How to use it
- Choose or drop a .docx file.
- Read the word, character and paragraph counts.
- Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.
How it works
The tool reads the document body with the mammoth library and writes the text of every paragraph, list item and table cell on its own line, with a blank line between paragraphs. All formatting is removed: fonts, bold and italic, colours, list numbers and bullets, and table structure.
Images, charts and text boxes are not included, and neither are page headers, footers or comments. Footnotes are not part of the extracted text either.
Words are counted as runs of letters and digits (apostrophes and hyphens inside a word do not split it). Characters are counted as you see them, so an emoji or an accented letter counts once.
Examples
Checking a word limit
Before submitting an essay with a 2,000-word limit, open the .docx here to see the word count of the body text.
Pasting into a form
Extract the text of a cover letter and paste it into an online application form that does not accept formatted text.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the word count different from Word's?
Word counts some things differently, for example text in footnotes and text boxes, and words joined by slashes or dashes. This tool counts only the body text, as described above.
Are list numbers kept?
No. List items come out as separate lines without their numbers or bullets, because those are generated by Word and are not part of the text.
Can I read .doc or .odt files?
No, only .docx. Save the document as .docx in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs first.
Privacy
The Word file is read in your browser. The document and its text are not uploaded, stored or included in analytics; only an anonymous event that the tool was used is counted.