Counting words, lines and characters in Microsoft Word is quite an easy task. We will see how to count in both Word 2003 and Word 2007 versions, as both versions do this in slightly different manner.

How To Count Words In Word 2003

• Click on Tools -> Word Count. It will show a dialog box with number of words, lines and characters.
• If you want to know the word count in particular selection; select the portion and them click Tools -> Word Count. It will show summary for that selection only.
• Other way is Word Count Floating Toolbar. Click Tools -> Word Count. Click on the button Show Toolbar. Floating toolbar will appear which will show you number of words in the document. If you update your document or want to know number of words in particular selection, click on Recount on that toolbar.
• Also by clicking on the drop-down button in the toolbar, you will be able to see character count, line count, pages and paragraph count too.

How To Count Words In Word 2007

• With the release of Microsoft Word 2007, counting of words has been made automatic and live in the status bar of the document.
• If you can’t see the word count in status bar, right click on the status bar and click on “Word Count” menu item. Now you can see count status in the status bar.
• If you will select portion of the text in your document, status bar will show word count for that much portion only.
• If you want to see more details like number of lines, characters, pages and paragraphs; click on Review -> Word Count in the top ribbon menu bar. That will show the dialog box with all details and counts.

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