Count words in Word documents, slides, and spreadsheets
Drop a .docx, .pptx, or .xlsx file. See words and characters for each part — body, text boxes, headers, footnotes, comments, speaker notes, hidden slides, cells — and choose which parts count. Your file never leaves this browser.
Drop a .docx, .pptx, or .xlsx file
or
The file is read in your browser. It is not uploaded.
Counting happens in this browser tab. The file is not uploaded and is gone when you close the tab.
Why the number differs from Word
Part
Word
This tool
Headers and footers
Word never counts them.
Off by default. Turn on to include them, once each.
Comments
Word never counts them.
Off by default. Turn on to include them.
Text boxes, footnotes, endnotes
Counted when “Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes” is ticked (the default).
On by default, each in its own row.
Numbers
Counted as words.
Counted unless you turn “Count numbers as words” off.
Symbols on their own
Can count a lone symbol as a word.
Not counted.
How words are counted
- A word is anything between spaces, tabs, or line breaks. Words joined by hyphens, apostrophes, or dots count once: well-known, don’t, U.S., example.com.
- Symbols on their own (— & •) are not words. Numbers on their own (2026, 3.5, $1,200) count only when “Count numbers as words” is on. Mixed ones (A4, 2nd, v1.2) always count.
- Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and similar text written without spaces is split into words by your browser’s built-in dictionary, so results can differ slightly between browsers. Korean uses spaces and follows the first rule.
- Characters are counted as you see them: an emoji or an accented letter is one character.
- Text boxes are counted once. Word files store a second copy of each text box for older programs; that copy is skipped.
- Deleted text under tracked changes and hidden field codes are not counted. Each header or footer counts once, not once per page.
- Slide numbers and dates added automatically are not counted. Speaker notes count only the notes text, not the slide picture.
- In spreadsheets, each cell counts on its own, even if the same text appears in many cells.