Word count is a useful drafting reference—and a practical checkpoint when an approved article moves into WordPress. It is not a publishing target, and a difference between the source document and the CMS draft does not, by itself, prove that text is missing. First make sure you are comparing the same content; then inspect the draft for omissions or duplication before approving the handoff.
Find your word count: quick routes in Google Docs and WordPress
| Editor | Where to look | What the number tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Google Docs on desktop | Open Tools > Word count. | The dialog shows a word count for the document or selected text. |
| WordPress block editor | Open Document overview from the editor’s upper-left toolbar and check the overview panel. | The panel shows the draft’s word count; estimated reading time, where displayed, is a separate measure. |
In Google Docs, the count is in the Word count dialog, not the character-count figure. In WordPress, estimated reading time is not a word count either. Interface labels and placement can change across versions, so if a control is not where you expect, look for the editor’s document overview or word-count option rather than treating a nearby number as the count.
Check the full document or selected text in Google Docs
To establish a source count for an article, decide whether you need the whole document or only the approved article body. A working document may also contain notes, an outline, or other material that is not part of the handoff.
On desktop:
- Open the approved Google Doc and confirm it is the version intended for transfer.
- If the comparison covers only the article body, select that body text. Include or exclude the title, captions, notes, or other elements according to the scope agreed with your team.
- Choose Tools > Word count. Read the count for the selection if text is selected; otherwise, read the document count.
- Record both the number and what you counted—for example, “approved article body; title and editor notes excluded.”
To keep a count visible while you work, use the option in the Word count dialog to display the count while typing, if it is available in your version. That live display is convenient for drafting, but confirm the final count in the dialog and record the scope separately. In the mobile app, look in the document’s menu for Word count; the control and labels can differ by device or app version.
Check the destination draft in WordPress
In the block editor, open the document overview using the overview icon in the upper-left area of the editing toolbar. Find the word-count figure in the panel. Do this while the article is still a draft; you do not need to publish it or install a counting tool. The panel may also show estimated reading time, which is not interchangeable with the count.
If the site uses the Classic Editor, look for the word-count figure below the editing area. Its location can vary with the editor setup or version. If you do not see it, confirm which editor is active and check the available editor controls rather than assuming the draft has no count.
Before comparing, inspect the imported draft without making unrelated edits. Record whether the title is stored in WordPress’s separate title field or included in the body, and note any captions, tables, or other content that could fall inside one count but outside the other. Do not assume every editor counts every content element in the same way.
Compare equivalent content before investigating a mismatch
Set the comparison scope before reading too much into the numbers. For a straightforward article-body check, you might agree to count the approved body text while excluding the separate WordPress title, editorial notes, and any content that is not part of the article. If the handoff specifically includes a title, captions, or table text, state that and check those items on both sides. The important point is to compare like with like, not to assume the editors use identical counting rules.
Use this worksheet for each transfer:
| Field | Record |
|---|---|
| Approved comparison scope | What is included and excluded, such as body text only; title excluded |
| Source count | Google Docs count for the agreed scope |
| Destination count | WordPress count for the closest equivalent scope |
| Numerical difference | Destination count minus source count |
| Content discrepancy | Specific omission, duplicate, or scope difference found—or “none found” |
| Approval decision | Ready for the next review, or held for correction or explanation |
Calculate the difference as destination count − source count. A negative result means the destination count is lower; a positive result means it is higher. The arithmetic helps describe the mismatch, but it does not identify its cause.
If the numbers differ, first check whether the comparison scopes actually match. A title included in one count but not the other, for example, can create a difference without any missing body text. Then compare the content itself: check heading wording and order, the start and end of each paragraph, list items, and table rows. These are practical places to look for an incomplete paste or a repeated section. Also review captions, notes, and embedded content if they were part of the agreed scope. Equal counts are not proof of a faithful transfer: one omission and one duplicate could leave the totals unchanged.
For the broader transfer steps, see Word to WordPress: Transfer a Document and Check the Draft. If the source is a DOCX that needs to be opened and checked in Google Docs first, use the DOCX handoff guide.
Work through a missing-paragraph example
Illustrative scenario—not a product test: An editor records a source count of 800 words and a WordPress draft count of 760 for the agreed article-body scope.
The difference is 760 − 800 = -40 words. The editor does not add text just to make the figures match. Instead, they compare the source and draft, locate a paragraph of 40 words that is present in the approved document but absent from the draft, and confirm that the paragraph belongs in the agreed scope. They restore it, then inspect the surrounding paragraph break and recheck the draft count and content. The count may now agree, but the editor still checks the rest of the article for other omissions or duplicates.
A different investigation might find that the source count included the article title while the WordPress count covered only the body. If the team agreed to exclude the title, no body-text correction is needed. The editor records the scope difference, obtains the count for the agreed scope where possible, and updates the worksheet rather than changing correct content to force matching numbers.
Record the result and complete the publishing handoff
Mark the count check complete when the team has agreed on the scope, inspected the content for unexplained omissions or duplicates, and recorded an explanation for any remaining difference. If a paragraph, table, or other in-scope item is still unresolved, hold the handoff and name who will resolve it. If the difference is explained by scope, document that explanation so the next reviewer does not reopen the same question.
Word count is only one part of draft QA. Check heading structure, links, images, and formatting separately, and keep the post unpublished until the normal editorial approval is complete. A matching count alone does not establish that those checks passed or that the article is ready to publish.
On your next transfer, record the source count, destination count, agreed scope, and decision in the handoff record. If your team is evaluating a publishing-workflow option such as Tenwrite, assess it against the steps your team needs; do not treat a tool as a substitute for this reconciliation or your approval process.