Having to see the live word count of whatever you are writing in the document makes it easier to focus on the pace and quality of your writing. Thankfully, Google Docs lets us do that with very less effort.
Word counts may also be used to calculate measures of readability and to measure typing and reading speeds (usually in words per minute).
By the end of this blog, you will learn how to turn on the word count while typing on Google Docs. It is also perfectly accurate with its numbers, making it easy to focus less on numbers and concentrate on our writing.
While Google Docs does offer a word count feature, Google eased the option with it by providing a word count while you type.
Here’s how you can see word count while typing on Google Docs:
- Open Google Docs on a browser, doesn’t matter which browser, and open a text-filled document.
- Look at the top right on the menu and you will find the “Tools” section click on Tools.
- After that, navigate down to the “Word Count”.
- When you click word count, a mini menu will pop up which shows all the necessary information about the word count.
- Tick mark the section where it says “Display word count while typing”.
- Now click on “OK” to enable the change.
- So now you can see a small drop-down displaying your word count on the screen’s bottom-left corner.
- The drop-down only displays your word count by default, but other options are tucked away therein.
Such as:
- Pages
- Words
- Characters
- Characters (Excluding Spaces)
- Hide Word Count
Often writers feel distracted by the drop-down shown below.
The last option, Hide Word Count can be used to hide the drop-down if you feel interrupted by it.
If you are better off without the drop-down in the corner of your screen and prefer checking your word count occasionally, you can untick the Display Word Count While Typing option from earlier. This way, you’ll only be able to see your word count when you go to the Tools > Word Count menu.
You can also access this option through a keyboard shortcut which is “Ctrl+Shift+C”. When you enter this shortcut on your keyboard the same mini menu will pop up that you have seen when going through the “Tools” section
So now you have learned how to check the word count while typing on your Google Docs and you can use it whenever you have a certain word limit or target to reach while you are writing something.