Microsoft Word contains an easy-to-use, built-in feature for keeping track of your word count.
While you type, Microsoft Word automatically counts the number of words in a document for you. MS Word also shows pages, paragraphs, lines, and a character count. You can quickly find the current word count in Microsoft Word.
This article will show you how to view the word count for a part of a text or your entire document in MS Word.
Note: Instructions in this article apply to Word 365, Word 365 for Mac, Word 2021, Word 2021 for Mac, Word 2019, Word 2019 for Mac, Word 2016, and Word 2016 for Mac. In this guide, we’re using Word 365 as an example.
Where is Word Count in Microsoft Word?
In Microsoft Word, you can easily find the word count feature in the status bar at the bottom of the Word document. Or click Review > Word Count in the Proofing group to open the Word Count dialog box.
How to Check the Word Count in Word for Windows
In Word for Windows, you can see the word count for your entire Word document or just a part of a text.
Get the Word Count of a Complete Document
The status bar, which displays the word count by default, is the easiest way to see the word count of your entire Word document. You can locate the word count in the document at the bottom, to the left of the status bar.
If you don’t see the word count in the status bar, it could have been disabled before. To bring back the word count in your document, right-click anywhere in the status bar and select “Word Count” from the context menu.
Or, select the “Review” tab in the ribbon, then click “Word Count” from the Proofing group to see the word count.
The Word Count dialog box will pop up. You can check the word count next to Words.
Shortcut: Press Ctrl + Shift + G on your keyboard to display the Word Count dialog box.
Get the Word Count of Part of a Document
In a Word document, you can also get the word count of part of a document. It is helpful if you need to keep the entire Word document under a specific word count. But believe you’re being wordy in one part of a document.
All you need to do is click and drag your mouse over the text to highlight the part of a text to get the word count.
Once highlighted, you can see the selected word count in the status bar in an x of y words format. Here, x shows the highlighted word count, and y displays the total word count of the entire document.
Or, highlight the text you want to see the word count for and choose “Word Count” from the “Review” tab. Then in the Word Count dialog box, look at the number next to Words.
Tip: The Word Count dialog box shows the statistics of the entire document. Such as Pages, Words, Paragraphs, Characters (with or without spaces), and Lines.
How to Check the Word Count in Word for Mac
You can also check the word count of a complete Word document (or a part of it) on Mac. Here’s how.
Get the Word Count of a Complete Document
To see the word count of your complete Word document, check the word count in the status bar at the bottom. The word count feature is enabled here by default.
If you don’t get the word count, it might have been disabled before. To enable the word count feature, right-click on the status bar and select “Word Count.“
You can also check the word count of an entire document. To do so, click the “Tools” menu at the top and select “Word Count” from the list.
The word count appears next to Words, as seen in the image below.
Get the Word Count of Part of a Document
In Word for Mac, you can also check the word count of part of a document. To do so, highlight the text by clicking and dragging your mouse cursor over the text you want to count. Once selected, look at the status bar for the word count. The first number represents the word count for the selected text.
Or, display the Word Count dialog box by clicking Tools > Word Count and then look at the number next to Words.
Checking word count in Microsoft Word isn’t the only feature. You can also check the page, character, paragraph, and line counts. And also the amount of time you’ve spent working on a document. If you want, Microsoft Word also lets you insert a word count of your Word document into the document itself!
The shortcut to check the Word Count on a Windows computer is Ctrl + Shift +G and Command + Shift + G on a Mac. These shortcuts will display the Word Count dialog box on a PC or Mac.
To enable word count in MS Word, right-click anywhere on the status bar of your document. Then select the Word Count from the list of options.