Typing time calculator
Drag the sliders to see how long a document takes to type at your speed, and how much time a faster speed would save.
How long common documents take
| Document | Words | 40 WPM | 60 WPM | 80 WPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One page, single-spaced | 500 | 13 min | 8 min 20 sec | 6 min 15 sec |
| Blog post | 1,500 | 38 min | 25 min | 19 min |
| Essay | 3,000 | 1 h 15 min | 50 min | 38 min |
| Report | 10,000 | 4 h 10 min | 2 h 47 min | 2 h 5 min |
| Master’s thesis | 20,000 | 8 h 20 min | 5 h 33 min | 4 h 10 min |
| Novel | 90,000 | 37 h 30 min | 25 h | 18 h 45 min |
Typical lengths; your word processor shows the count for your own document. Times are pure typing, without breaks.
How the time is worked out
Typing time is the number of words divided by your speed: minutes = words ÷ WPM. A 10,000-word report at 40 WPM takes 10,000 ÷ 40 = 250 minutes, or 4 hours 10 minutes. At 60 WPM it takes about 167 minutes, so the faster typist finishes 1 hour 23 minutes sooner.
The time a faster speed saves is the difference between the two: words ÷ your speed − words ÷ the faster speed. It grows with the length of the document, so the longer the document, the more each extra word per minute is worth. On a short email the difference is under a minute; on a thesis or a book it is whole working days.
Why the first gains save the most time
Because time is words divided by speed, every extra word per minute saves a little less than the one before. On a 10,000-word document:
- going from 20 to 30 WPM saves 2 h 47 min;
- going from 40 to 50 WPM saves 50 min;
- going from 80 to 90 WPM saves 14 min.
So if you type slowly, a little practice pays back quickly. And doubling your speed always halves the time: from 40 to 80 WPM, the same document takes 2 h 5 min instead of 4 h 10 min. Fast typists still gain, just less with each step; for them, fewer mistakes and corrections are often worth more than a higher top speed.
Typing time is not writing time
The calculator shows pure typing time: the keys you press, with no breaks. Copying a text, transcribing a recording, typing up handwritten notes and entering data come close to it, because the words are already decided.
Writing your own words takes longer. Thinking, rereading, looking things up and editing take most of a writer's time, and no typing speed shortens those. What a faster speed does is shrink the part that is typing, so your fingers hold up your thoughts less often. Real text also has capitals, punctuation and numbers, which most people type more slowly than plain words, so expect the true typing time to be a little longer than the calculator shows.
How to get faster
Most typists can add 10 to 20 WPM in a few months with ten or fifteen minutes of practice a day. The biggest gains usually come from typing more accurately and from learning to type without looking at the keys. How to type faster explains what to practise, the touch typing lessons teach every key two at a time, and a one-minute typing test gives you a real speed to put into the calculator. For how your speed compares with other typists, see average typing speed.
Questions
How long does it take to type 1,000 words?
About 25 minutes at 40 WPM, 17 minutes at 60 WPM and 12 and a half minutes at 80 WPM, typing without a break. The average typist, at about 52 WPM, needs around 19 minutes.
How long would it take to type a novel?
A 90,000-word novel takes 37 and a half hours of pure typing at 40 WPM, 25 hours at 60 WPM and under 19 hours at 80 WPM. Writing it takes far longer, since most of a writer’s time goes on thinking and editing.
Is a word in WPM the same as a word in my document?
Nearly. Typing speed counts every five characters, spaces included, as one word. Everyday English averages close to six characters per word once spaces and punctuation are counted, so a real document often takes around a fifth longer than the calculator shows.
Do mistakes change the time?
Yes. Every mistake you fix costs a Backspace, the right key and a moment to notice it. Speed from a typing test on this site already counts the time spent fixing mistakes, so use your measured speed, not your best moment.