OpenOffice & LibreOffice
Character counter for OpenOffice and LibreOffice
Instructions on where to find the character and word count in Writer — plus a free counter you can paste text into and see the characters without spaces at once.
Character limit or target
Counted with spaces. Change the basis with the switch below.
Character limits by channel (characters with spaces)
Show text analysis
Most frequent words
- Type some text to see the most frequent words.
Word and character count in LibreOffice Writer
LibreOffice is a popular free word processor, and counting characters in its Writer component is easy. The basic word count often appears right at the bottom of the window. You'll find the more detailed figures in the menu:
- Open the document in Writer.
- Choose Tools → Word Count from the menu.
- The window shows the words and characters for the whole document or for the selected text.
Apache OpenOffice
Apache OpenOffice shows the statistics in a slightly different place:
- Choose File → Properties.
- Open the Statistics tab.
- You'll see words, characters and paragraphs.
Menu names and locations can vary by program version and interface language, so treat the paths above as a guide rather than exact commands.
Quick way: copy the text from Writer and paste it into the counter above. You'll immediately see characters with and without spaces, plus words, sentences and lines — with no menu-hunting.
What about Google Docs?
Google Docs has built-in counting too: choose Tools → Word count and you'll see words and characters. If you need the no-spaces figure or other metrics, paste the text into this online counter.
Tips and common problems
An office program's character count can sometimes surprise you, whether you're an OpenOffice, LibreOffice or Google Docs user. Here are the most common reasons the figure doesn't match what you expected:
- Headings and lists are counted in. Everything inside the text frame, including headings and list markers, affects the figure. If you want to count only the body text, select it separately.
- Headers and footers. Text in a page's headers and footers isn't always included in the basic word count, even though it appears in the printout.
- Formatting when copying. When you copy text from Writer into another program, hidden characters or extra line breaks can come along and change the character count.
- Paragraph vs. line. Writer counts paragraphs by blank lines, whereas lines depend on the window width. That is why the line count can vary even though the text stays the same.
If you want a reliable, comparable figure across different machines and programs, it's worth using the same tool every time. Paste the text into the counter above and you'll always get characters counted the same way, with and without spaces — whichever office program produced the text.
Remember: if you need characters precisely without spaces, for example for translation billing, open the character counter without spaces, where you can also choose to remove line breaks.
Recent counts
Counts are saved only in your own browser so you can return to them later. They are never sent to any server.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the word count in LibreOffice Writer?
Open the Tools menu and choose Word Count. The window shows words and characters. The basic word count often also appears in the status bar at the bottom of the window. Menu names can vary by program version and language.
What about Apache OpenOffice?
In OpenOffice you can see the character and word count under File and Properties, on the Statistics tab. That's where you'll find words, characters and paragraphs for the whole document.
Can I count only the selected text?
Yes. Select the part you want before opening the word count, and the program shows the metrics for the selected text. You can also copy the selection into this online counter.
Can I see characters without spaces?
The view in office programs varies. The most reliable way to get characters without spaces is to paste the text into this counter, which shows both the with-spaces and without-spaces figures.
Other tools and guides
Continue with these tools
Internally linked tools and guides that complement this page.