Count words, characters (with and without spaces), pages, and estimated reading time of any PDF. Everything runs in your browser — the file never leaves your device.
A PDF stores text in one of two ways. A digitally created PDF — exported from Word, Google Docs, LaTeX, InDesign or a browser's print-to-PDF — carries a text layer: every character is stored with its position, so a program can read the words back. A scanned PDF stores each page as a picture. It may look identical on screen, but there are no characters to count until OCR (optical character recognition) adds a text layer. This tool reads the text layer only, which is why it reports a near-zero count for scans and says so.
Ask three programs to count the same PDF and you will often get three answers that differ by a percent or two. The reasons are mechanical:
Page limits and word limits measure different things. A page limit depends on font, margins and line spacing, so it rewards formatting tricks. A word limit does not, which is why courts, journals and admissions offices keep moving toward it. If the rule you work under says "words", the page count on the cover is irrelevant; the number this tool shows is what matters.
Court filings. The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure are the standard example: a principal brief may not exceed 13,000 words, a reply brief 6,500, and the filer must attach a certificate of compliance stating the count. Rule 32(f) lists what is excluded — cover page, disclosure statement, tables of contents and authorities, signature block, certificates of counsel and a few more — while headings, footnotes and quotations are counted. State and local courts set their own numbers. Because this tool counts every word on every page, use the per-page table to subtract the pages that hold excluded sections.
Academic and application writing. Journal articles, conference papers, theses, grant abstracts and admission essays usually publish a word limit, and sometimes a character limit instead (the Common App personal essay caps at 650 words; many grant abstracts are capped by characters including spaces). Reviewers rarely recount by hand, but submission portals often do, and a PDF that is "just over" is bounced automatically. Count the PDF you actually upload, not the draft, because converting to PDF can change hyphenation and therefore the count. None of this is legal advice: when a limit matters, read the governing rule and count what it says to count.
Neither Adobe Acrobat nor macOS Preview has a word count command, so most people end up converting the file. Here is what works on each platform.
JustFill detects every field on a form — even a flat or scanned one — and lets you type straight into it in the browser. If you only need to locate one term, the word search highlights every match instead.