PDF or DOCX? How to Format an ATS-Friendly Resume

Should you send a PDF or a DOCX?

Send whatever the job posting or application form asks for. If it doesn't say, a text-based PDF is a sensible default: it looks the same on every screen, and modern applicant tracking systems generally parse text-based PDFs well.

Send DOCX when the posting requests a Word document, when a recruiting agency asks for an editable file, or when your resume uses a right-to-left script such as Arabic or Hebrew (more on that below). Some upload forms accept only certain file types, which settles the question for you.

Whichever you choose, export both formats from the same source document so your PDF and DOCX always say the same thing. Before sending a DOCX, accept or reject all tracked changes and delete any comments.

How can you tell if your PDF is text-based?

Try to select and copy the text. If you can highlight individual words and paste them into a plain text editor in the right order, the PDF is text-based. If clicking selects the whole page like a picture, or nothing pastes, it's an image, and an ATS has nothing to read.

1. Open the PDF in a browser or PDF reader.
2. Select all (Ctrl+A on Windows, Cmd+A on Mac) and copy.
3. Paste into a plain text editor such as Notepad, or TextEdit in plain text mode.
4. Check that everything is there: name, email, phone, job titles, dates and bullets.
5. Check the order: each job's title, employer, dates and bullets should appear together, top to bottom.
6. Check special characters, such as accented letters in names, and make sure they didn't turn into boxes or question marks.

Image PDFs usually come from scanning a printed page, photographing a resume, or exporting from a design tool with a setting that turns text into a picture. The fix is to export again from the original document. In Word or Google Docs, use Save As or Download and choose PDF.

What layout works best for an ATS?

A single column that reads top to bottom. Parsers expect a resume to flow in one direction, and a single column gives them nothing to misread.

Two-column designs, tables and text boxes can look tidy, but they are common sources of parsing problems:

Keep your name and contact details as plain text at the top of the page: name, city and state, phone, email, and a LinkedIn or portfolio URL if you have one.

Which section headings should you use?

Use standard headings that parsers and recruiters both recognize: Summary, Experience (or Work Experience), Education, Skills, Projects and Certifications.

Creative headings like "My Journey" or "What I Bring" can stop a parser from identifying the section. Keep each heading on its own line and the order predictable. Experience usually comes first, while recent graduates often lead with Education.

What fonts and sizes should you use?

Use a common, readable font at 10 to 12 points for body text. Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia, Garamond and Times New Roman are all safe choices.

Avoid decorative and script fonts, and don't use symbol fonts for bullets or icons, since those characters can come through as random letters or empty boxes. Standard round bullets or hyphens are fine. Use bold for job titles and headings rather than whole paragraphs, and keep margins wide enough that the page doesn't look crowded.

How should you format dates?

Use month and year, in one consistent format, on the same line as each job. "Mar 2022 – Present" and "03/2022 – 06/2024" both work; mixing formats on one resume doesn't.

Write "Present" for a current job instead of leaving the end date blank. Avoid seasons ("Summer 2023") and shortened years ("'21"), which are harder for software to interpret. For education, a graduation month and year, or just the year, is enough.

What should you name the file?

Use your name and the word "resume," and optionally the role: Maria-Lopez-Resume.pdf or Maria-Lopez-Data-Analyst-Resume.pdf. Recruiters see the file name when they download it, and "resume_final_v7.pdf" doesn't tell them whose it is.

How long should an ATS-friendly resume be?

Length doesn't change whether an ATS can parse your resume; it matters for the person reading it. One page is typical for early-career candidates, and two pages is common once you have several relevant roles.

Academic CVs and some government applications follow their own rules, so check what the posting asks for. Whatever the length, put the strongest, most relevant material on the first page. If you're trimming, cut older and less relevant bullets first, and use our guide on how to quantify resume bullets to make the ones you keep carry more weight.

How do you keep non-Latin names and scripts intact?

Use a text-based PDF with the font embedded, or a DOCX. Embedded fonts keep names like Zoë Müller, Łukasz Nowak, Иван Петров, 李明 or 김민준 readable for both the ATS and the recruiter.

Right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew are a special case. Text extracted from a PDF can come out reversed or broken apart, so DOCX is often the safer choice when your resume includes them. Run the copy-and-paste test on any PDF that contains non-Latin text, and compare the result character by character.

Some candidates also add a Latin-script version of their name, such as 李明 (Li Ming), so recruiters can search for it and pronounce it. That's a personal choice, not a requirement.

StructuredCV exports text-based PDFs with embedded fonts for Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese, Japanese and Korean, and points Arabic, Hebrew and Indic scripts to its DOCX export. You can try both formats in the resume tailoring app.

What should you check before you submit?

Run through this list once per application:

• The file type matches what the posting asks for.
• Text copied from the PDF pastes cleanly and in order.
• One column, standard headings, no text boxes or tables.
• Contact details are in the body of the page, not the header.
• Dates use one format, with "Present" for your current role.
• The file name includes your name.
• Any form fields the ATS prefilled from your resume are correct.

Formatting gets your resume read correctly; the content still has to match the job. For what happens to your file after you upload it, see what an ATS is and how it reads resumes.