How to count the words in a PDF

Word processors show a word count in the status bar, but PDF viewers rarely do. Yet a word count is exactly what a translation quote, an editing estimate or a submission limit is based on. Here is how to get an accurate one, and how to decide what should count.

Get the count step by step

1. Open PDF to Text and add the file. The text is extracted in your browser.
2. Read the Words figure, along with characters and the number of pages that contain text.
3. If you need to exclude parts, such as the references, copy the text into the Word Counter, delete what should not count and read the new total.

Why a scanned PDF shows zero words

A scanned PDF is a set of pictures of pages. There is no text inside it to count, so the extractor reports that some or all pages contain no text. To count it, the pages must be read with OCR first: export them as images and run them through Image to Text. The guide to getting text out of a scanned PDF walks through it. Expect the OCR count to be close but not exact.

Why two counts disagree

Different tools can give different totals for the same file. The usual reasons:

• Headers, footers and page numbers. A running title on every page of a 40-page document adds a few hundred words.
• Hyphenated line breaks. A word split across two lines, such as “docu-” and “ment”, may be counted as two words.
• Tables and figures. Every cell becomes separate text, including numbers.
• Footnotes, captions and references. Some counts include them; many submission rules do not.
• Dashes and symbols. Some tools count “—” or “&” as words, others do not.

For a quote or a limit, a difference of 1–2% is normal. Agree with the other party which tool and which parts count, and state it on the quote.

Counting for a translation quote

Translators normally quote on source words. Before counting, decide whether repeated boilerplate, such as the same disclaimer on every page, should be charged in full. Remove repeats in the Word Counter to see the difference. The “Mark where each page starts” option in PDF to Text helps when you need a count per page or per section.

When the quote is per character

For Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which do not separate words with spaces, translators and agencies usually count characters instead of words. Some publishers and subtitle services do the same in any language. PDF to Text gives a character count alongside the word count. Whether spaces are included changes the figure by roughly a sixth in English, so say which you mean; the guide to characters with and without spaces explains the difference.

Turning a count into time

Once you have the total, the Word Counter also estimates reading and speaking time. For how those estimates work, see how long it takes to read or say 1,000 words.