Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Including Footnotes and Endnotes in Word Counts.
Word includes a feature that allows you to quickly determine a number of statistics about your document. For instance, you can determine the number of words, sentences, and paragraphs in your document. By default, Word doesn't include anything in footnotes or endnotes in these statistics. But you can specify that text in those areas be included by following these steps:
Figure 1. The Word Count dialog box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (911) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Including Footnotes and Endnotes in Word Counts.
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Ever want to change the formatting of your footnotes? This tip explains what you can and can't do in Word.
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2022-06-09 04:31:57
Talha
Thank you for sharing this!
I would like to know how the footnote word count can also be included in a header word count, if at all...
2017-01-05 06:40:42
Chet
Hello
Is it possible to count text length in footnotes separately? (by script or macro)
{It needs to make prediction how many layout pages will take the text of MSWord (2013) document in Adobe InDesign application.}
Thanks in advance
2014-08-29 06:28:35
Joanne CORBEIL
Hello ... and thank you for your valuable tips!
In Word 2010, why is the Word count visible in the statistics different from the word count I can display for the same document in the directory. In one instance I have 1722 words in the doc. statistics vs 2160 words in the document's line in the directory.
How can I obtain the real count? I need it to estimate translation costs.
Thank you for your time!
Joanne
2014-07-15 10:28:23
Fred Howley
Word 2013 includes the option of counting words in text boxes as well as those in headers and footers.
The screenprint here is for older versions and does not include text boxes.
2014-07-08 19:26:31
Michael
This doesn't solve the bigger problem, however, which is that Word, for some inexplicable reason, does not show the word count including footnotes on the toolbar. Why would Word even think of not including the footnotes/endnotes? The only people really concerned with word count are people looking to publish, and publishers include footnotes in their word count (and so do dissertation committees!). What's up, Word?
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
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