PDF vs Word: Which Resume File Format to Use

A PDF looks the same on every device and cannot be edited by accident. A Word file can change its layout depending on the fonts and software on the recipient's computer, so a one-page resume can arrive as a page and a half. If you are unsure whether an employer's system accepts PDFs, check the upload form for the formats it lists.

A PDF can hold a picture of your resume instead of text: a scan, a screenshot, or an export from a design tool that turned everything into an image. A parser finds no text in that file.

Open your PDF and try to select one line of text. If you cannot select it, software cannot read it either.

When you import a PDF into this site's builder, it warns you if a page has fewer than about 120 characters of extractable text, because that page is likely a scanned image. PDFs exported from the builder contain real text, and an automated test checks this for every template and page size.

The evidence page reports what this site's own parser extracted from test PDFs with different layouts, and the limits of those tests.

This site ran three controlled tests on its own text extraction and parser, each comparing two PDFs built from the same resume with one thing changed. The full method and limits are on the evidence page. The results below are what this one parser did. They do not describe any commercial applicant tracking system.

None of these tests compared a PDF with a Word file, so this site has no measured result on that question. What they do show is that, with the file type held the same, layout and headings changed how this parser read the resume.

The employer's instructions decide the format. When there are none, use the default in the right-hand column.

• Save it as .docx. The older .doc format is less widely supported by current software.
• Keep the layout simple: one column, no text boxes, and no tables holding your content. These cause the same extraction problems in Word as in a PDF, and the ATS resume format guide explains each one.
• Use one of the fonts installed on almost every computer, such as Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman, so the text does not change size on the reader's machine.
• Open the file in a second program, such as Google Docs or LibreOffice, before you send it. If the page count or spacing changes there, it may change for the recruiter too.
• Turn off tracked changes and delete comments before you send it.

Most ways of making a PDF keep the text: Save as PDF or Export in Word and Google Docs, and the PDF download in this site's builder. The risk comes from a few specific routes:

After any of these, run the selection test above. If no text can be selected, rebuild the resume from a text source.

• The posting or application form asks for .doc or .docx.
• A recruiter asks for an editable version so they can adjust it before submitting it for you.
• The upload form does not accept PDFs.

Use your name and the role, such as "Priya-Sharma-Data-Analyst.pdf". A recruiter may download many files called "resume.pdf", and a clear name makes yours easy to find again. The pre-submission checklist includes the file name among the checks to make before you apply.

Open the exact file you are about to send, not the document you exported it from. Check that it has the number of pages you expect and that every page has text you can select. The ATS resume checker accepts a PDF, DOCX or TXT file and checks it for structure and content. Its font, margin and spacing checks apply to resumes built in the builder.

Look at the file size. Upload forms often set a limit, and a one or two-page resume made from text is usually small. A file of several megabytes probably contains large images, such as a photo or a background graphic, and is worth rebuilding without them.

Leave off any password, and send one file. If the form asks for a cover letter separately, attach it separately instead of merging it into the resume. What goes inside the file, from the summary to the skills, is covered in the other resume guides.