How to count words in a Word document
Microsoft Word shows a live word count, but it's easy to miss, differs between versions, and doesn't help when you don't have Word installed. Here are three reliable ways to count the words in a .docx file — including one that works in any browser without uploading the document anywhere.
Inside Microsoft Word — desktop, web and mobile
DESKTOP (Windows/Mac): the live count sits in the status bar at the bottom left — click it to open the full Word Count dialog (words, characters, paragraphs, lines). If the status bar doesn't show it, right-click the bar and tick Word Count. To count only PART of a document, select the text: the bar switches to “X of Y words”. Footnotes and text boxes are included only when the dialog's “Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes” checkbox is ticked — that checkbox is why two people can get different numbers from the same file.
WORD FOR THE WEB: open Review → Word Count. The web dialog doesn't offer the footnote checkbox, so its number can differ from desktop Word on documents with notes.
WORD MOBILE (iOS/Android): in recent app versions, tap the word-count icon in the top bar while editing (or find Word Count under the edit menu). Steps verified 2026-07-24 — menu placement shifts between app versions, so if the icon moved, search Help for “word count”.
In Google Docs
Upload the .docx to Google Drive, open it with Google Docs, then press Ctrl+Shift+C (⌘+Shift+C on a Mac) or use Tools → Word count. Docs counts visible body text — headers, footers and footnotes are excluded, which is why a Docs count is often slightly lower than Word's for the same document.
In your browser, without uploading — and what gets counted
If you just need the number — for a submission limit, a translation quote, or an assignment — you don't need Word at all. Drop the .docx onto the word counter: the file is read entirely inside your browser tab, the text never leaves your device, and you get words, characters, sentences and reading time instantly. It works with .txt and .md files too.
What our parser counts, verified against a test document: body paragraphs and inline text boxes are INCLUDED; footnotes, headers and footers are EXCLUDED — so the number matches Word's default count (checkbox off) for ordinary documents. Want to check that yourself? Download the [test document](/static/fixtures/wordcount-fixture.docx) (25 words: two body paragraphs + one text box; its footnote and header are not counted) and drop it in — you should see exactly 25.
Why counts differ between tools
There is no single official definition of a "word". Word treats hyphenated compounds as one word; some tools split them. Footnotes, captions, text boxes, headers and footers are included by some counters and skipped by others. Numbers and standalone punctuation are counted differently too. Differences of 1–3% between tools are normal — if you're working against a strict limit, check which tool the recipient uses and leave a small margin.
What each tool includes in its count
| Microsoft Word (desktop) | Body text; footnotes/endnotes/text boxes only when the dialog checkbox is ticked |
| Word for the web | Body text only; no include-footnotes option |
| Google Docs | Visible body text; headers, footers and footnotes excluded |
| This site (.docx drop) | Main document text, read locally in your browser; headers/footers excluded |
| Plain .txt file | Everything in the file — no hidden parts exist |
Try it: a test document with a known count
The fixture has exactly 25 countable words — two body paragraphs (19) plus an inline text box (6). Its footnote and header are deliberately excluded, so you can see what the browser parser reads.
Download wordcount-fixture.docx Then drop it into the word counter
Word desktop/web/mobile steps verified 2026-07-24 against Microsoft's help documentation; the footnote-checkbox behavior is quoted from the Word Count dialog. The 25-word test document is generated by us and verified against this site's actual parser — no Microsoft deep links (they rot; the UI path is named instead).
Drop your .docx into the word counter
How do I check the word count of a docx without Word?
Open it in Google Docs, or drop the file into a browser-based counter like this one — the count appears instantly and the file never leaves your device.
Does Word count footnotes and text boxes?
Only if the "Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes" checkbox in the Word Count dialog is ticked. That's the most common reason two people get different counts from the same file.
Is it safe to upload a confidential document to an online word counter?
Only if the counter processes the file locally. This site's counter reads the .docx entirely inside your browser — nothing is uploaded — which you can verify by loading the page and then going offline before dropping the file.