When writing an essay, school application, document, article, blog or other assignment (even cover letters), you may want to keep an eye on your word count. Even short form content such as social media platforms' requirements (Twitter for example) need careful attention paid to word count!
There are a few ways to do this but today, we'll concentrate on using word count for Google Docs, which has a few customization options.
Why Google Docs is a Popular Choice for Writing Essays and Other Assignments
Most organizations today, including schools, colleges and businesses, use Google Docs as a method of sharing entire documents quickly and easily because it allows for collaboration with other people and it's a failsafe method for producing helpful articles.
Google Docs has various features that make typing up information relatively simple, but what if you have a particular brief to follow that dictates the final word count allowed? How do you know for sure that you’re using the correct word count in your document?
In this piece, we’ll examine the topic in greater depth and give you another brilliant option that gives you a good overall assessment of your total, accurate word count along with other beneficial features.
Where Can You Use Google Docs?
You can use Google Docs on a desktop, laptop or device such as an iPad, iPhone, Android or other tablet. We'd recommend using a desktop or laptop as this is a desktop application and they display word count fairly easily plus the screen is large enough to read properly.
What Documents Require a Target Word Count?
Certain documents require specific word count. For example, short blog posts will usually allow for 500 to 750 words whereas longform content usually comprises around 1500 words. You may need to write a job application which shouldn't be too short but also shouldn't be too wordy! Even a simple letter shouldn't be too long and might require specific word count.
Of course, press releases are shorter, approximately 400 words and technical content often longer – in excess of 2,000 words. So if your brief is for a particular amount of words, keeping an eye on word count using a count box is essential.
Calculating Word Count on a Google Doc Using a Laptop or Desktop
Using a laptop or desktop is the easiest way to type up a document because of screen size and keyboard. While some tablets can attach themselves to a keyboard, we'd still suggest using a laptop or desktop because they include specific features of editing.
Follow this useful step by step guide with quick steps to achieve what you want!
- Open up a Google Doc using your browser (Chrome is an excellent browser to use for this purpose).
- Access the drop-down menu.
- Select the Tools icon on the menu bar.
- Move the cursor to Word Count (or you could click Command+Shift+C if you’re using an Apple keyboard).
- You will see the total word count displayed.
- If you only want to check a portion of your document, for example, a paragraph or a few sentences, just highlight the required text.
Calculating Word Count on an Android Phone or Android Tablet
You can still check the word count for your Google Doc using an Android or iPhone device. Here’s what to do on an Android:
- Open your Android device.
- Use the Google Doc app (if you don’t have it, download it from the relevant store).
- Note the vertical dots in the right hand corner, tap on these.
- Next, select Word Count.
Calculating Word Count on an iOS Phone or Tablet
Here’s how to calculate word count for your Google Doc on an iPhone device:
- Open your iOS device.
- Use the Google Doc app (again, if you don’t have it installed, download it from the App Store).
- Note the horizontal docs in the right-hand corner, tap the app icon.
- Next, select Word Count.
Word Count and More
The Word Count tool on Google Docs has some useful, additional built-in word count features. It also displays other important elements, such as character counts, special characters, letter counts, symbol counts, numbers, spaces and even character count without spaces.
If you use a desktop or laptop, you’ll also see your Google Docs’ page quantity, which is especially useful if you're writing a speech and want minimum pages.
We’d always recommend using a Chrome browser because you’ll note the number of words as you type – just look on the left corner of your page, at the bottom.
The biggest problem using Google Docs is if you're writing a PDF. It's not good for PDF editors, as you'd need to convert your PDF into Word and copy it over to Google Docs - quite an intricate and long-winded task!
Other Ways to Check Word Count for Your Google Doc
As well as using the Google Doc tools, there’s another method you could use instead, which gives you bonus features, plus it has many other simple editing features that make life easier!
While there are numerous platforms you could use, we’re talking about Originality AI. This reputable and reliable online word counting tool is easy to use. Simply copy over the text from your Google Doc and paste it into the document editor box. The writing platform Originality AI calculates the overall word count in real time, as well as assessing character count, sentence count, paragraph count and more.
What About AI-Generated Content and Plagiarism?
This particular word counter tool is very useful as it also detects AI-generated content – crucial for many assignments, particularly school assignments and college essays. Furthermore, it detects plagiarism so you always know that your work is 100% original!
What Text Does Google’s Word Count Ignore?
Do bear in mind that the Google Docs’ word counter excludes certain text as follows:
- Headers.
- Footers.
- Footnotes.
- Certain symbols.
In Summary
While you can use Google Docs’ features to calculate word count for any type of text, even a slide presentation, sometimes it’s better to use an online tool that’s specifically designed for the task.
That’s one reason why students and professionals rely on Originality AI as the most popular option. Its results are always completely accurate and it offers additional features that prove vital when producing the perfect end result. Why not try it for your current writing project?
