If you've got a big piece to write with a strict word count, or you want to know how many characters you're writing to fit an online form, you'll want to know how to view word count in Google Docs.

However, Google Docs word count excludes content in headers, footers and footnotes. It doesn’t count symbols, such as the “<” or “>” signs, as words, although it does count em dashes.

It's easy to search for a word in Google Docs on your phone or computer to find and replace any instance of it. Here's what you need to know to do it.