Word and Character Count
The Rich Text editor displays a live word and character count in the editor footer. The counter updates in real time as you type.
What is counted
| Counted | Not counted |
|---|---|
| All visible text content | Formatting characters (Markdown syntax) |
| Text inside headings | Image alt text or URLs |
| Text inside lists | Blank lines between paragraphs |
| Text inside code blocks | HTML markup |
Word count definition
A "word" is any sequence of characters separated by whitespace. Hyphenated words (e.g., well-defined) count as one word. Numbers and punctuation attached to words are included in that word's count.
Using the count
The word and character count is displayed as:
N words · N characters
The counter is read-only — it is informational only and does not enforce limits. There is no maximum document length in the Rich Text editor.
Selected text count
When you select a portion of text, the footer counter switches to show the count for the selection only:
N words selected · N characters selected
Deselect (click elsewhere) to return to the full-document count.
Tip: Use the selection count when you need to check the length of a specific section — for example, when writing a summary or abstract with a target word count.