An Easy Way to Count Items

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 27, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

A while back I was working with a document that actually contained a list of movies in my home video library. Each movie title was on a single line, but as far as Word was concerned, each was a single paragraph. (In other words, each movie title had a "hard return" at its end.)

I got to wondering how many movies I had in my library, so I used a tried-and-true simple way to find out:

Select all the items. (In this case I selected all the movie titles.)
Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
Click the Numbering tool in the Paragraph group. Each item (movie) is numbered by Word.
Press the Right Arrow on the keyboard. Word displays the very end of the list where you can now see how many items are in the list.
Press Ctrl+Z to undo the numbering.

That's it—quick and easy and you can tell how many items are in whatever group of items you selected in step 1.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13332) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adding Columns to Your Page Layout

Most documents are created using a single column of text. Word, however, allows you to use many, many columns in your ...

Discover More

Setting Orientation of Cell Values

Need the contents of a cell to be shown in a direction different than normal? Excel makes it easy to have your content ...

Discover More

Finding a Worksheet with a Specific Value in a Specific Cell

If you have a lot of worksheets in workbook, finding the exact one you want can be a bit tricky. This tip looks at ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Not Selecting Images when Selecting Text

When selecting text in a document that contains images, it is important to understand the relationship of those images ...

Discover More

Changing Smart Quotes to Primes

Smart quotes can be helpful in giving your document a more finished look, but you may not want them after any of the ...

Discover More

Selecting an Entire Paragraph

Paragraphs are an elemental building block for documents. This tip explains the different ways you can select entire ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 8 - 4?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.