, tap the edit icon, then the Review menu, then Word Count. Word Online shows the count in the status bar too. No Word on this computer at all? Skip to the online counter below: Word counter reads a .docx or a PDF without opening it in an editor.

How to see word count in Google Docs

On a computer, open the document and go to Tools, Word count, or press Ctrl+Shift+C on Windows and Chromebook, or Cmd+Shift+C on a Mac. The box shows pages, words, characters and characters excluding spaces. Select some text first and the box shows the count for the selection as well as the whole document.

For a live counter, tick 'Display word count while typing' in that box. A small counter appears in the bottom left of the page and updates as you write. Click it to switch between words, characters and pages.

In the Google Docs app on iPhone or Android, tap the three dots in the top right and choose Word count. Note that Google Docs counts the body text only: headers, footers and footnotes are not included.

Word count in Pages, LibreOffice and Apple Notes

In Pages on a Mac, choose View, Show Word Count. The counter appears at the bottom of the page. Click it to switch to characters, characters without spaces, paragraphs or pages. On an iPhone or iPad, tap the three dots, then Settings, and turn on Word Count.

LibreOffice Writer shows the count in the status bar like Word and has a full dialog under Tools, Word Count. Apple Notes has no counter on the Mac or iPhone; paste the note into Pages, or use an online counter.

Scrivener, Ulysses and most writing apps show a running count, but each one has its own idea of what a word is, so the number can differ by a few words from Word's. For a strict limit, check in the tool the recipient will use.

How to count the words in a file without opening it

Sometimes you have a .docx or a PDF and no suitable program, or you do not want to open a file from an unknown sender. DocGopher's Word counter counts words, characters, sentences, pages and reading time of a text, Word or PDF file in the browser. It is free, needs no sign-up, works on a phone, and the file is processed in memory and deleted after 30 minutes.

A PDF only has a word count if it contains real text. A scanned PDF is a picture of a page, and the counter will report close to zero. Run it through OCR first, then count the searchable copy. A PDF with columns or tables may also count headers and page numbers as words, which inflates the total slightly.

1. Open the Word counter page and drop the file in, or paste text into the box.
2. Read the counts: words, characters, sentences, estimated pages and reading time.
3. For several chapters or submissions, upload them one after another and note each count.

How to count words without footnotes, references or the title page

Most academic limits apply to the body text and exclude the title page, abstract, footnotes, references and appendices. Word's default count includes footnotes and text boxes, so the status bar number is often higher than the number your instructor cares about.

Captions and tables are counted as words in both programs. If your guidelines exclude them, subtract them by selecting each one and noting its count, or ask whether the limit is approximate. Most are.

1. In Word, open Review, Word Count and uncheck 'Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes'. The dialog recalculates.
2. To leave out the reference list and title page, click at the start of the introduction, hold Shift, and click at the end of the conclusion. The status bar then shows the count for that selection.
3. In Google Docs, select the body text the same way and read the selection count in Tools, Word count. Docs already ignores footnotes.

How many words is 5 pages? The pages-to-words table

A page is not a fixed unit, but there is a convention. With US Letter paper, 1-inch margins and 12-point Times New Roman, a page holds about 500 words single spaced and about 250 words double spaced. Most school and college assignments are double spaced, so '5 pages' means roughly 1,250 words.

Font changes the result. Arial and Verdana are wider than Times New Roman, so a page holds about 10 to 15 percent fewer words. Headings, block quotes and short paragraphs with lots of line breaks also lower the count per page. The Words to pages calculator does the arithmetic for a given spacing, and Word's own count dialog shows the actual page count of your file.

• 1 page: 500 words single spaced, 250 double spaced
• 2 pages: 1,000 words single spaced, 500 double spaced
• 3 pages: 1,500 words single spaced, 750 double spaced
• 4 pages: 2,000 words single spaced, 1,000 double spaced
• 5 pages: 2,500 words single spaced, 1,250 double spaced
• 10 pages: 5,000 words single spaced, 2,500 double spaced
• 20 pages: 10,000 words single spaced, 5,000 double spaced

How long does it take to read or speak a text?

Adults reading silently in their first language manage about 200 to 250 words a minute for ordinary prose, slower for technical material. Speech is slower: 130 to 150 words a minute is a comfortable pace for a presentation, a wedding toast or a voice-over.

The Word counter above estimates reading time from the word count. For speeches, read the draft aloud with a timer at least once, because pauses and slides add time that no formula catches.

• 500 words: about 2 minutes to read, 3 to 4 minutes to speak
• 1,000 words: about 4 to 5 minutes to read, 7 minutes to speak
• 2,000 words: about 8 to 10 minutes to read, 14 minutes to speak
• A 5-minute speech is around 650 to 750 words; a 10-minute talk is about 1,300 to 1,500

Character limits for applications and forms

Many application portals count characters rather than words, and most count spaces. The Common App personal essay is capped at 650 words, while plenty of job portals, scholarship forms and grant systems set limits such as 2,000 or 4,000 characters including spaces. Before you paste, confirm which measure the form uses and whether spaces count.

Word, Google Docs and the online counter all show both 'characters with spaces' and 'characters without spaces'. Line breaks usually count as characters in web forms too, so a text that fits in Word may run one or two characters over after pasting. Leave a small margin.

If you drafted the text in a PDF or received a document as PDF, pull the text out with PDF to Text and paste it into the form, then check the count the form reports; its number is the one that matters.