When writing essays, articles, or grant proposals in Google Docs, you are often restricted by strict word limits. While Google Docs has a prominent tool for displaying the word count of your entire document, sometimes you only need to know the length of a specific section, such as an introduction, a single paragraph, or a block quote. Fortunately, Google Docs makes it incredibly easy to isolate the word count for any highlighted text without requiring you to copy and paste it into a separate document.
How to Find the Word Count of a Selection
The process utilizes the same word count menu that you would use for the entire document, but the output dynamically changes based on what you have highlighted.
- Open your document in Google Docs.
- Use your mouse or trackpad to click and drag over the specific text you want to measure. The selected text will be highlighted in light blue.
- With the text still highlighted, click on the Tools menu located in the top navigation bar.
- Select Word count from the drop-down menu. (Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + C on Windows or Command + Shift + C on Mac).
Understanding the Output
A small pop-up box will appear in the centre of your screen. Because you highlighted text before opening the menu, the statistics will be presented as a fraction rather than a single number.
For example, you might see:
- Words: 150 of 2,400
- Characters: 840 of 14,000
The first number (150) is the word count of the specific paragraph you highlighted. The second number (2,400) is the total word count of the entire document. This format allows you to see both the size of your selection and its proportion relative to the whole text instantly.
Enable the On-Screen Word Count Display
If you are actively editing a paragraph to fit a specific length, opening the Tools menu repeatedly is tedious. You can set the word count to remain visible on your screen.
- In the Word Count pop-up box, check the box labelled Display word count while typing.
- Click OK.
A small, floating box will appear in the bottom-left corner of your screen showing your total word count. If you highlight a paragraph, that floating box will instantly update to show the word count of your selection (e.g., “150 of 2,400 words”). When you click away to unselect the text, it will revert to the total count.