Show word count
Word counts the number of words in a document while you type. Word also counts pages, paragraphs, lines, and characters.
When you need to know how many words, pages, characters, paragraphs, or lines are in a document, check the status bar.
For a partial word count, select the words you want to count. The status bar shows the word count for that selection and for the entire document.
Tip: Find the number of characters, paragraphs, and lines by clicking on the word count in the status bar.
Count the number of characters, lines, and paragraphs
You can view the number of characters, lines, paragraphs, and other information in your Word for Mac, by clicking the word count in the status bar to open the Word Count box. Unless you have selected some text, Word counts all text in the document, as well as the characters, and displays them in the Word Count box as the Statistics.
Count the number of words in a part of a document
To count the number of words in only part of your document, select the text you want to count. Then on the Tools menu, click Word Count.
Just like the Word desktop program, Word for the web counts words while you type.
If you don’t see the word count at the bottom of the window, make sure you’re in Editing view (click Edit Document > Edit in Word for the web).
Click the word count to switch it off and on.
Maybe you noticed that Word for the web gives you an approximate word count. That’s because it doesn’t count words in areas like text boxes, headers, footers, and SmartArt graphics. If you need an exact count, click Open in Word, and look at the word count at the bottom of the Word document window.
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Are you looking for an easy way to check the word count in your Microsoft Word document? Word has an easy-to-use, built-in tool that keeps track of your word count in each of its versions, including desktop, mobile or online. This wikiHow article will teach you how to view the word count for a section of text or your entire document in Microsoft Word.
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Launch Microsoft Word. This can be done by double clicking on the Word icon on your desktop, in your Taskbar (Windows) or Dock (Mac). If you don’t see an icon, click on the ‘Start» menu in the lower left of your PC’s screen. Click on the ‘All Programs» drop down and select Microsoft Word.[1]
- On Mac, click on the Launchpad (a gray rocketship) icon in your dock. Type ‘Word’ in the search bar at the top of the screen.
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Navigate to an existing document. To open a document, go to the File menu, and then click on Open. A dialog box will appear with a list of available documents.[2]
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Select a document. In the dialog box, navigate to the document you wish to open. Select the document, and once it’s highlighted, click on Open in the lower right of the dialog box.
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Select Tools. Once your document is open, select the Tools menu at the top center of the window.[3]
- This step only applies to a MAC OS.
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Scroll to Word Count. In the Tools menu dropdown, click on «Word Count.»
- If you’re not using a Mac, you won’t see any Tools heading at the top. In this case, go to the Review tab at the top of your document. Once there, you’ll see «Word Count» on the left-hand side of the section.
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Review your word count. A box will open displaying the number of words, as well as the number of characters, paragraphs, lines and pages, contained in your document.
- In many documents, the word count is displayed live on the left side of the bottom bar of the document window. Click on this word count to get additional information, such as the number of pages and characters.
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Place your cursor at the beginning of the text you wish to count. Click on the beginning of the sentence, paragraph or section of text for which you want a word count.
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Highlight the section of text. Drag your cursor to the end of the text section, which should now be highlighted in blue.
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Click on the Tools menu. Select the Tools menu at the top center of the document window.
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Click on Word Count. Select Word Count from the Tools menu dropdown. A box displaying the number of words, characters, lines, pages and paragraphs will appear on the screen.
- The word count for a selected portion of text will usually be displayed in the bottom bar of your document.
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Launch the Microsoft Word mobile app. On your smartphone or tablet, tap on the Word app to launch it.
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Open a document. The app will usually open the last document you were working on. If not, you will see a list of recently-opened files. Tap on the file you wish to work on.
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Tap the Edit menu. Once your document is open, tap on the Edit menu (a capital «A» with a pencil icon) on top center of your screen. The Edit menu will open in the bottom half of your screen.
- In Word for iPad, simply tap on the «Review» menu at the top center of the tablet’s screen.
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Tap on «Home.» Home is located on the left side of the Edit menu bar. This will open a pop-up menu.
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Tap on «Review.» The Review menu is near the bottom of the Edit menu pop-up.
