The quickest way to see your word count

Open the Word Count tool in Overleaf by clicking the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top left of the editor, then select "Word Count" from the dropdown. A popup window will appear showing your total word count, character count, and a breakdown by section if your document uses \section commands or similar structural markers.

This built-in counter includes all text in your document by default — the main body, footnotes, and citations. If you need to exclude certain parts (like a bibliography or appendix), you can use the filtering options in the Word Count window itself, or manually count specific sections by selecting just that text before opening the tool.

Key Takeaways

  • The Word Count tool is in the menu (three lines icon) at the top left of the Overleaf editor, labeled "Word Count".
  • The popup shows total words, total characters, and a section-by-section breakdown if your document uses standard LaTeX section commands.
  • By default, the counter includes everything — body text, footnotes, and citations — but you can filter what gets counted in the Word Count window.
  • If you select only part of your document before opening Word Count, the tool will count only that selection instead of the whole file.

Understanding what the Word Count tool includes

The Word Count popup shows three main numbers: Words, Characters, and Characters (no spaces). The word count is what most academic institutions and publishers ask for, and it counts each space-separated unit as one word — so "machine learning" counts as two words, and hyphenated terms like "state-of-the-art" count as one.

By default, Overleaf's counter includes text from your entire document: the abstract, main body, footnotes, and the bibliography. If your assignment or journal submission has a word limit that explicitly excludes the bibliography or appendix, you need to tell the counter to leave those sections out. The Word Count window has a "Detailed Results" section where you can uncheck items you do not want counted.

Counting only part of your document

If you want the word count for a single chapter, section, or paragraph, select just that text in the editor before you open the Word Count tool. Highlight the text you want to count by clicking and dragging, then open the menu and select Word Count. The popup will show the count for only your selection, not the whole document.

This is useful when you are working on a multi-chapter thesis and need to track the length of each chapter separately, or when you want to know how long a specific argument or section has become without counting the rest of the file.

Excluding the bibliography from your count

Many institutions count only the body text and exclude the reference list. In the Word Count popup, look for the Detailed Results section. If your document uses a standard bibliography environment (like thebibliography or a \printbibliography command from the biblatex package), it will appear as a separate item in the list. Uncheck the bibliography line to remove it from the total.

If your bibliography does not appear as a separate item, it may be because your document structure does not use a recognized bibliography command. In that case, you can manually select and count just the body text by highlighting it and opening Word Count again.

When the word count seems wrong

Overleaf's counter sometimes includes LaTeX commands or formatting text that you do not see in the rendered PDF. For example, if you use \textbf{} or \emph{} to format text, those commands themselves do not count as words — only the text inside them does. However, if you have commented-out text (lines starting with %), the counter will not include those, which is correct.

If your count seems too high, check whether you have text in the preamble (the section before \begin{document}) that you did not intend to count. You can also paste your document into a plain-text word counter like the one at wordcounter.net to verify Overleaf's number, though the results may differ slightly depending on how each tool defines a word.

Using word count to track document length over time

If you are writing a long document and want to monitor your progress, check the word count regularly and note it down. Some writers keep a simple spreadsheet with the date and word count to see how quickly they are writing and estimate when they might finish. Overleaf does not store a history of word counts, so you have to record them yourself if you want to track trends.

This is especially helpful for dissertation chapters, where you might have a target length (say, 8,000 to 10,000 words per chapter) and want to know whether you are on track. Checking the count every few writing sessions gives you a sense of your pace and helps you plan how much more work remains.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Overleaf count words the same way as Microsoft Word?

Mostly yes. Both count space-separated units as words and handle hyphenated terms the same way. The main difference is what they include by default — Overleaf includes footnotes and citations in the main count, while Word lets you toggle these separately. For most purposes, the numbers will be close enough that the difference does not matter.

Can I set a word limit that warns me when I exceed it?

Overleaf does not have a built-in word limit alert. You have to check the Word Count tool manually. If you need a warning, you can set a reminder on your phone or calendar to check your count at regular intervals, or use a separate word-tracking document to monitor your progress.

What if I use BibTeX or biblatex — will those words count?

No. BibTeX and biblatex entries are stored in a separate .bib file and do not count toward your document word count. Only the text that appears in your PDF (the actual bibliography entries that are printed) counts. The Word Count tool recognizes the bibliography as a separate section and lets you exclude it if needed.

How do I count words in a table or figure caption?

Table and figure captions are counted as part of your document word count by default. If your institution excludes captions from the word limit, you will need to manually select and count just the body text, or ask your instructor whether captions should be included in your submission.

Can I count words across multiple Overleaf projects?

No. Each Overleaf project is separate, and the Word Count tool only works within a single project. If you have multiple chapters in different projects, you will need to check the count in each one and add them together manually, or combine all chapters into a single project file.