How to count words in Google Docs

Have you created a document on Google Docs and would like to see the total number of written words but haven’t found the right option to do so? Do you often use Google’s online word processing service and would like to count the words and characters included in a document in real-time, but don’t know how? If the answer to at least one of these questions is yes, don’t worry: you’ve come to the right place at the right time!

With today’s guide, in fact, I will explain how to count words on Google Documents by providing you with all the information you need to succeed in your intent, both from a computer and from smartphones and tablets. In addition to the walkthrough for viewing the total number of words and characters in the entire document and in a specific piece of text, you’ll also find instructions to enable real-time word count as you type.

How do you say? Is that exactly what you wanted to know? So let’s not dwell further and see how to proceed. Make yourself comfortable, set aside five minutes of free time, and dedicate yourself to reading the next paragraphs. By following my instructions carefully and trying to put them into practice, I assure you that counting the words available in a document on Google Docs will be really a breeze. Let it bet?

Index

• How to count words in Google Docs from a computer
• How to count words in Google Docs from Android
• How to count words in Google Docs from iPhone / iPad

How to count words in Google Docs from a computer

If your intention is to count words in Google Docs, you will be pleased to know that the famous word processing service from Google allows you to view the total number of words and characters of both an entire document and a specific piece of text. In addition, there is also a function that allows word count in real-time.

To view the number of words written in Google Docs from a computer, connected to the main page of the service and, after logging in with your Google account, open the document of your interest among those available in the Recent Documents section.

If, on the other hand, you are reading this guide for information and you have not yet created a new document on Google Docs, select the Blank option, to create a new blank text document, or choose one of the ready-to-use templates from those available in the Create a new document section. In that regard, my guide on how to create a Google Docs document might be useful.

At this point, click on the Tools menu located at the top and choose the Word Count option from the latter, in order to view the total number of words, characters, characters without spaces, and pages available within the document in question. Please note that you can also view this data using the key combination Ctrl + Shift + C (on Mac it is cmd + shift + d ).

In the same way, you can also proceed to count the number of words in a specific portion of text. In this case, select the part of the text you are interested in and then click on the Tools and Word Count options: in the Word Count screen, you will be able to see both the number of words and characters in the selected text and those present in the entire document.

How do you say? Would you like to count words in Google Docs in real-time as you type text? In this case, click on the Tools menu at the top, select the Word count item from the latter, put the checkmark next to the option Display word count as you type and press the OK button to save the changes

At this point you will be able to see, through the box that appeared at the bottom left, the number of words written while typing: by pressing on the item Words and selecting one of the other options available among Characters, Characters without spaces and Pages, you can also monitor in real-time the number of characters in the document or the number of pages that compose it.

How to count words in Google Docs from Android

To count words in Google Docs from Android, take your device, start the Google Docs app and tap on the document of your interest (or press the + button to create an empty one).

At this point, tap on the three dots icon, at the top right, select the Word count option from the menu that is proposed to you and, in the new screen displayed, you will be able to see the total number of words ( Words ), characters ( Characters ) and characters without spaces ( Characters excluding spaces ) present in the document. Note that header, footer, and footnote words and characters are not counted.

If, on the other hand, you want to count the words and characters of a specific portion of text, first select the text of your interest and tap the ✓ button to confirm the selection. Once this is done, press the three dots icon, select the Word count option and, in the new screen displayed, you can see the number of words and characters present both in the previously selected text part and in the entire document.

Finally, I point out that using the Google Docs app it is not possible to activate and view the word count in real-time while typing.

How to count words in Google Docs from iPhone / iPad

If you have an iPhone / iPad, you should know that the procedure for viewing the words present in a document on Google Docs is almost identical to what I indicated above to do it from an Android device.

To proceed, start the Google Docs app and, if necessary, log in with the Google account of your interest. Once this is done, locate the document of your interest in the section Last opened by me and tap on its title to open it. Alternatively, press the + button at the bottom right to create a new document.

Now, tap on the three dots icon, at the top right, select the Word count option and, in the new screen displayed, you will be able to view the total number of words, characters and characters without spaces in the document.

To see the count of words and characters of a specific paragraph or portion of text, instead, access the main screen of the document again, double-tap the screen of your iPhone / iPad, select the part of text for which you want to count the words and tap the ✓ button. Then press on the three dots icon, select the Word count option and that’s it.

Like on Android, you can’t see the real-time count when typing text.