Check Word and Character Count in Word with a Screen Reader
Find the word and character counts in Microsoft Word using the keyboard, then hear the statistics with NVDA or follow the original JAWS demonstration.
You can check how long a document is without leaving the keyboard. Word’s status bar gives you a quick word count, and the Word Count dialog adds character counts and other statistics.
This guide accompanies my August 13, 2020 video, recorded on Windows 10 with JAWS 2018 and NVDA. The steps below are for Word on Windows desktop. I checked current Microsoft and NVDA documentation in September 2026; the recording’s voices and interface reflect the versions used at the time.
Check the count from the status bar
- Open your document in the Windows desktop version of Word. If you want a count for only part of it, select that text first. Otherwise, leave no text selected.
- Press F6 until your screen reader announces the status bar. Shift+F6 cycles in the other direction.
- Use Left Arrow or Right Arrow to find Word Count. Listen for the word total.
- Press Enter on Word Count to open the detailed statistics.
- When finished, press Escape to close the dialog. If focus remains on the status bar, use F6 until you hear the document editing area.
In the video, I move through the status bar with each screen reader. The arrow-key directions above follow Microsoft’s current Windows guidance.
Hear the statistics with NVDA
In my recording, NVDA reads the statistics when the Word Count dialog opens. If you want to hear them again, press NVDA+B while the dialog is active. NVDA’s current user guide calls this command Read active window.
The NVDA key is whichever modifier you have configured, commonly Insert or Caps Lock. I use Insert+B in the video.
Tab and Shift+Tab move between controls such as Close and the checkbox. They may not stop on each statistic because the numbers are text rather than separate controls. Use NVDA+B to hear the dialog again instead of repeatedly tabbing past the information.
What the numbers mean
The dialog distinguishes words from characters, and characters with spaces from characters without spaces. It also reports pages, paragraphs and lines. Choose the figure your assignment or submission form actually asks for.
My example document has 337 words, 1,678 characters without spaces and 1,973 characters with spaces. Your totals will depend on your document and any selected text. A character total announced while selecting text is not the same thing as a word count.
The recording also shows an Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes checkbox. Check its state when those parts of a document matter to your required count.
The JAWS demonstration in the original video
I demonstrate the status-bar route with JAWS 2018 before switching to NVDA. In that recording, I use the JAWS cursor to review the detailed statistics, then return to the PC cursor and close the dialog.
This describes the older demonstration, not a requirement that every current JAWS version needs the same cursor change. The Word controls and the screen reader’s way of reading the dialog are separate parts of the task. Watch the JAWS section for the recorded behavior, and consult your version’s help if the dialog is announced differently.
If you cannot find Word Count
As an alternative to the status bar, press Alt+Q in Word and search for word count. Use Down Arrow to review the results and choose the Word Count command. This is an additional route based on Microsoft’s current command-search guidance, rather than a step demonstrated in the video.
These instructions target Word on Windows desktop. Word in a browser has different navigation shortcuts, so first confirm which version you have open.
About the original recording
The video was published on August 13, 2020. The JAWS section starts at 1:09, and the switch to NVDA begins at 4:28. Keep the written steps nearby as a quick reference when you next need a count.