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Résumé to PDF
The format every application system reads. Your layout arrives intact.
More free conversions, where you upload. The Fylane extension does the same work inside any upload form, on its own free share every day.Add to Chrome
How to convert Résumé to PDF
- Drop your résumé — .docx, .doc, .odt or .rtf.
- Press Convert.
- Download the PDF and attach it to the application.
What happens to your file
A Word résumé looks like a Word résumé only on a machine with your fonts and your version of Word. A PDF carries its fonts inside it, so the recruiter, the applicant tracking system and the printer all see the spacing you set.
The layout is converted through LibreOffice: fonts embedded, page breaks kept, hyperlinks live. Tables and columns survive; heavily designed templates with text boxes are where things occasionally shift, so look at the result before you send it.
The text stays real text, not a picture of text. That matters more than anything else on this page: an applicant tracking system reads your PDF by extracting its text layer, and a résumé exported as an image is a blank page to it.
Nothing is watermarked and nothing is added. What comes out is your document.
Questions
What file type should a résumé be?
PDF, unless the application explicitly asks for Word. A PDF looks identical everywhere and cannot be edited by accident. The exception is a recruiter who wants to add their own notes or reformat it — some agencies ask for .docx for exactly that reason, and they will say so.
What is a normal résumé file size?
Under 500 KB for a text résumé, and most are nearer 100 KB. Anything over 2 MB usually means an embedded photograph or a background image at full camera resolution. Many application forms cap uploads at 2 MB, and a few at 1 MB.
Why will my résumé not upload?
Four causes cover almost all of it: the file is larger than the form allows, the form takes only certain extensions and yours is not one of them, the file name contains characters the site rejects, or the document is open in Word and locked. Convert to PDF, keep it under 1 MB, and give it a plain name.
What should I name my résumé file?
Your name and the word résumé, with no spaces or punctuation beyond hyphens: alex-morgan-resume.pdf. Recruiters see the file name in their inbox and in their tracking system, and "Document1 (final) (2).pdf" is a first impression.
Will an applicant tracking system read my PDF?
Yes, as long as the text is text. Converting from Word keeps it that way. What defeats these systems is a résumé that is really a scanned image, or one whose layout is built from text boxes in an unusual order.
Is a CV the same as a resume?
In the US and Canada they are different documents: a resume is one or two pages aimed at a particular job, a CV is a long academic record. Almost everywhere else — the UK, Ireland, most of Europe, India, South Africa, Australia — CV simply means the same one or two pages. This page takes either; the file it makes is the same.
Should I put a photo on my résumé?
It depends where you are applying. Much of continental Europe expects one; the US, UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia mostly do not, and some employers discard résumés with photos to reduce bias. If you include one, that is usually what makes the file large.
Do it once, not on every form
Fixing a file here means downloading it and going back to the form. The Fylane extension does this work inside the form instead, on the file you already have.
And it keeps the result. The next application that asks for a résumé, a cover letter and a photo fills all three from one tap, each one refitted to what that site accepts.
Your files stay in the browser, encrypted, on your machine. Nothing is uploaded to keep them and nothing is sent anywhere to fill a form.
Related tools
Do this in code
curl -X POST https://api.fylane.dev/v1/jobs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FYLANE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"file_id": "<file id>",
"operation": "convert",
"options": {}
}'The same operation, convert — Documents into another document format: Office, text and HTML to PDF by default, or by `to` into docx, odt, rtf, txt, html, xlsx, ods, csv, pptx, odp, md or epub (Markdown and EPUB through pandoc). Images to WebP. Upload first with the quickstart; every option is on the operations page. 500 free credits a month, then $5 per thousand.