Guide

Count words in OpenOffice

Updated: September 2026

Apache OpenOffice Writer shows the word count in the status bar by default. For more details there are two other places.

Method 1: Status bar

  1. Open your document in OpenOffice Writer.
  2. At the bottom of the window you continuously see “Page X / Words N / Characters M”.
  3. When you select text, the bar shows the values for the selection only.

Method 2: Tools → Word Count

  1. Click Tools in the menu.
  2. Choose Word Count…
  3. The dialog shows the words and characters of the document — or of the current selection, if something is selected.

Method 3: Document statistics

Under File → Properties → Statistics you’ll find the complete overview: pages, paragraphs, words, characters and even the editing time of your document.

Does OpenOffice count differently than Word?

Yes, small deviations happen time and again — for example with hyphenated words or digit groups. To double-check or to use limits (e.g. 280 characters for a post), simply paste your text below.

Tool

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