Have you ever been working on a writing project, and wondered how much progress you are making? Whether you are typing up a report for a client, working on a college essay, or writing out chapters for your new novel, knowing how many words you are producing is important in tracking your development. One helpful practice for writers who are up-and-coming, or even for well-established authors, is to check the number of words they have written. Through the simple and quick to use word count tool on Google Docs, staying updated on your word count is easy!
What is Google Docs?
With nearly 1 billion users around the world, Google Drive is host to Google Docs, which a free, online, cloud-based word processor. Google Docs enables individuals to create, edit, share, and save documents online, as well as allows access to those documents via any device with internet. Google Docs is particularly great for working on group documents because up to 10 people can actively work on a shared document at the same time, and up to 200 people can simultaneously view a Google Docs file. Google Docs even has an offline option where users can select recent files to work on while their device is offline. One advantage to working on your writing products in Google Docs is that, unlike the traditional pen-to-paper writing method, you can track the amount of work you are producing through word count!
What is Word Count?
Google Docs has many helpful tools that can streamline your writing progress. Word count is one of those valuable tools because it not only tells you how many words you have written, it also shares the page length of your document, and the number of characters you have penned (both with and without spaces). There is also the option within the word count tool to display your word count as you type. While Google Docs offers a built-in method for checking your word count, there are also several online word counter options outside of Google Docs that provide live updates of your word, character, sentence, page, and even paragraph counts, as well as other features such as grammar tips.
Why Would You use Word Count?
While the quality of your writing is important, so is the quantity. Everyone, whether you are monitoring your document to make sure that you are hitting a required word count in a 500-word essay or checking that your application to a job fits a word count limit, the word count feature is essential. Not only does a word counter lay out your document’s number of words and spaces, enlisting the help of a word counter also saves you time from having to count out the words out yourself. They also eliminate any worries you may have about word count maximums and minimums, allowing you to write with reduced stress. Whether you are a person who writes for academic purposes, for journals, for legal proceedings, or even just for fun, it’s worth your consideration to use a word counter during your writing process!
How to check Word Count on Google Docs?
Checking your word count in Google Docs is a straight-forward process that only takes a few clicks. The Google Docs’ word count tool is also flexible to use because it can be activated on the website via a desktop or laptop, or on the Google Docs app on your smartphone. To use the word counter on your computer, simply go to the Tools menu in your Google Doc, and select Word Count. A small box will pop up with the number of pages, words, characters, and characters excluding spaces. There are also ways to search for Word Count in the Google Docs app, with the process varying depending on your device.