ATS education

How to check your resume's text extraction.

You can't test against every ATS. But you can check the most fundamental question: does your resume's text come out cleanly when extracted? If it doesn't, no ATS in the world will read it correctly. Here are two methods — one using a browser, one using an offline tool.

By Advoke CV Editorial Team Published: January 2025 Reading time: ~4 minutes

1. Why text extraction is the fundamental test

Every ATS starts by extracting text from your file. If the extraction is clean, the ATS has a chance to work with your content. If the extraction is scrambled, missing pieces, or blank, nothing downstream matters.

Testing extraction is a five-minute exercise. Do it before you submit any important application.

2. Method A — Copy-paste from your PDF

This is the simplest method and requires no extra tools.

  1. Open your resume PDF in a browser. Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari all work. Don't open it in a Word processor — open it in a browser tab.
  2. Select all text using Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac).
  3. Copy the selection using Ctrl+C or Cmd+C.
  4. Paste into a plain text editor — Notepad (Windows), TextEdit in plain mode (Mac), or any plain-text field. Do not paste into Word or Google Docs; those preserve formatting and won't show you the raw extraction.
  5. Read the pasted text. Ask yourself:
    • Is the text in a sensible order (name, then summary, then experience, etc.)?
    • Are there any sections missing?
    • Is any text scrambled or garbled?
    • Are dates and job titles attached to the right entries?
    • Are any characters displayed as boxes or question marks?

3. Method B — Use a PDF text-extraction tool

Browsers do a good job of copying text, but they sometimes normalize whitespace or fix obvious layout issues. To see what a raw parser might see, you can use a PDF text extraction tool. These are available both as command-line utilities and as browser-based tools.

Two common options:

  • pdftotext (command line, part of poppler-utils) — run pdftotext your-resume.pdf - in a terminal to see raw extracted text.
  • Browser-based PDF text extractors — many free tools exist. Search "PDF to text" and choose one. Note that you should only upload a resume to a tool you trust, and ideally one that processes locally in your browser rather than uploading your resume to a server.

Method B gives you a more realistic view of what an ATS parser sees. Method A is faster and is usually sufficient for catching major issues.

4. Interpreting the results

Good extraction looks like this:

Ayesha Rahman
Frontend Developer
ayesha.rahman@example.com · +92 300 1234567 · Karachi, Pakistan

SUMMARY
Frontend developer with four years of experience building...

EXPERIENCE
Frontend Developer · Lumen Labs · Mar 2022 – Present
· Led migration of a legacy jQuery dashboard to React 18 and TypeScript...
· Built and maintained a shared component library...

Problematic extraction might look like this:

Ayesha Rahman Frontend Developer ayesha.rahman@example.com +92 300 1234567 Karachi, Pakistan Led migration of a legacy jQuery dashboard to React 18 and TypeScript Built and maintained a shared component library Frontend Developer Lumen Labs Mar 2022 Present SUMMARY Frontend developer with four years of experience...

In the second example, all the text is there, but it's mixed together without clear section boundaries or ordering. An ATS would struggle to identify which content belongs to which section. This is a real problem.

5. If extraction is bad

The fix depends on the cause:

  • Multi-column layout — switch to single-column. See our simple layouts guide.
  • Tables or text boxes — remove them. See tables and graphics.
  • Image-based PDF — if you exported from a design tool or a scanner, export again from a text-based source.
  • Section names not recognised — rename to standard section names ("Experience", "Education", "Skills").
  • Weird fonts — switch to a standard font like Inter, Arial, Calibri, or Georgia.

If you're using an Advoke CV template that is labelled ATS-friendly, the extraction should be clean by design. If it isn't, please let us know — that would be a bug.

6. What this test does not do

This test tells you how text is extracted. It does not tell you:

  • How a specific ATS will map the extracted text to its internal fields.
  • Whether a specific ATS will accept your file format.
  • Whether a specific employer's search algorithm will surface your resume.
  • Whether a human reviewer will find your resume compelling.

Extraction is the foundation. Once extraction is clean, the rest of the ATS question is about how the employer uses the data. That part is beyond your control.

7. Checklist

  • Have you tested extraction on your resume in the last week?
  • Does the extracted text come out in a sensible order?
  • Are all sections present?
  • Are dates attached to the right entries?
  • Are special characters displayed correctly?
  • Have you fixed any issues found before submitting?
Do this before every important application

Once you've verified extraction for one resume version, small content edits won't change it. But if you switch templates or reformat, re-test. Two minutes now can save a week of silence from an ATS.