Why a scanned PDF resume fails ATS checks
The short answer
A scanned or picture-only PDF has no real text, so a parser has nothing to read. Our check takes 60 points off the formatting score for it, the largest deduction we have. Re-export the resume from Word or Google Docs instead.
What we measured
Measured
When a PDF has no readable text of its own, our scan has to read it as a picture. If it can only get the words that way, the check treats the file as image-only and takes 60 points from a formatting score that starts at 100. A file like this also usually counts as containing images, which can add the 5-point images cost on top.
These are the rules of Passthrough's own scan, not a feed from any employer's system.
How a resume ends up like this
You print a resume and scan it. You save a screenshot as a PDF. You use "print to image" or a design tool that flattens every page into one picture. On screen it looks perfect. Inside the file, though, there are no letters, only pixels.
Why the cost is so large
Our advice
Everything else in a format check is about text being read in the wrong order or skipped in part. An image-only file is the case where nothing is read at all. We priced it above every other problem for that reason.
This is our reasoning. We have not tested any named employer system for this article.
A quick test and the fix
Our advice
Open the PDF and try to select a sentence with your cursor. If you can highlight individual words, there is real text. If the whole page behaves like one image, it does not. The fix is to go back to the original Word or Google Docs file and export a PDF from there, or upload the Word file itself.
See how this compares with other layout problems in the penalty simulator, or read about columns.
See what a scan makes of your resume
The scan is free, and you see your full breakdown before you decide anything.
Keep reading
- Are two-column resumes bad for ATS?How our check detects columns in Word and PDF resumes, what they cost, and a second check that catches columns merged into long lines.
- How Passthrough scores resume formattingEvery formatting deduction in the Passthrough scan, listed with its points and the file types it applies to, straight from the scoring engine.