How to Count Characters Without Spaces (Word, Excel, Docs)

To count characters without spaces, open Word's Word Count dialog and read the "Characters (no spaces)" line, or type =LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")) in Excel or Google Sheets. Google Docs shows the same figure through Tools > Word count. This guide covers each method step by step, plus when the space-free count actually matters.

Why Count Characters Without Spaces?

Most character limits you encounter day to day — a 280-character post, a 160-character SMS, a roughly 155-character meta description — count spaces just like any other character. So why would anyone strip them out?

The space-free count shows up in a few specific situations:

• Translation and copywriting billing. Many translators and agencies quote per character and bill on the space-free figure, since spaces are a typographic convention that changes between languages rather than actual content.
• Fixed-width database fields. A column defined as VARCHAR(50) stores 50 characters; spaces inside your text consume storage just the same, but teams auditing field usage often want to know how much real content they are fitting in.
• Code, URLs, and identifiers. Spaces are illegal or stripped in URLs, file names, slugs, and most identifiers, so the no-space count predicts whether text will fit after sanitization.
• Content density comparisons. Comparing two drafts of different lengths is fairer when you compare the actual letters rather than the formatting.

It also helps to know roughly how big the gap is. In typical English prose, spaces account for about 17–20% of all characters. The average English word runs about 4.8 letters, and add roughly one space per word on top of that. Here is what that means for common document lengths:

| Word count | Characters (with spaces) | Characters (no spaces) | |---|---|---| | 100 words | ≈ 580 | ≈ 480 | | 250 words | ≈ 1,450 | ≈ 1,200 | | 500 words | ≈ 2,900 | ≈ 2,400 | | 1,000 words | ≈ 5,800 | ≈ 4,800 |

So for a 500-word article, the difference between the two counts is around 500 characters — one character per word, which is exactly the space. If a client asks for "3,000 characters excluding spaces," you are looking at roughly a 625-word document, not 3,000 words of raw keyboard input.

Step-by-Step: Count Characters Without Spaces in Each Tool

1. Microsoft Word

Word has shipped this number for decades — it is just hidden in plain sight.

1. Open your document. To count only part of it, select that text first; otherwise Word counts the whole document.
2. Go to the Review tab and click Word Count, or press Ctrl+Shift+G (Cmd+Shift+G on Mac).
3. Read the line labeled "Characters (no spaces)". The line above it, "Characters (with spaces)," is the full count.

As a shortcut, right-click the status bar at the bottom of the window and enable Character Count — though note the status bar figure includes spaces, so for the space-free number the dialog is still the place to go.

2. Excel

Excel has no built-in "character count" dialog, but the LEN function does the job in one line:

1. Put your text in cell A1.
2. In a blank cell, enter =LEN(A1) — this counts all characters, spaces included.
3. To exclude spaces, combine LEN with SUBSTITUTE: =LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")). SUBSTITUTE replaces every space with nothing, and LEN then measures what is left.
4. To total a whole column of cells, use =SUMPRODUCT(LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1:A10," ",""))). It returns the space-free character count for all ten cells in one formula.

One practical detail: SUBSTITUTE is case-sensitive, but that is irrelevant here — a space has no case. If you also want to exclude line breaks, nest a second SUBSTITUTE to strip CHAR(10) as well.

3. Google Sheets

Google Sheets uses the same formula language, so nothing changes:

1. Enter =LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")) in any empty cell, referencing the cell that holds your text.
2. Drag the fill handle down to apply it to more rows.
3. For a range total, =SUMPRODUCT(LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1:A10," ",""))) works identically to Excel.

4. Google Docs

1. Click Tools > Word count, or press Ctrl+Shift+C.
2. The dialog lists both "Characters" and "Characters without spaces." The second line is the number you want.
3. Tick "Display word count while typing" if you want a live counter in the bottom-left corner (that live figure includes spaces, so check the dialog for the final space-free total).

5. Anywhere else: a browser-based counter

If your text lives in an email client, a CMS editor, or a PDF, the fastest route is to copy it and paste it into an online counter. A good one shows characters with spaces, characters without spaces, words, and lines side by side, so you never have to re-run the check for a different requirement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the LEN function count spaces?

Yes. =LEN("hello world") returns 11, because the space between the words is a character like any other. Tabs and line breaks count too. That is exactly why the SUBSTITUTE wrapper exists: =LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")) strips spaces first and only then measures the length. If you need to remove all whitespace — including tabs — wrap a TRIM or a second SUBSTITUTE around the text, but be aware TRIM only collapses leading, trailing, and repeated interior spaces; it does not remove single spaces between words.

How much shorter is the count without spaces?

For English text, plan on the space-free figure being roughly 17–20% lower. The exact ratio depends on average word length: text dense with long technical terms ("characteristics", "configuration") has proportionally fewer spaces, while text full of short words ("it is a lot of the time") has more. Numbers, URLs, and code snippets push the ratio down further since they contain few or no spaces at all. If you bill or budget on character counts, measure the real text rather than assuming a fixed percentage.

Can I count characters without spaces on my phone?

Yes. On mobile, the desktop apps are awkward but workable: Word for iOS and Android shows character counts under Review > Word Count (mobile layout hides the ribbon, so use the expander menu). Google Docs on mobile puts Word count under the three-dot menu. For a one-off check, pasting into an online character counter in your mobile browser is usually faster than navigating either app.

A Quicker Way to Get the Number

Opening dialogs and writing formulas is fine once, but if you check character counts regularly — for meta descriptions, ad copy, or translated text — a dedicated counter is faster. Paste your text into the free word and character counter and you will see characters with spaces, characters without spaces, and word count updated instantly, with no formula to remember and nothing to install.