These include your pages written, words written, and character counts (with and without spaces).Īnother simple way to get word count in Google Docs? Simply press Ctrl+Shift+C. Click on it, and you’ll see a slightly more limited display of the stats of your writing. In the drop-down menu, you’ll see a “Word count” option. To find your word count in Google Docs, simply click on the “Tools” tab at the top of the screen (make sure your menus are visible–if they’re not, press Ctrl+Shift+F). Still, checking your word count here is very easy. Unlike in Microsoft Word, the word counter in Google Docs is not always visible on the default screen. A “Word Count” tab and icon should drop down on the top left of the screen.Īnother common word processing program for writers is Google Docs, which allows for simple editing and sharing of documents. If you scroll over that word count and click, you’ll get even more interesting details, including the number of pages you’ve written so far, the character count (with and without spaces), and the number of paragraphs and lines you’ve put down.Īnother way to achieve the same goal is to click on the “Review” tab in the top bar. In recent version of Word, the official word count is visible in the lower left corner.

Here are instructions for checking word count in a variety of programs. While we might try these methods to approximate word counts in our favorite books, when it comes to our own writing, there are easier ways. (The problem with that method is that in many books, especially in genres like fantasy and science fiction, per page word counts are more in the neighborhood of 350 or 400 words.)

Or we can calculate word counts ourselves by turning to the rule-of-thumb that says each page is about 250 words. There are a variety of sites that offer word counts of popular books, like I’ve done here.

Readers love word counts because it lets us know what we’re in for (a 50,000-word novella or a 500,000-word epic!).Īmazon used to provide book word counts in their specs, but that feature is long gone. Writers love word counts because they provide a concrete means of tracking our progress.

Word counter books