A PDF word counter for quotes, limits and invoices
Translators price by the word, journals and universities set word limits, and editors estimate time from length. A PDF word counter answers the question without retyping the document into a word processor. This one reads the text layer of the PDF on your device and shows six numbers: words, characters with spaces, characters without spaces, pages, sentences and reading time.
How words are counted
A word is any run of characters between spaces or line breaks, the same rule most word processors use. So 12%, e-mail and www.example.com each count as one word. Characters with spaces include the spaces between words but not line breaks. Sentences are counted from full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, so lists and headings without punctuation are not counted as sentences.
Reading time assumes about 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for non-fiction found in a large 2019 review of reading studies. Technical text reads slower, light text faster.
Why the count can differ from Word
- Headers, footers and page numbers are part of the PDF pages, so they are counted. Word counts the main text only.
- Footnotes and text boxes are always counted here. In Word, that depends on its settings.
- Hyphenated line breaks: a word split as
exam-andpleacross two lines counts as two words. - Tables: every cell counts as written, including numbers.
To count only the body of a document, give a page range that skips the cover, contents and references.
Typical uses
- Translation quotes: agencies charge per source word, so count the original before accepting a job.
- Essay and article limits: check a submission exported to PDF against the word limit, leaving out references with a page range.
- Page-based billing: the page count and words per page help estimate typing, proofreading or printing costs.
Scanned PDFs
A scanned page is a picture of text, so there are no words to count. The counter lists the pages without a text layer instead of quietly reporting zero. Run such files through OCR software first. Most scanner apps can add a text layer when they save.
Related tools
To see the text itself, use PDF to text. For text you can paste, the word counter gives the same figures plus keyword frequency.