How to Show Word Count in Google Docs

Google Docs offers two ways to show word count in your documents. The first method is to open the Tools menu and select Word Count, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C on Windows or Cmd+Shift+C on Mac.

This will display a box showing the page count, words, characters, and characters excluding spaces. If you want to keep this counter visible while writing, tick Display word count while typing in the same box.

The live counter is a convenient feature that updates as you type. You can pin it to the screen by ticking Display word count while typing. To access the full breakdown with character counts, click on the counter and then expand it.