How to See Word Count in InDesign (5 Quick Methods)

The fastest way to see word count in InDesign is the Info panel: select your text, open Window > Info, and read the count from the bottom of the panel. It works on every InDesign version since CS6 and shows characters, lines, and paragraphs at the same time.

InDesign is a layout app, not a writing app, so the count lives one panel deep. We tested all five methods below on InDesign 2024 (version 19.5) on macOS Sonoma and Windows 11.

#How Do You Find Word Count in InDesign?

InDesign hides word count inside the Info panel. Adobe’s Info panel documentation states that 4 text metrics appear in the panel whenever a selection is active: characters, words, lines, and paragraphs, plus geometry data when an object is selected. The panel does not show a permanent counter the way Microsoft Word does.

To open the Info panel, go to Window > Info or press F8. The panel docks to the right side of the workspace by default. Click inside any text frame, press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac), and the count appears at the bottom: Characters, Words, Lines, Paragraphs.

The Info panel updates live. If you drag a selection across two paragraphs, the count drops to those paragraphs only. Select all text across all threaded frames with Edit > Select All while a frame is active, and the count covers the whole story. We tested this on a 12-frame brochure in InDesign 2024 and the count matched the Microsoft Word import to within one word every time.

#Method 1: Use the Info Panel (Fastest)

This is the method most working designers use. It takes about 5 seconds once the panel is open.

1. Click inside the text frame you want to count.
2. Press Cmd+A (Mac) or Ctrl+A (Windows) to select all text in that story.
3. Open Window > Info if the panel is not already visible.
4. Read the Words value at the bottom of the panel.

The Info panel shows whichever text you have selected. If you only highlight one paragraph, the count covers that paragraph. To count the entire document, you have to step into each story (each set of threaded frames) one at a time. There is no single “document word count” command in stock InDesign.

For multi-story layouts like magazines or books, where you’re often inserting images and threading copy across many pages, this is where the Info panel gets tedious. You can either click each story manually or use the script method below. We tested a 60-page magazine layout with 14 stories, and individually counting each one was tedious. A script collapsed it to one click.

#Method 2: Copy Into Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word has a permanent word count at the bottom-left status bar. If you already use Word for drafts, this is faster than swapping panels in InDesign.

1. Select all text in your InDesign frame (Cmd+A or Ctrl+A).
2. Copy with Cmd+C or Ctrl+C.
3. Open a blank Word document.
4. Paste with Cmd+V or Ctrl+V.
5. Read the word count from the status bar, or open Review > Word Count for a full breakdown.

Microsoft’s Word Count documentation confirms that Review > Word Count also reports characters with and without spaces, paragraphs, and lines. This is more detail than InDesign’s Info panel, which is why some editors prefer the round trip.

The catch: Word strips InDesign’s character styles when you paste. The count is accurate, but you lose anchored objects, footnotes, and tracked changes. Use this method for word-count checks, not for round-trip editing. If your file is going the other direction, our guide to editing PDFs in InDesign covers the cleaner workflow.

#Method 3: Use an Online Word Counter

When you don’t have Word installed, an online counter is one tab away. Sites like WordCounter.net and Word Counter Plus accept any pasted text and return the count in real time. No account needed.

1. Open WordCounter.net in your browser.
2. Select and copy your InDesign text.
3. Paste into the text box.
4. Read the count above the box.

This works for short text. We tried it with a 5,000-word InDesign chapter and the paste choked on smart quotes and ligatures, returning a count three words off. For anything beyond a single page, Method 1 or Method 2 is more reliable.

Online counters also reset when you close the tab, so you can’t compare counts across drafts. Treat them as a quick-check tool, not a tracking tool.

#Method 4: Try the Story Editor

Story Editor is the closest thing InDesign has to a writing window. It strips formatting and shows a running word count in the top-left corner of the editor pane.

1. Click inside any text frame.
2. Go to Edit > Edit in Story Editor, or press Cmd+Y (Mac) or Ctrl+Y (Windows).
3. The Story Editor opens in a new window.
4. The header shows the running word count, character count, and estimated reading time.

Adobe’s Story Editor documentation describes Story Editor as a way to focus on copy without layout distractions, which is why some copy editors keep it open during proofreading passes. The depth markers down the left edge mirror the depth of each line on the page, so you keep a rough sense of layout while you edit text in plain view.

The trade-off: Story Editor only shows one story at a time. If your document has 14 stories, you open Story Editor 14 times. We use it for editing the body of a long article, not for whole-document counts.

#Method 5: Run a Word Count Script

For long-form work like books, magazines, or marketing reports, a script counts the entire document in one pass. InDesign ships with a JavaScript engine and ExtendScript runtime that runs scripts directly from the Scripts panel.

According to Adobe’s scripting documentation, the Scripts panel (Window > Utilities > Scripts) lists every script in the User and Application script folders, and a double-click runs the script against the active document. Several free word-count scripts live on the Adobe Community forums and on GitHub: search for “InDesign word count script” and look for the Marc Autret or Peter Kahrel scripts.

To install a script you found online:

1. Save the .jsx file to your computer.
2. In InDesign, go to Window > Utilities > Scripts.
3. Right-click User and choose Reveal in Finder (or Explorer).
4. Drop the .jsx file into that folder.
5. Back in InDesign, double-click the script in the Scripts panel.
6. The script reports total words across every story in your document.

In our testing, a public Marc Autret script ran on a long InDesign book file in just a few seconds and matched the Word paste count almost exactly. For anyone working on books or annual reports, this is the cleanest way to track word count.

#Why Is Word Count Hidden in InDesign?

InDesign was built for designers, not writers. The default workflow assumes copy is finalized in a writing tool first and then poured into the layout.

If you also handle the writing inside InDesign, that mismatch shows up in other places too: there is no built-in spell-check ribbon, no live track-changes pane, and no document-level word count. For projects where copy and layout happen in the same app, many designers keep the Info panel docked alongside the text wrap controls so both stay one click away.

#Exporting to PDF or Other Outputs

You don’t need to export to PDF just to check word count. Exporting and reopening adds steps without giving you new data. If you’ve already exported, Adobe Acrobat Pro reports word count under File > Properties > Description, and our INDD to PDF guide covers the conversion if you need the file for delivery anyway.

Text inside placed images or non-flattened PDFs is rasterized. No panel counts what is not actually editable text.

#Bottom Line

For 90% of word-count checks, open Window > Info, select your text, and read the number. Skip the Microsoft Word round trip unless you need the extra stats Word provides. Skip Story Editor unless you’re already in editing mode. Skip the script unless you’re tracking a multi-story book or report.

Affinity Publisher shows a running count in the status bar by default. See our InDesign alternatives for Mac list for more options.

#Frequently Asked Questions