A document word count can be useful in multiple situations. Perhaps you are writing an article for school. Conquer Your Next Research Project The Easy Way With These Tools Conquer Your Next Research Project The Easy Way With These Tools Whether you're in school or have a job, chances are you either have or have to. investigate at one time or another. And if you're like most people, you'll have to do it several… Read More
Whatever the reason, let's take a look at several different ways to count the number of words, no matter what program you're using.
Microsoft Word is commonly used for documents and documents, so it makes sense that word count should be one of its essential routines to know 10 Essential Microsoft Word Routines You Should Know 10 Essential Microsoft Word Routines You Should Know The word "routine " is the very image of boring. Except when it comes to a productivity app like Microsoft Word. Every second saved adds to the convenience of using it for our daily needs. Read more . You can update on your current word count in a moment.
The most basic word count is at the bottom of the screen in the status bar. You should see an X words entry into the bar; If it doesn't, just right-click anywhere and make sure The word count is checked.
If you want more details about the number of words in your document, click on the X words Text in the status or usage bar. Review> Number of words on the tape Either way, you will see this window:
As you can see, if you're writing a document and don't want to include footnotes in the recount, you can override them with a checkbox.
This method counts all the words in your current document, but you can also select which paragraphs you want to measure. Highlight some text and it won't just update the status bar at the bottom of X of Y words To reflect the amount you have selected, the full word count box described above will display information only about your selection.
Finally, if you need to select groups of text that aren't next to each other, use a handy mouse trick 3 Handy Mouse Tricks You've Probably Never Heard Of [Windows] 3 Handy Mouse Tricks You've Probably Never Heard Of [ Windows ] The computer mouse is an incredibly ingenious device, which unfortunately, many people do not use to its full potential. The mouse can do a lot more than just left-click to move and... Read More while highlighting the next chunk with your mouse.
The only difference for Office Online users is you don't pay for Word! 5 reasons why you should use Office Online Don't pay for Word! 5 reasons why you should use Office Online Office Online is the free, cloud-connected version of Microsoft Office. The limitations are offset by features, useful even for desktop Office users. Best of all, Read More is that the word count in the status bar is only an approximation and does not include footnotes or text boxes. To see the full menu with a detailed count, click Open in Word header on the ribbon to open the document on the desktop in Word. If you're saving money by using Word Online 6 Ways to Use Microsoft Office Without Paying 6 Ways to Use Microsoft Office Without Paying Do you need Microsoft Office but don't like the price tag? Here are some ways you can use Microsoft Office for free! Read More
PDF is the most common format for documents apart from Word (or one of its alternatives). You probably don't care about the word count in a PowerPoint or Excel file, but the word count in a PDF could be very important. Let's look at a couple of different ways to handle them.
First, if your PDF is short, you can open it in your favorite PDF reader, press CTRL + A to select the entire document, then CTRL + C to copy the text. Open Word and paste it using CTRL + V - You can now use the above methods to get a word count.
If your PDF contains hundreds of pages, copying and pasting everything could take a while. Try turning it into a Word document Three Free Tools That Convert PDFs to Word Documents Three Free Tools That Convert PDFs to Word Documents PDF and DOC file formats are the foundation of modern documents. Any specific document, whether it's an e-book, study guide, or user manual, is likely to be available in one... Read More Depending on the content of the document, it could work fine or look mangled. It's worth a try.
A third option is to use an online word count tool built for PDF files, like Monterey Free PDF Word Count. Your mileage may vary, but on a 9-page PDF example I used to test it, this site had 5,035 words, the converted Word document had 5,186, and the copy paste had 5,089 words. So it won't be exact, but you get an idea.
Finally, you can try some of the following tools to paste the PDF content, in case you need another opinion.
If you're not using Word or a PDF and just want to see how many words are in an article online or somewhere else, online counters can help.
As we have seen, the simpler the document, the more accurate the word count will be. If you have a text file, you can paste it into Word or an online counter and get an accurate count. However, a web page or other content that contains images, secondary text, such as ads or videos, could drop the numbers, just a warning.
The simply named WordCounter will take any PDF, Word, or text file up to 15 MB and break it into standard words, foreign words, number words, and non-standard words (such as email addresses). It's great if you're working with a lot of non-standard text or a lot of numbers; Having 1,000 words but 200 of them being numbers is pretty significant.
This second tool called Word Counter allows you to type or paste text into a box and offers some extra features like how long it will take for the average person to read the document 5 text reader apps that really help you speed up 5 reader apps of text That really helps you speed up Read more, the level of complexity and the ten most common words in your document. It's a good complement to basic word count.
You can find a lot of other word counters Count words and analyze the readability of a document with Word Counter [Mac] Count words and analyze the readability of a document with Word Counter [Mac] Read More function standard. Some combination of the above tools is expected to meet your word count needs.
Who knew counting words could be so involved? Now you'll always know how to check your progress toward a certain number of words, no matter what document format you're working with. Just remember that these tools are approximate and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. On the other hand, whoever monitors your word count will likely be using those same tools.
Read our list of browser-based tools for writers 13 Browser-Based Tools for Writers 13 Browser-Based Tools for Writers Whether you need help with organization or a whiteboard to write your words, these tools will come in handy for all of you. What do you write regularly? Do not miss it! Read More
What do you use words for? Do you prefer another method not listed here? Leave a comment below and let us know!
