PlayInfoBox

Home /Utilities /How to Show a Live Word Count in Word's Status Bar

How to Show a Live Word Count in Word's Status Bar

Tap each step to see how to show a live word count in Word.

  1. Check the status bar at the bottom of the screen

    Look at the bottom of the Word window to see whether it already shows something like "Words: 000."

  2. If it's missing, right-click the status bar to add it

    Right-clicking the status bar opens a list of items you can display; make sure Word Count is checked.

  3. Select part of the text to see a selection count too

    Dragging to select part of the document shows the count as "selected words/total words" in the status bar.

  4. Click the word count area for full statistics

    Clicking the word count in the status bar opens a detailed window showing page count, character count, and line count as well.

  5. Why it helps

    When you're writing something with a word or character limit, keeping the count visible in the status bar lets you check it in real time while typing, without opening a separate dialog.

Writing something with a strict word limit?

When you're working on an assignment or an article with a fixed word or character limit, you need to keep checking you haven't gone over. Keeping the word count visible in the status bar lets you track it in real time as you type, instead of stopping to open a check dialog.

Also worth learning: counting how many times a specific word appears

If you're curious how many times a particular word shows up in your document, Word's Find feature can be adapted to count individual word occurrences too, which pairs well with keeping an eye on the overall count.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are spaces included in the character count?

Opening the detailed statistics window shows separate counts for characters with spaces and characters without spaces.

Does it count text inside tables or footnotes too?

Yes. By default the count includes not just the main body text but also text inside tables, footnotes, and text boxes.