How to Count Words in Microsoft Word

Whether you're working on an assignment or drafting a report in Microsoft Word, knowing the word count is crucial. Thankfully, every version of Word (desktop, mobile, or online) comes with a built-in tool that’s easy to use for tracking the number of words you've typed. Simply choose the appropriate menu for your version, click or tap on the 'Word Count' feature, and you’ll get the info you need.

Open Microsoft Word. You can double-click the Word icon on your desktop, Taskbar (Windows), or Dock (Mac). If you can’t find the app icon, click on the 'Start' menu at the bottom-left corner of your screen. Select 'All Programs' and choose Microsoft Word.

• On Mac, click the Launchpad icon (gray rocket) in the Dock and type 'Word' into the search bar at the top of the screen.

Navigate to an available document. To open a document, go to the File menu and click on Open. A dialog box will appear displaying the available documents.

Select the document. In the dialog box, navigate to the document you want to open. Select it, and once the file is highlighted, click the Open button at the bottom-right of the dialog box.

Select Tools. Once the document is open, click on the Tools menu at the top center of the window.

Scroll to the Word Count option. In the Tools dropdown menu, click on 'Word Count.'

View the word count for the document. A window displaying the word count along with the number of characters, paragraphs, lines, and pages will appear.

• For many documents, the word count feature will be directly displayed in the middle of the status bar at the bottom of the window. You can click this option to view more details about page count, character count, etc.

Place the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to count. Click on the start of the sentence, paragraph, or text section you wish to count the words for.

Highlight the text. Drag the cursor to the end of the paragraph, and the content will be highlighted in blue.

Click on the Tools menu. Select the Tools menu located at the top center of the document window.

Click on Word Count. Choose Word Count from the dropdown Tools menu. A window will pop up showing the number of words, characters, lines, pages, and paragraphs.

• The word count feature for the selected text is typically displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the document.

Launch the Microsoft Word mobile app. On your smartphone or tablet, tap the Word app to open it.

Open a document. The app typically opens the last document you were working on. If not, you'll see a list of recently opened files. Tap on the file you wish to work on.

Tap on the Edit menu. Once the document is open, tap the Edit menu (the uppercase 'A' icon with a pencil symbol) at the top center of the screen. The Edit menu will appear at the bottom half of the screen.

• On Word for iPad, you need to tap the 'Review' menu at the top center of the screen.

Tap on the 'Home' tab. The Home tab is located on the left side of the Edit menu. Another menu will appear.

Click on 'Review.' The Review menu can be found near the bottom of the Edit menu that just opened.

Click on 'Word Count.' The Word Count option is located near the bottom of the Review menu. Once clicked, the word count, character count, and page count for the document will appear.

• In Word for iPad, the word count feature appears as an icon with several lines and the number '123' in the main menu bar at the top left, just below the Review menu.
• Use your finger to highlight a portion of the text and then click Word Count to display the word count for the selected text.

Open Word Online. Visit office.live.com and sign in with your Microsoft ID and password, or opt to use the free version.

Open a document. You can select a recent document from the list on the left side of the screen.

• If you don't see the document you wish to edit, choose Open from OneDrive or Open from Dropbox in the lower-left corner of the window.

Check the word count. Once the document opens, look at the bottom left corner. The word count will automatically appear in the scroll bar below the document.