pdf tool
PDF word count, page by page
Drop a PDF to get its word count: total words, characters with and without spaces, and how many pages carry text, plus a table for every page. Type a page range to count only the body, the way most word limits are set, and download the table as CSV.
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- Runs on your device, nothing is uploaded
- Free, no sign in
- No watermark, no file limit
How it works
- 1
Drop the PDF
The text of every page is read in this page, with a progress bar for long files.
- 2
Read the totals
Words, characters with and without spaces, and how many pages carry text, with the reading time underneath.
- 3
Narrow it to the body
Type a range such as 3-40 to leave out a cover, the contents or the references. Pages outside the range stay in the table, greyed and marked not counted.
- 4
Copy or download
Copy the totals as a sentence, or download the page by page table as CSV for a spreadsheet. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored, ever.
How the words are counted
Each page's text runs are read with pdf.js and put back into lines in reading order, with two column pages read left column first. A word split by a hyphen at the end of a line is joined back up, so a justified paragraph does not gain extra words. The text is then split at spaces and line breaks, and every piece that holds at least one letter or digit counts as one word. Characters with spaces count every character plus one space between words; characters without spaces leave the spaces out.
Counting toward a word limit
Essay, thesis and grant limits usually leave out the title page, the contents, the reference list and the appendices, and sometimes tables and footnotes too. Read the rules, find the page numbers in the table, and type the body's range, such as 4-38. The cards and the reading time follow the range. Footnotes and captions on the pages you include are still counted, so subtract them by hand if the rules exclude them.
Why it differs from your word processor
A word processor counts from the document itself, where it knows which text is a footnote, a field or a hidden comment. A PDF only holds positioned text, so a running header, a page number and a footer line are counted here on every page, and a word processor that skips them reports fewer. Hyphenated compounds, numbers with spaces in them and symbols are also handled differently by each program, so a gap of a few words a page is normal.
Limits worth knowing
A scanned PDF is a set of pictures, so it has no words to count and reports zero, with a message saying so; run it through OCR software first. Text inside images, charts and diagrams is not counted for the same reason. A page that mixes typed text with a scanned signature counts only the typed part. Long files are read page by page with a progress bar, and nothing is sent anywhere, so a 300 page thesis takes a little longer but stays on your device.
The reading time
The reading time under the cards uses 238 words a minute, the average silent reading rate for adults reading non-fiction in English found by a 2019 review of 190 studies. To see a careful and a quick pace beside it, put the word count into the reading time calculator, which shows all three. Treat the figure as a guide for documents people study rather than skim, because a contract or a thesis chapter is read more slowly than an article.
Limits
- Scanned PDFs without a text layer count zero. The page names the pages with no text and says to run OCR first.
- Every run of text is counted, headers, footers, page numbers and footnotes included; use the page range to leave out whole pages.
- A word is any run of characters between spaces that holds a letter or a digit, so 1,250 and e-mail count as one word each and a lone bullet counts as none.
- Word processors count slightly differently, so expect a small gap against the same text counted in a word processor.
What it does not do
- It does not count words inside images, charts or scanned pages.
- It does not leave out headers, footers or footnotes by itself.
- It does not count comments or the values typed into form fields.
Questions people ask
Does it count the words in a table?
Yes. Text in a table is ordinary text in a PDF, so every cell's words are counted along with the rest of the page. Many word limits leave tables out, so if yours does, either take those pages out of the range or subtract the table's words by hand after counting them on their own in the word counter.
Can it count words in a scanned PDF?
No, a scan has no text to count, so it reports zero and names the pages with no text layer. Run the file through OCR software first; most scanner apps and PDF editors offer it as recognise text. The OCR output keeps the page picture and adds an invisible text layer, which this tool can then count.
Why is my count higher than in my word processor?
Usually because the PDF repeats things the original document holds once, such as a running header, a page number and a footer line on every page. On a 30 page report that can add a few hundred words. Use the page by page table to see which pages run high, and count only the body with a page range.
Are footnotes and references counted?
Yes. Everything printed as text on the pages you include is counted, footnotes and the reference list among them. If your limit leaves out the references, find where they start in the page table and end your range on the page before. Footnotes sit on the same pages as the body, so subtract them by hand if the rules ask.
Does the PDF leave my device?
No. The PDF is read by this page on your device, and no network request carries it or its text, which you can confirm in the network tab of your browser while it counts. Nothing is stored either, so an unpublished thesis, a contract or a manuscript leaves no copy anywhere when you close the tab.
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Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .