Google rolled out a new tool for Google Docs that keeps track of your word count in real time, which may prove useful for folks looking to get that word count up (or keep it down). Or, if you're like me, it'll just crank up that anxiety to a 10 (50 words — help!).
To enable this tool, go to Tools > Word Count and check the box "Display word count while typing." It should pop up in the bottom-left corner of your screen. If you want to display the word count in a specific sentence, all you have to do is highlight it with your cursor (102 words — ugh).
MORE: How to Track Changes in Google Docs
You can also click on the bottom-left counter to reveal the page count, character count and character count excluding spaces. The counter can also default to one of the three other trackers if you're more focused on page count for an essay or character count for those slick meta descriptions (152 words — eh).
Unfortunately (or fortunately), there's no setting that can keep the word counter consistent throughout all of your Google Docs, so you have to turn it on for each individual doc. As much as I love/hate this tool, there should be a toggle for an always-on setting to rectify this (202 words — almost).
We hope that this tip helps you out in your future writing endeavors. Don't be afraid to check out more of our Google Docs tips (227 words — finally).
Credit: Google
