How Ashby reads your resume
Ashby is one of the newest applicant tracking systems and one of the more candid: its public documentation names the exact reasons a resume fails to parse, and admits that its stronger parser is something an employer has to opt into. That last detail matters more than any formatting tip.
Ashby is a trademark of its owner. ATSPrep isn't affiliated with it.
Will Ashby read your file?
1.5 MB is well inside the published 50 MB limit.
- Made by
- Ashby
- Parser
- Not published
- Accepts
- PDF, DOC, DOCX
- ATSPrep exports
- PDF accepted, DOCX accepted
What Ashby pulls out, and what gets lost.
Your file goes in, Ashby fills the fields it recognises, and the line underneath types what its own documentation says goes missing on the way.
What Ashby accepts, with sources.
Every line below links to the page it came from. Where Ashby does not publish a detail, this guide leaves it out rather than guessing.
Accepted file types
Size limits
Uploads accepted up to 50 MB.
Form autofill
When a resume is uploaded, Ashby creates a candidate profile, parses the resume details into the summary tab of that profile, and stores the original file in a viewable form beside it.
The original file sits next to the parsed summary, so a recruiter can always see what you actually wrote, but the summary is what gets read first.
What ATSPrep exports, and whether Ashby takes it
This is computed at build time by comparing our export formats to Ashby's published list. It is not written by hand, so it cannot drift out of date.
- PDFATSPrep exportAccepted by Ashby
- DOCXATSPrep exportAccepted by Ashby
Ashby takes both, so the choice is yours. PDF or DOCX: a simple rule for picking
What trips people up on Ashby
The better parser is opt-in
Ashby offers “enhanced resume parsing”, which extends the range of supported languages and, in its own words, improves parsing for resumes with more complex layouts or formatting. It is an opt-in feature. Some employers on Ashby have it and some do not, and you have no way to tell which. So the sensible assumption is that you are being read by the standard parser.
Source: Ashby Docs, AI features and enhanced resume parsing · checked Oct 25, 2026Enhanced parsing lists 109 languages; the standard parser publishes none
Ashby's AI features page lists the languages its enhanced resume parsing reads: 109 entries, from Afrikaans to Zulu, including Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional). Ashby publishes no language list for the standard parser, and enhanced parsing only applies to resumes added after an employer switches it on. A resume in a language other than English is safest when the employer has enabled it, which you cannot check from outside.
Source: Ashby Docs, AI features and enhanced resume parsing · checked Oct 25, 2026A photograph of a resume will not parse
Ashby names this directly as a failure case: a file that is an image of a PDF, where someone photographed a document and converted it. It is a more common accident than it sounds, particularly when applying from a phone.
Source: Ashby Docs, bulk import options · checked Jul 30, 2026An unusual layout defeats it
The second documented failure case is a file in a unique format, which Ashby describes as the candidate's details sitting somewhere the parser did not expect. Anything that moves your name and contact details away from the top of the first page is a candidate for this.
Source: Ashby Docs, bulk import options · checked Jul 30, 2026Markdown is explicitly not supported
Ashby's file documentation calls out executable types and certain text-based formats such as .md as unsupported. Engineers who keep a resume in Markdown need to export before applying rather than attaching the source.
Source: Ashby Docs, candidate files and file categories · checked Jul 30, 2026Resumes leave one at a time
Ashby's export documentation says it is not currently possible to bulk export resumes in the app. A recruiter downloads each one from its file name on the candidate's Summary tab, or asks Ashby support for a bulk export. Every resume stays in Ashby as the file you uploaded, so the file you send is the one a hiring manager may open later.
Source: Ashby Docs, how do I export candidate data · checked Oct 25, 2026The size ceiling is generous
Ashby allows up to 50 MB, far above what a text-based resume needs. A limit that high means file size will not be your problem here. It also means an enormous image-heavy export will upload happily and still parse badly.
Source: Ashby Docs, candidate files and file categories · checked Jul 30, 2026
Formatting for Ashby
Go through your file before you apply and tick each one off. Your ticks stay in this browser, so the list is still here for the next Ashby job.
Produce the PDF from the document itself. A scan or a photo converted to PDF carries no text layer, and Ashby lists exactly that as a parse failure.
Ashby's second documented failure mode is details turning up somewhere unexpected. The top of the first page is where every parser looks first.
Since enhanced parsing is opt-in, format for the weaker case: a single column, ordinary section headings, and no reliance on the layout to convey meaning.
If you write your resume in Markdown, export to PDF or DOCX. Ashby names .md among the formats it does not take.
All four checked. Good luck with this one.
Once it's sent, add the job to your tracker. You'll know which version went where, and when a follow-up is fair.
Read your resume back before Ashby does.
Guidance is worth less than evidence. Export a PDF from the Studio and the X-Ray re-opens that exact file and shows you the text a parser recovers from it, in reading order, with anything it dropped marked.
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Ashby and your resume
- What file types does Ashby accept?
- For documents, PDF, DOC and DOCX, with a limit of 50 MB. Ashby's upload questions also accept images such as JPG and PNG and common video formats, but it explicitly does not support executables or certain text-based formats such as Markdown.
- Why did my resume fail to parse in Ashby?
- Ashby documents two reasons. The first is that the file is an image of a PDF, meaning someone photographed or scanned a document and converted it, leaving no text to extract. The second is that the file is in a unique format, where details the parser needs sit somewhere it did not expect to find them.
- What is Ashby's enhanced resume parsing?
- It is an opt-in feature that extends the range of supported languages (Korean and Hebrew are given as examples) and improves parsing of resumes with more complex layouts or formatting. Because employers have to enable it, you cannot assume it is on.
- Which languages does Ashby's resume parser support?
- Ashby publishes a language list only for enhanced resume parsing: 109 languages, including Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. Enhanced parsing is opt-in and applies to resumes added after an employer enables it. Ashby does not publish a list for its standard parser.
- Can you bulk download resumes from Ashby?
- Not in the app. Ashby's documentation says it is not currently possible to bulk export resumes in-app; each resume downloads from its file name on the candidate's Summary tab, and for a bulk export Ashby asks you to contact support@ashbyhq.com.
- Where is Ashby's resume parsing documentation?
- On docs.ashbyhq.com: the candidate files page covers accepted file types and the 50 MB limit, the bulk import page names the two reasons a parse fails, and the AI features page describes enhanced resume parsing and its language list. Each is linked beside the claim it supports on this page.
- How big can a resume be in Ashby?
- Up to 50 MB, which is far more than a text-based resume requires. Size is rarely the constraint on Ashby; whether the file contains real text is.
How the rest of them read a resume
- WorkableWorkable accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML and ODT for a resume, with a 5 MB ceiling, while other attachments on the same form are allowed four times that size.6 file types
- ManatalManatal takes PDF, DOC, DOCX and RTF, parses every resume the moment it lands with a parser it built rather than licensed, and keeps the original file where recruiters can open it.4 file types · Manatal (in-house)
- SAP SuccessFactorsSAP SuccessFactors Recruiting parses resumes with Textkernel in 15 languages, takes resumes up to 5 MB, and says plainly that parsing is not always accurate. What SAP's own documentation says, with links.7 file types · Textkernel
- BambooHRBambooHR takes uploads up to 20 MB in common formats including PDF, DOC and DOCX. Its help center does not describe resume parsing: recruiters open your resume as a document, and the application form is filled in by you.16 file types
Start from an example that Ashby can read.
Each one is a single-column document, scored by the same checks the Studio runs.