Word or PDF CV: which format should you send?

PDF or Word? It sounds like a technical question, yet it decides two things: what the recruiter sees when opening your file, and what screening software manages to read in it. The short answer fits in one line: a PDF exported from your word processor, unless you are asked for a Word file. The long answer, with the traps, the file name and what the site does with each format, follows.

The short rule

• By default, a text PDF, exported, neither scanned nor printed as an image. Your layout arrives as it is, on every screen.
• A Word file (.docx) when you are asked for one: in the job ad, in the application form, or by a recruitment agency.
• Never an image: no photo, no screenshot, no scan. Our “File format” criterion is a reminder: “Screening software reads text PDFs and Word files, not photos or scans.”
• A single file for the CV, unless told otherwise, with the cover letter separate if one is requested.

The PDF: your layout, locked in

A PDF displays the same way everywhere: the fonts are embedded in the file, and the margins, photo and colours stay where they are. That is its great strength. But not all PDFs are equal.

• The right PDF comes straight out of Word (“Save as” or “Export” in PDF format), Google Docs (“Download” as PDF), LibreOffice or Canva (Standard or Print PDF, without the option that flattens the file: see our guide Canva CVs and ATS). Test: select a sentence with your mouse; if it highlights word by word, the text is there.
• The wrong PDF comes from a scan, a photo or a print “as image”. It looks identical, but it contains no text. Our “Text a robot can read” criterion: “A PDF made from a scan or an image has no text: the robot sees a blank page.”
• A protected PDF, locked with a password or against copying, gets in the way of software that needs to extract its text. Send an unprotected file.

Word: when you are asked for it

A Word file can be edited: that is why you are asked for one, and that is why it is riskier.

• Recruitment agencies often ask for it so they can put your CV into their own template, or anonymise it before presenting it to their client.
• Some online forms accept only .docx: follow the list of formats they give.
• Fonts travel badly. If the recruiter does not have your font, their computer substitutes another one and your layout shifts: a line spills onto the next page, a heading gets cut. Choose a common font and open your file on another computer before sending it.
• Leftovers: comments, tracked changes, hidden text. Accept or delete everything before you send it.
• Text boxes and layout tables: “Multiple columns, tables and text boxes scramble the robot's reading order.” A single-column Word file with proper heading styles is what reads best.

File name and file size

• The name: “CV-Firstname-Lastname.pdf”, optionally followed by the role (“CV-Firstname-Lastname-Accountant.pdf”). No “final”, “new” or “version”, and no accents or spaces if you want to be safe: it is the name the site gives the CVs it rewrites or redraws for you.
• The size: what makes a CV heavy is nearly always an oversized photo or a background image. Shrink it before inserting it: forms often set a maximum size, and the site accepts files of up to 4 MB.
• Both at once: keep your Word file as the source and export a PDF after every change. You always have the right file to hand.

What a robot reads in each format

To see what software really reads in your file, our ATS CV check shows you your CV “the way an ATS robot reads it”: the text extracted from your PDF or Word file, in reading order. How this software works is explained in our guide to ATS screening robots.

What the site reads, and what it gives back

You can upload a PDF, a Word file (.docx), a photo of your CV, or paste its text. A PDF is read twice: its text is extracted the way screening software would do it (that is what the results show you), and the AI reads the document itself. A Word file is read up to 30,000 characters of text, and its photo is carried over when “My structure” redraws it. A photo of your CV is read by the AI, but the ATS score reminds you that screening software would get nothing from it. The old .doc format is refused: save it as .docx first.

• “New template”: the AI rewrites your CV for a goal (ATS robots, value, career change, translation) and you download it as PDF or Word (.docx, classic or modern template, native heading styles), to touch up afterwards in Word.
• “Same layout”: your PDF edited in place, same fonts, same colours, same photo (see Edit a PDF CV). PDF only: a scanned or protected CV cannot be edited this way.
• “My structure”: your CV, PDF or Word, sorted into sections and redrawn as a PDF. It is the route for a Word CV you want to reorganise or add to (see Edit a Word CV).

In short: you have a Word file and want to keep its layout exactly as it is? Export it as a PDF from Word, then use “Same layout”. You want a Word file at the end? That is “New template”.