How to Get Word Count in Apple Pages on Mac and iPad
Blog / WORD COUNTS
In Apple Pages, turn on Show Word Count to display a live count while you write. On a Mac, use the View control in the toolbar. On an iPad, find Show Word Count in the document's menu. Selecting text lets you check only the selected passage.
Show word count on a Mac
Open your document in Pages for Mac. Click View in the toolbar and choose Show Word Count. A small counter appears near the bottom of the document. If you do not want it visible later, use the same menu to hide it.
The count is tied to the document you are editing, not to every file in a folder. Clear any text selection when you want the total rather than a count for a particular paragraph.
Switch to characters, paragraphs or pages
Click the counter's menu to choose the statistic you want to display. Apple's guide lists words, characters with or without spaces, paragraphs and pages. This saves you from switching to a different app just to measure an application answer.
Use characters with spaces if that is what the destination asks for. A 500-character response and a 500-word response are very different. If a form does not explain its counting convention, paste the finished draft into that form and use its own limit indicator.
Count just an abstract or paragraph
Select the exact text you want to measure. Pages updates the statistics for the selection. This is useful for a section with a separate word limit or for checking whether a revised paragraph is shorter than the original.
Do not accidentally select the heading, page furniture or a neighbouring paragraph. After recording the selection's count, click elsewhere and confirm that you have returned to the total before reporting a document-wide figure.
Show the count on an iPad
Open the document and tap the document menu to find Show Word Count. Once the counter appears, tap it to see or change the statistic. Apple's iPad guide also supports counting a selected passage rather than the full text.
The iPad interface is not the Mac toolbar. If an instruction names a control you cannot find, check the guide for your device and Pages version. Apple changes interface details over time, so follow the current menu labels rather than an old screenshot.
Check the final submission, not just the draft
If you export the Pages document to Word or PDF, review the exported file before submitting. Layout and text extraction can change, and another app may use different counting rules. A matched selection is a fairer comparison than a full-file count in one app and body-only text in another.
For a quick independent check, copy only the text you intend to submit into Top Word Counter. If totals differ near a strict limit, use the destination's count and leave room for final edits. A page count is useful for layout, but it cannot replace an exact word-count requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple Pages show characters without spaces?
Yes. Open the counter's menu and select the character statistic you need; Pages offers characters both with and without spaces.
Why does my Pages count change when I highlight text?
Pages shows statistics for the selected text. Clear the selection to check the document total again.