Letter Counter: Count Letters Online (With and Without Spaces)

Whether you are writing a tweet, a meta title, a scholarship essay, or a short product description, you usually do not run out of ideas first. You run out of letters.

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A letter counter (often called a character counter) tells you how long your text is, so you can hit a requirement exactly: not too short, not one character over.

If you want a quick refresher on counting rules, start here: Character count basics. If your next step is polishing drafts to fit limits, see Writing tools.

Quick answer (TL;DR)

For platform limits (social posts, SEO fields, forms), count characters (letters + spaces + punctuation).
For strict requirements like letters only, count letters (alphabetic characters) and ignore spaces, digits, and punctuation.
When you are unsure, capture both numbers: characters with spaces and characters without spaces.

Letter count vs character count

People say letter count when they really mean character count. A character is anything you can type: letters, numbers, punctuation, emojis, spaces, and line breaks. A letter is only alphabetic text (A-Z plus accented letters and other alphabets).

This difference is why two tools can show two different totals for the same text: one is counting everything, the other is counting letters only.

What does a letter counter count?

Most counters show multiple modes so you can match the exact rule you are trying to satisfy:

Letters only: alphabetic letters. Some counters include accented letters and non-Latin scripts.
Characters (with spaces): everything you typed, including spaces and punctuation.
Characters (without spaces): everything except spaces (line breaks may still count).

Which count do you need? Use this table

Letter Count Decision Table

Your goal	Count type	Include spaces?	Include punctuation?	What to do
Stay under a social post limit	Characters (with spaces)	Yes	Yes	Count characters with spaces, then trim filler words first
Draft SEO meta titles/descriptions	Characters (with spaces)	Yes	Yes	Write for clarity, then tighten until it fits the field
Meet a letters-only form rule	Letters only	No	No	Remove spaces, digits, and punctuation, then count letters
Fit a database/API limit	Characters (and sometimes bytes)	Depends	Depends	Confirm the exact rule; emojis can take multiple bytes
Estimate on-page length for print	Words + characters	Yes	Yes	Use word count plus formatting (font, margins, spacing)

Now that you know which number you need, use the step-by-step methods below to measure it accurately and avoid common counting surprises.

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How to count letters in a text (step by step)

You do not need any special tool to get a reliable number. The key is to use the method that matches the rule (letters only vs characters with spaces).

Method 1: Use your document editor's built-in count

Select the exact text you want to measure (or keep everything unselected to count the whole document).
Open the word/character count panel in your editor.
Record both characters with spaces and characters without spaces. If you need letters only, see Method 3.

Where to find it quickly: Microsoft Word shows characters in the Word Count dialog, Google Docs can display characters and characters without spaces, Apple Pages can show character count, and LibreOffice Writer shows extended statistics from the status bar.

Quick paths in common editors

Microsoft Word: open the Review tab and choose Word Count, or click the word count in the status bar to see characters and characters (no spaces).
Google Docs: go to Tools, then Word count, and look at Characters and Characters excluding spaces (you can also enable a live word count while typing).
Apple Pages: use View, then Show Word Count, and click the counter to switch between words and characters.
LibreOffice Writer: the status bar shows word and character count; double-click it (or use Tools, Word Count) for extended statistics including characters without spaces.

Method 4: Count letters in Excel or Google Sheets (useful for forms and datasets)

If you are cleaning lists (names, codes, product titles), spreadsheets can help. Common formulas include LEN(A1) for total characters and LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1,CHAR(32),'')) for characters without normal spaces. For letters only, you will usually need a cleanup step that removes non-letters before counting.

Letter counter use cases you might not expect

Resume bullet points: keep bullets compact so they fit on one line and scan quickly.
SMS and form fields: many fields silently truncate after a fixed number of characters.
International text: accented characters and non-Latin scripts can be counted differently depending on whether a tool counts bytes, code points, or user-perceived characters.

Method 2: Count characters by copy/paste (fastest for short fields)

Copy the exact draft (for example, a meta description or a social caption).
Paste it into a counter that shows characters with spaces and without spaces.
If your platform is strict, paste the final version into the platform composer too. Some platforms treat emojis and line breaks differently.

Method 3: Count letters only (ignore spaces, punctuation, and digits)

Letters-only rules are common in forms and IDs (for example, initials or short codes). To count letters only:

Remove everything that is not a letter: spaces, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.
Make sure you are not hiding non-breaking spaces or special characters (they often appear after copy/paste from rich text editors).
Count the remaining letters. If you are working in a spreadsheet, you can count total characters and then remove spaces first (characters without spaces) as a quick approximation.

Common character limits (and why you should always double-check)

Limits can change—check the platform help center for the latest.

X: standard posts are typically limited to 280 characters, with longer post options depending on account and features.
LinkedIn: posts are limited to 3,000 characters.
Instagram: captions are capped at 2,200 characters in the API and many publishing workflows.
YouTube: video titles have a 100 character limit, and descriptions can be up to 5,000 characters.

Mistakes to avoid when counting letters

Confusing letters with characters: if the requirement says letters only, spaces and punctuation do not belong in your count.
Forgetting line breaks: some counters treat a new line as a character (and a paragraph break can add more than one).
Copy/paste artifacts: non-breaking spaces and special punctuation can change totals without looking different.
Emoji and accented letters: platforms may count them differently under the hood. When you are close to a limit, test in the platform composer.
Counting the wrong text: many editors exclude headers, footers, or footnotes unless you select them.

When you are over the limit: edit in this order

Delete filler words and repeated phrases.
Replace long phrases with shorter equivalents (for example, use because instead of due to the fact that).
Remove redundant qualifiers (very, really, actually) unless they change meaning.
Move details into a second sentence or a follow-up comment when the format allows it.

A practical shortcut for hitting a character target

If you would rather not rewrite from scratch every time you miss a limit by 20 to 200 characters, a paraphrasing tool can help you tighten or expand while keeping the same idea. QuillBot is useful here because it can help you rephrase text to fit a specific length, smooth grammar, and adjust tone. If that sounds helpful, try this: shorten or expand text to hit your character target.

Who it is for: students and marketers who regularly need to fit strict character limits (social captions, ad text, meta fields, or short-form assignments) and want faster iteration without changing the core message.

Rewrite to hit a target count

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FAQ

Does letter count include spaces?

Letter count usually means letters only (no spaces). Character count is the one that includes spaces, punctuation, and symbols.

What is the difference between characters with spaces and without spaces?

With spaces counts every visible space you typed. Without spaces removes spaces but still counts letters, numbers, punctuation, and often line breaks.

Do emojis count as characters?

Most counters and platforms treat emojis as characters, but the exact counting can vary. If you are near a limit, test your final text directly where you will publish it.

How do I count letters in Google Docs?

Use the word count feature and view characters and characters without spaces. For a letters-only rule, you will need to remove non-letter characters first.

How do I count letters in a paragraph without counting punctuation?

Delete punctuation and spaces, then count what remains, or use a counter mode that reports letters only.

Why does my count change after I paste into a form?

Some forms normalize whitespace, convert special quotes, or remove unsupported characters. Paste the final version into the destination field and re-check the displayed count if available.

Conclusion

A letter counter is only useful if it matches the exact rule you are trying to satisfy. First decide whether you need letters only or full characters (with spaces). Then measure using your editor or a counter, and validate in the platform when you are close to the limit.

Next step: write your draft, check the count, and do one focused editing pass (remove filler, compress phrases, and keep the first line strong). That workflow beats endless trimming.