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Tap on «Word Count.» Word Count is near the bottom of the Review menu. When you tap it, the number of words, characters and pages in your document will be displayed.
- In Word for iPad, word count is an icon, several lines with the numbers «123» displayed in the upper left, in the main menu bar under the Review menu.
- Highlight a section of text by tapping on it with your fingers, then tap on Word Count to display the number of words in the highlighted portion of your document.
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Launch Word online. Navigate to office.live.com and log in with your Microsoft ID and password or choose to use the free version.
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Open a document. On the left side of your screen, select a recent document.
- If you don’t see the document you want to edit, select Open from One Drive or Open from Dropbox in the lower left corner of the window.
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Review the word count. Once you have an open document, check the bottom left, side of the document. The word count automatically appears in the lower scroll bar.
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Add New Question
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Question
How do I select the area to word count in Word 2016?
Highlight the passage; it should show the word count.
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When I am in the header area, Word will not show me a word count. What can I do?
Select all of the words in the header and the word count for the words you highlighted will be displayed in the word count box on the status bar.
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Question
I don’t see Word Count in the lower left corner. Why not?
Right click on the status bar and click on «Word Count» so that it has a tick next to it.
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On Word for PC/Mac, make sure the Microsoft Word window is fully maximized. Otherwise, the window can be moved within your viewable area, and the Word Count in the lower portion of the document could be hidden.
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To ensure the word count is always visible in your documents, select View from the Preferences menu in the upper left corner of your Mac or PC. The check the box to the left of «Live Word Count.»
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About This Article
Article SummaryX
1. Open the document.
2. Find the word count at the bottom-left corner.
3. Click the word count for more info.
4. Highlight a section to see the word count for that section.
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Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 918,954 times.
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Microsoft Word includes a word counter that lets you track the number of words that you’ve typed in your documents. It’s really useful when you work on documents that require a certain number of words or have a certain word limit. This word count in Microsoft Word helps count characters as well.
There are various ways to access the word count in Word. You can use the status bar, open the word count window, and even add the live word counter as a field to your document. You can view the word and character count in Word online as well.
View The Word Count As You Type In Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word has a real-time word counter that counts the words as you type in your document and lets you view them in the status bar. You don’t need to open any menus or windows to access it.
This comes in handy when you want a live tracker to count the words that you type in your file.
- Open Word from the Start Menu on your computer.
- Either start a new document or open your existing document to see the word count.
- At the bottom-left corner of your screen, you’ll see the count of your words. It displays the total number of words that are there in all the pages of your current open document.
- In case you don’t see the word count, right-click the status bar at the bottom of your screen and choose the Word Count option. This’ll add the word counter to the status bar.
Find Count For The Selected Words
If you have a large Word document and you only want to find the word count in Word for select text, you can do that as well using the same word counter feature.
This’ll work for all the pages in your current document but not for multiple Word documents. You need to count words for multiple documents separately using this method.
- Right-click on your Word document, select Open with, and choose Word.
- Select the text that you want to find the word count for. You can select as many blocks of text as you want in any pages of the document.
- Take a look at the status bar in the bottom and it’ll say XX of YY words. XX is the word count for the selected text and YY is the total number of words in your document.
View Character & Word Count With More Details
By default, the status bar only shows a limited number of information such as your word and characters count. If you want to access more details like the number of pages and paragraphs, character count with and without spaces, then you’ll need to open the Word Count box.
This box opens from within Word on your computer.
- Open your document in Word on your machine.
- Find the tab that says Review at the top and click it.
- Locate the section that says Proofing and click the Word Count option in it.
- A small box will open on your screen letting you view the word count and other details for your document.
- You can deselect the Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes option if you don’t want to include them in your word count.
- Click Close when you’ve finished viewing the word count.
Add a Word Count To Your Document
Word lets you display the word count as a field in your document. This allows you to show the word count anywhere you want in your document. The count will appear as a normal text and you can apply your formattings and styles to it if you want.
- Open your document in Word.
- Place the cursor where you want to display the word count.
- Click the menu item that says Insert at the top.
