How to disable auto word count?

To disable the automatic word count feature in Microsoft Word, you can follow these steps:

1. Click on the "File" tab in the top left corner of the screen.
2. Click on "Options" at the bottom of the left-hand menu.
3. In the Word Options dialog box, click on "Proofing" in the left-hand menu.
4. Scroll down to the "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word" section.
5. Uncheck the box next to "Mark grammar errors as you type" and "Check grammar with spelling".
6. Click "OK" to save the changes.

This should disable the automatic word count feature and prevent Word from freezing when it is calculating the word count.

If it's a Word document hundreds of pages long and stored on OneDrive, someone could just be frustrated. The only "help" is the realization that I am not the only one who faces that. This issue has been going on for years. Also, you can clearly see how it has gotten worse and worse over time since day one of your new computer. I appreciate your help, but my opinion about those in charge of this issue...I will keep it for myself.

I agree that Microsoft is being completely irresponsible by just saying "there is no way to turn off word count" and providing bogus methods that DON'T WORK. This suggests to me that the designers and engineers at Microsoft don't create long documents and thus don't prioritize fixing this problem.

There are many other problems that plague Word - it is really a stone age, 1990s product that Microsoft hasn't gone through for significant updating is many years. For example, there is no way of setting the default option for so many things - and the program doesn't learn when you repeatedly revise tables or graphs the same way. I can't set the default font size in graphs; I can't set the default text position in cells in tables. Using templates is a poor workaround - as it often includes other formatting characteristics in a given table or graph I don't want. When will Microsoft start embedding AI into these programs to make them learn from a writer's habits?

This is the problem with having a giant corporation which effectively monopolizes the word processing world through Office 365.

I hope that someday Google Docs or something other than Microsoft becomes a more modern and updated standard - Bill Gates where are you???

Sorry, I have the same problem and the solutions you proposed (Uncheck the box next to "Mark grammar errors as you type" and "Check grammar with spelling") doesn't work. It doesn't even appear to be a formatting issue. I copied the content into a TXT file and then copied it into a new Word file but the problem persists

Hi Rhoda,

You told Thomas how to turn off Word count display in the Status Bar.

In the initial question he noted that he has that turned off, not displaying.

However, he does get a message there that Word is doing the word count.

I have word count turned off through the status bar, yet there is a message on the status bar that states "word is calculating word count".

@Thomas,

I know of no way to turn that completely off.

I have worked with much longer/larger documents.

However, the document structure is important.

Are styles used for virtually all formatting?

How many section breaks?

How many manual page breaks?

How many text boxes and do they connect from page to page?

On the styles issue, take a look at my page on The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word.

In addition, Thomas, working in Draft view may make things quicker. This is a choice under the View tab, as is Outline View.

If you use Outline View, ignore the Master Document parts.

To see why, look at Master Documents "Feature" in Microsoft Word.