To see how many words are in a Google Docs document, follow these steps: On a computer (desktop or laptop):
- Open your Google Docs file.
- Click on the "Tools" menu at the top.
- Select "Word count" from the dropdown menu.
- A pop-up will appear showing the number of pages, words, characters, and characters excluding spaces.
- Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut:
- On Windows: Ctrl + Shift + C
- On Mac: Command + Shift + C
- You can also check the box in the pop-up to "Display word count while typing," which shows a live word count in the bottom left corner of the document as you type
On mobile devices (Android or iOS):
- Open the Google Docs app and your document.
- Tap the three-dot menu icon in the upper right corner.
- Tap "Word count" to see the number of words, characters, and characters excluding spaces.
- You can highlight a section of text to see the word count for just that selection
Additional tips:
- You can check the word count for a selected portion of text by highlighting it first, then opening the word count dialog.
- Google Docs excludes words in headers, footers, and footnotes from the word count.
- The word count includes some words in URLs and counts em dashes but not symbols like "<" or ">"
This feature helps you track your writing length easily, whether for essays, articles, or other documents.
