PDF or DOCX: which resume file format should you upload?

Short answer

Use the format the employer asks for. If the application does not say, a DOCX or a text-based PDF will both work in the common systems. What causes problems is not the extension but what is inside the file: a PDF that is really a picture of text, a heavily designed layout, or a very large file.

The rest of this article shows where that answer comes from and how to check your own file in under a minute.

What one major ATS documents: accepted file types and size limits

Most applicant tracking system vendors do not publish their parsing rules. Greenhouse does, in its support centre, so it is a useful reference point. We have not checked other vendors' documentation, so treat these numbers as Greenhouse's, not as universal rules.

Accepted types. Greenhouse's supported formats page says candidates "can upload doc, docx, pdf, rtf and txt files".
Upload size. The same page says uploads can be up to 100 MB.
Parsing size. A separate page on unsuccessful resume parses says Greenhouse Recruiting "can't parse resumes larger than 2.5MB". A file between 2.5 MB and 100 MB can be uploaded but not automatically read into the candidate's profile; the details then have to be entered by hand.

So for Greenhouse, both PDF and DOCX are first-class formats. The size that matters is the 2.5 MB parsing limit, not the 100 MB upload limit.

The real problem: image-only PDFs and designed layouts

Greenhouse's list of what makes parsing fail includes "resumes that are uploaded as an image, rather than a document (such as a .docx or .pdf)", resumes with "graphics, photos, or word art", tables, headers and footers, columned layouts, and contact details in a header, footer or text box. Its page on resumes that did not import correctly adds non-standard file types and characters the text parser does not recognise.

Notice that none of these is "PDF". The risky PDFs are:

Scanned PDFs, made by photographing or scanning a printed page. They contain an image, not text.
PDFs exported from design tools where the text has been converted to outlines or flattened into graphics.
Multi-column designs, where the reading order of the text can come out scrambled.

A DOCX can have the same layout problems if it uses tables, text boxes and columns. Format choice does not rescue a layout that is hard to read.

How to check that your PDF contains real text

Three quick tests, in order:

Select the text. Open the PDF and try to highlight a sentence. If you can only draw a box around an image, there is no text layer.
Search inside it. Use Find (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) for a word you know is there, such as your surname. If it is not found, the parser will not find it either.
Copy everything into a plain text editor. Select all, copy, and paste into Notepad or TextEdit. If the text comes out in the right order, with your name and contact details at the top, a parser has a good chance of reading it the same way. If sections are interleaved or missing, simplify the layout.

Also check the file size. If it is close to 2.5 MB, an embedded photo or graphic is usually the reason.

When to send DOCX

The employer or a recruitment agency asks for Word. Agencies often edit resumes into their own format before sending them on.
You are editing the resume for each application and want one master file.
The application form offers to "fill in from your resume" and you want the best chance of the fields being filled correctly. Both formats are accepted by Greenhouse; a simple DOCX simply removes any doubt about a text layer.

When a PDF is sensible

You are emailing a person directly and want the layout to look exactly as you designed it on any device.
The application asks for PDF.
You are sending a portfolio or a document with fixed formatting.

In these cases, export the PDF from your word processor (File, then Save As or Download, then PDF). Do not print to paper and scan.

Google Docs, Pages and other editors

Google Docs: File, then Download, then either "Microsoft Word (.docx)" or "PDF document (.pdf)". Both produce real text. Open the downloaded file once to check the spacing survived.
Apple Pages: File, then Export To, then Word or PDF.
LibreOffice: File, then Export As, then Export as PDF; or Save As and choose Word.

Whichever you use, run the three checks above on the file you are actually going to upload, not on the document in your editor.

File naming and size

Name the file so it identifies you and the role: Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf or Firstname-Lastname-Data-Analyst.docx. Avoid resume_final_v3.pdf.
Keep it small. A text-only one- or two-page resume is usually well under 1 MB.
Use a standard font that is embedded in the PDF or available in Word and Google Docs.

How ROLIVA handles this

ROLIVA's free resume templates come as both a DOCX and a PDF, single-column, with standard headings and every placeholder in square brackets. In the signed-in Resume Studio, each resume you build can be downloaded as DOCX or as a PDF with selectable text, and both files are checked by extracting their text again before you download them. Those checks describe ROLIVA's own files; they are not an employer's ATS score.

Once your file is ready, the free ATS resume checker accepts a DOCX or PDF upload, or pasted text, and reports which of a job description's terms your resume mentions and any structure that commonly causes misreads.