Characters are individual units of written text. It can be a letter, punctuation mark, number, space, or symbol. Each number, each letter of a word, and each symbol counts as one character.
If you prefer, you can count the number of characters through online tools, Microsoft Word apps, or Google Docs.
3 Easy Ways to Count Letters
It is often necessary to count the number of characters in a text for a variety of reasons, such as checking character limits or adjusting the length of a marketing campaign. The following are the most common ways to count characters
Method 1: Use online tools (easy and fast)
This is probably one of the quickest and easiest ways to do this. Simply copy the text and paste it into the tool or type it in. The tool will instantly provide you with the exact number of characters.
Many users prefer this method because there is no need to download software such as MS Word or create a Gmail account to access Google Docs. You can count the number of characters with a single click.
Here is an example of using the character count tool. To get an accurate character count, the following text was entered into the tool
Today is Valentine's Day! Do you like chocolate? If so, I hope you have a wonderful time."
This tool not only displayed the number of letters, but also provided other relevant information such as word count, sentence count, and most importantly, reading time.
Interested in the tool pictured above? It is from Pre-Post Ceo. To access this tool, please visit the website.
No wonder users prefer the letter counting tool over other methods, since this tool does it quickly and efficiently.
Method 2: Use Microsoft Word (requires software installation)
Another option is to use Microsoft Word, a widely used software for writing and word processing. As you type or edit a document, all characters are automatically calculated, regardless of word count, text page, line, paragraph, or space.
Before trying this method, however, you must first download the software. Once that is done, here is what you need to do next
Procedures to follow:.
- Open the required text file in MS Word. This can be a new or existing document. You can also type in text.
- Look at the top and bottom right of the page (see image below)
- Press where the arrow points to open a new pop-up box with more information about the word and number of letters.
As you can see above, you can easily get an accurate character count with or without spaces.
You can also access this dialog box by going to the "Review" tab at the top and clicking on the "Word Count" button.
Method 3: Use Google Docs (account creation required)
Like MS Word, Google Docs can count the number of characters in an online document file. However, you will need a Google/Gmail account to use this method. Once you have signed in to your Google Account, follow these steps to count the number of characters
- Open the required file in Google Docs. You can also copy and paste the text.
- Press "Tools" on the menu bar.
- Select "Number of Characters."
- A dialog box appears, displaying the exact number of characters.
- This dialog can also be accessed via the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C.
As shown above, the number of characters with and without spaces is available. Google Docs automatically records characters and words. You can check it anytime while creating or editing a text file.
summary
If you are looking for an easy and quick way to count the number of characters in any text, using an online character counting tool is probably your best option. However, there are other options available, including MS Word and Google Docs. In this post, we have discussed all three.