- Find the section that says Text and click the Quick Parts option in it.
- Choose Field from the options available on your screen.
- On the left-hand side, you’ll see a list of fields that you can add to your document. Find the field that says NumWords, select it, and click the OK button at the bottom.
- The word count will appear at your chosen location in your document.
- When you add new words to the document, you’ll need to manually update the word count. To do this, right-click on the word count in your document and choose Update Field.
View The Word Count In Microsoft Word Online
If you use the online version of Microsoft Office, you also have the word count feature in Word online. You can access it pretty much the same way as the desktop version.
- Head to the Office website and log-in to your account to access the Office apps.
- Either create a new document or edit an existing one.
- Click the Review tab in the top menu bar.
- Click the Word Count option to view the number of words in your current document.
Add a Word Count To The Status Bar In MS Word Online
You can display the live word count in the status bar in the Office online version as well. This only requires you to enable an option in Word online.
- Open your document in Word online.
- Click the Review tab at the top.
- Click the down arrow icon next to Word Count.
- Tick-mark the Show Word Count option.
- You’ll see the current word count in the status bar at the bottom of your screen.
What To Do If The Word Count In Word Doesn’t Work
If the word count doesn’t automatically update in the status bar or if the counter dims every now and then, there are a few things you can do to fix these issues.
Reboot Your Computer
Turning your computer off and then back on should fix the issue where the word counter doesn’t refresh on its own.
Disable & Enable The Word Count
You can try disabling the word count and then enabling it to see if that fixes the problem where the counter dims every now and then.
- Right-click on the status bar in Word and untick Word Count.
- Right-click on the status bar again and tick-mark Word Count.
If you want to count words for multiple documents, you can merge your documents together and Word will show the word count for all your documents.
Содержание
- Способ 1: Строка состояния
- Способ 2: Средства рецензирования
- Добавление информации о количестве слов в документ
- Вопросы и ответы
Способ 1: Строка состояния
Майкрософт Ворд считает количество слов во всем текстовом документе в фоновом режиме, по мере их ввода. Эта информация отображается в строке состояния, доступной к просмотру из любой вкладки программы, и имеет следующий вид: «Число слов: N», где N – текущее значение.
Если выделить фрагмент текста, надпись сменит свой вид на «Число слов: X из N», где X – количество слов в выделенной части, N – во всем документе.
Нажатие на данную надпись открывает окно «Статистика», в котором указывается количество следующих элементов:
- Страниц;
- Слов;
- Знаков (без пробелов);
- Знаков (с пробелами);
- Абзацев;
- Строк.
Дополнительно можно определить, будет ли Word «Учитывать надписи и сноски». Если в текстовом файле, с которым вы работаете, есть такие элементы и их нужно или, наоборот, не нужно учитывать при подсчете общего количества слов/символов, установите или, наоборот, снимите галочку напротив этого пункта.
Читайте также: Как добавить / удалить сноски в Ворде
После ознакомления с информацией окно «Статистика» можно закрыть.
Важно! Если «Число слов» не отображается, то есть такой надписи в принципе нет в строке состояния, кликните по ней правой кнопкой мышки и отметьте галочкой соответствующий пункт в контекстном меню.
Читайте также: Как посчитать количество символов в документе Ворд
Способ 2: Средства рецензирования
Еще один вариант просмотра информации о количестве слов в текстовом файле Word заключается в использовании средств рецензирования, посредством которых тоже можно вызвать рассмотренное выше окно «Статистика».
- Перейдите во вкладку «Рецензирование».
- Нажмите на кнопку «Статистика», расположенную в группе инструментов «Правописание».
- Ознакомьтесь с информацией о количество слов (и не только их) в документе.
Читайте также: Рецензирование текстовых документов Ворд
Добавление информации о количестве слов в документ
Информацию о числе слов в документе можно вывести на любую его страницу, в любое удобное место, например, для того чтобы она отображалась в печатной версии. Логичнее всего добавлять ее в начало или конец.
- Установите указатель курсора (каретку) в то место текстового файла, где хотите видеть информацию о числе слов в нем, и перейдите во вкладку «Вставка».
