Word counter with powerful capabilities. Obtain detailed word count with the possibility of omitting text between parenthesis, tables, certain text and even set targets for motivation.
Listing updated:September 26, 2021
Works with:
86K+
Overview
Word Counter Max for Google Docs is a totally free add-on that I wrote to display the live word count of the current document even for lengthy documents of 5000 words or more. Unlike the default word counter, you will be able to set exclusions to ignore certain text and you can generate detailed reports for your document. There's more, whether you need to hit a minimum word count or reduce your word count to be within the limit for your assignment, you can set targets for that. This word counter should be relatively accurate though there may be slight discrepancies since every word counter considers what should be a word differently. Do write in if there are major errors or bugs.

Available exclusions
▪︎Text between parenthesis
▪︎Text between brackets
▪︎Text in tables
▪︎Text with paragraph styles
eg. "Title",  "Subtitle", "Header1",  "Header2", etc
▪︎Text in paragraphs starting with x.x eg. "1.2 Introduction into" or "1.5.3 My header"
▪︎Everything after and including the paragraph starting with Keyword
▪︎Text in paragraphs starting with Keyword
eg. "Content Page",  "Chapter", "Figure", etc

Advanced options
▪︎Count words until cursor*
▪︎Count words within selection*
▪︎Count footnotes*

Generate word report
▪︎ Analyses your document and provides a detailed breakdown of word count by chapter or subchapter through the use of paragraph styles.

Display modes
▪︎Full
▪︎Minimal
▪︎Barebones Floating

Future
▪︎More features
▪︎Better handling of lone symbols

Tips
▪︎If it does not load, check if you're using multiple accounts, in that case, you can log out of all accounts or use incognito mode. For Chrome users, problems may also arise if you are not using your primary account. Unfortunately, this is a problem on google's side and I can't directly fix it.
▪︎If you're using the addon for long periods, you may want to check the slow update box to ensure that you don't hit the maximum quota.
▪︎For error reporting, try to include console log or any error messages.

Note
▪︎There will not be support for tracking word count over time.

Changelog
▪︎V6.2 Bugfixes (subtitle exclusion)
▪︎V6.1 Bugfixes (core counting method table)
▪︎V6.0 Major update to core counting method and bugfixes
▪︎V5.1 Improved word report interface
▪︎V5.0 Generate word report now shows words that were excluded. Added option to disable exclusion of table of contents. Added option to exclude double-quotes. Added option to make counting algorithm more similar to Google Docs behaviour.
▪︎V4.1 New setup menu for new users
▪︎V4.0 Reading time estimate and input validation
▪︎V3.13 Bugfixes (Footnotes & Logo)
▪︎V3.12 Bugfixes
▪︎V3.11 Count words within selection
▪︎V3.10 Styling improvements
▪︎V3.9 Barebones floating mode
▪︎V3.8 New splash screen 
▪︎V3.7 Stability improvements and bugfixes
Additional information
PricingNot available
Developer
Trader status unspecified
Privacy policy
Terms of service
Word Counter Max for Google Docs will ask for the permissions shown below. Learn more
Word Counter Max for Google Docs will need access to your Google account
This will allow Word Counter Max for Google Docs to :
See, edit, create, and delete all your Google Docs documents
Display and run third-party web content in prompts and sidebars inside Google applications
See your primary Google Account email address
See your personal info, including any personal info you've made publicly available
Reviews
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Oz Mills
July 23, 2024
Brilliant, but I really wish I could save the state between documents. I make several per day and setting the same settings is tedious. It's almost perfect, it just needs a little push.
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Motasim Mahadi Ifty
September 5, 2024
doesnt work. Guys, you can just go to tools and see the word count there lol
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vash breadloaves
February 21, 2023
Would not install. Kept getting bad service request, finally shows on the extension page as downloaded but will not show up in Chrome extensions bar, and thus will not activate on Google Docs. A real shame, as it was recommended by a friend and seems to do exactly what I wanted from it, but completely unusable. :(
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Kel-lam Footman
April 12, 2022
As an amateur writer, I love how I can put in a word count goal and can visually view my process via the highlighted bar that's displayed. There's also the cool feature of being able to exclude various text like not counting words in tables or parentheses, which helps focus the program on the main bulk of words you wish to write. It's also nice how there's three 'versions' of the counter; a barebones, minimal and full view. My three wishes would be that I'd love for you to be able to resize the info box, and I really wish the extension itself worked across multiple Google accounts. I have quite a few, and often go back and forth between all of them, often having most of them signed in at once to easily go between each whenever I need to. It's always a pain when the counter doesn't load because I'm not signed in into just ONE Google account at a time, when I feel like however many accounts I'm logged in to at any one time shouldn't affect the use of the word counter. It'd also be nice for the barebones view to show you how many words you've written when you open the program, and to exclude the other words in the document that were already there. All in all, it's a useful tool for keeping track of word count that I will continue to use.
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P.C. Brooks
February 13, 2024
This was what the doctor ordered to help me keep track of my daily writing goals.
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Starry
January 15, 2022
This is super great for those who need a constant word count as the default caps around 3k or so. I really like that there's so many optional views as well, like being able to see exactly how many words are in each header section, and excluding certain parts from the count, etc. Those parts blew my mind!! But some things could definitely be improved, like the bare-bones option could be easier to move around. It takes quite a few clicks and I've got the hang of it now, but still pretty annoying. I also wish the other views were collapsible or adjustable in view because it takes up quite a bit of space. Also, a bare-bones character count would also be amazing.
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up in Vermont
April 5, 2022
As another reviewer wrote, a great tool for authors generating a daily word count. For the mathematically challenged among us, a nifty addition would be to display the words remaining, not just the number written. So, if the word target were 100. The Session Word Count might display 60/40 or 73/27 instead of just 60 or 73. Also, would be helpful if there were a way to store the session word count between sessions. Sometimes Chrome has locked up and rebooting resets the word count to 0. Not a problem if one remembers, but is otherwise a drag.
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Dean Rotherham
June 4, 2022
Heyo Thanks for this nifty tool. I’m looking to track / count bold words only. Any idea how I could set this todo it besides setting all bold words to a specific style? Thanks.
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Sachi C
February 3, 2021
Quite love this add-on! Doc's measly word counter has always annoyed me so this fixed that issue. Various versions (full, minimal, barebones) means I have a lot of options which I can enjoy. My only thing is that I'd like to be able to see the word/character count of highlighted text! Sometimes I need to see the word count for a paragraph; Docs' word counter does this but it's a pain to get to the pop-up. But otherwise I'm completely happy with this add-on!
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Charleigh Bates
December 14, 2022
Wish there was a notification when you hit targett
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