PDF: Words and signs count - how it works
Unfortunately, there is no direct way to count the words or characters in PDF documents. But we will tell you a trick how it works.
Count words and characters in PDF - so it'll work
- Open the PDF whose words and characters you want to count.
- Select the entire text by either pressing the key combination [Ctrl] + [A] or right-clicking in a free field and selecting "Select all".
- Then open an empty Word document.
- Paste the content there with [Ctrl] + [V]. Alternatively, you can insert the content again by right-clicking and "Paste".
- Then switch to the "Check" tab in Word and click on "Word count". A new window opens in which you can read the exact number of words and characters.
If the text is copy-protected, you cannot easily copy it from a PDF. We'll show you how it works. This practical tip is based on Office 2010 and Adobe Reader X under Windows 7.