- В группе инструментов «Текст» разверните меню кнопки «Экспресс-блоки» и выберите пункт «Поле…».
- В открывшемся окне в блоке «Поля» выберите «NumWords». Если есть такая необходимость, определите «Свойства поля», а именно его «Формат» и «Числовой формат». Сделав это, установите галочку напротив пункта «Сохранять формат при обновлении». Нажмите на кнопку «ОК» для подтверждения.
В выбранном вами месте файла появится информация о количестве слов в нем – небольшое поле с числом. Обратите внимание на то, что указанные данные могут отличаться от тех, что отображаются в строке состояния. В первую очередь это связано с тем, что программой это поле воспринимается как еще одно слово.
Причиной более крупных расхождений является то, что в фоновом режиме эти сведения не обновляются, то есть по мере ввода и/или редактирования текста они не будут изменяться. Для того чтобы актуализировать информацию, нажмите правой кнопкой мышки на этот блок и выберите пункт «Обновить поле». Также имеется возможность «Изменить поле» — это действие вызывает окно, через которое мы его добавляли.
Можно сделать и так, чтобы Word автоматически обновлял сведения в данном блоке перед печатью. Для этого через меню «Файл» программы перейдите в ее «Параметры», откройте вкладку «Отображение» и в блоке «Параметры печати» установите отметку напротив пункта «Обновлять поля перед печатью». Для подтверждения и закрытия окна нажмите «ОК».
Читайте также: Печать документов в Майкрософт Ворд
Еще статьи по данной теме:
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I know what you’re thinking: “What’s there to learn about the word count in Microsoft Word? The number is right there at the bottom of the screen!” And that is true. Unless you’ve changed your default settings, the count always appears in the left-hand side of the status bar below your document. But Word’s word count tool can do more than provide the total number of words.
This tutorial shows you (1) how to count words in specific sections and (2) how to open the Word Count dialog box to see additional statistics such as character counts with and without spaces, as well as how to exclude textboxes, footnotes, and endnotes from the count.
And don’t miss the bonus section featuring keyboard shortcuts for selecting text in Word and other Windows applications.
This tutorial is available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than 150 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.
The images below are from Word for Microsoft 365. These steps also apply to Word 2021, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, and most earlier versions of Word. However, your interface may look slightly different in older versions.
How to View the Word Count for Specific Sections
To view the number of words in a specific sentence, paragraph, page, or section, select only that text. (See the bonus section below featuring Windows keyboard shortcuts for selecting text.)
The word count in the status bar at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen will then update to say “[#] of [#] words.” Once you deselect the text, the count will return to the total for the entire document.
Text Selection Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
If you want to select multiple sections of text in different locations in the document, press Ctrl as you make the selections. While pressing Ctrl, the text in between your selections shouldn’t be selected.
Here are six Windows keyboard shortcuts that make automatic selections:
Select everything from the cursor to the end of the paragraph:
Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow
Select everything from the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph:
Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow
Select everything from the cursor to the end of the screen:
Ctrl +Shift + Alt + PgDn (Page Down)
Select everything from the cursor to the beginning of the screen:
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + PgUp (Page Up)
Select everything from the cursor to the end of the document:
Ctrl + Shift + End
Select everything from the cursor to the beginning of the document:
Ctrl + Shift + Home
How to View the Word Count Dialog Box and Exclude Textboxes, Footnotes, and Endnotes
To open the Word Count dialog box, select the word count in the status bar or press Ctrl + Shift + G on your keyboard.
The Word Count dialog box shows the number of pages, words, characters with and without spaces, paragraphs, and lines in your document.
Note that the lines statistic in the Word Count dialog box represents the number of individual lines with letters or numbers in them, not the number of sentences. The number of lines in your document will be affected by your font size (i.e., the bigger the font, the more lines you will have.)
Uncheck “Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes” if you want to exclude everything in those sections from the word count. The count will update immediately.
Further Reading: How to Delete Extra Spaces in Microsoft Word
Updated February 25, 2022