If your resume will not upload, or the analysis comes back with obviously wrong text, work through these checks in order.
Upload requirements
- The file must be a PDF (not DOCX, PNG, or a photo of a resume).
- It must be 5 MB or smaller.
- The text should be selectable — click and drag inside the PDF. If you cannot highlight the words, the file is an image-only scan; the parser attempts text recognition (OCR) on scanned pages, but it can fail or misread low-quality scans, so a real text PDF is the reliable option.
The file uploads but the analysis looks wrong
This almost always means the PDF is image-based (scanned, exported from a design tool as graphics, or a photo). The parser tries OCR on pages it identifies as scans, but recognition can fail or garble low-quality scans.
Fixes:
- Re-export from your editor as a text-based PDF rather than scanning or printing to image.
- If you only have a scan, run it through OCR first, then upload the OCR result.
- Verify the fix before re-uploading: the Resume Parser Test shows the exact text the system reads.
Text is present but scrambled or out of order
Columns, tables, and text boxes are the usual cause. Convert the layout to a single column with plain headings and try again. See Resume not parsing in ATS for a step-by-step diagnostic.
Still failing
Contact support with the file and what you see — include whether the error appears at upload or inside the report, and which tool you were using.