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FormattingMay 11, 2026·4 min read

PDF or Word: which resume file should you send?

PDF for almost everyone, Word only when they ask. The reasons are about control, not compatibility.

PDF locks your layout

A PDF looks identical on every screen and printer. A Word file re-flows based on the reader's fonts and version, so the careful spacing you set can collapse before a recruiter ever sees it.

Modern parsers read PDF fine

The old advice that 'ATS can't read PDFs' is years out of date. Text-based PDFs parse cleanly. What breaks parsers is a scanned-image PDF or a heavily-designed one — not the format itself.

Send Word only on request

Some agencies re-format your resume into their template, so they ask for an editable file. If they ask, send it. Otherwise, PDF keeps you in control of the first impression.

Export from source

Whatever you write in, export a clean, selectable-text PDF. Every resume resumania compiles ships as a real, text-based PDF plus the .tex source, so you have both.

Related reading
Are resume templates ATS-safe? Usually not — here's how to tellFormatting · 7 minWhy columns and tables quietly wreck your resumeFormatting · 4 minFonts, margins and spacing that actually parseFormatting · 4 min
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