# Recruitee ATS Resume Format & Parsing Rules > Recruitee takes PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF and TXT, plus JPG and PNG images of a CV. Its help centre says the parser needs a readable email address, which is usually missed in a header or footer, and that highly visual CVs are the most common reason a file cannot be read. | | | | --- | --- | | System | Recruitee | | Vendor | Tellent | | Also known as | Tellent Recruitee, Recruitee ATS | | Rendered page | https://atsprep.com/ats/recruitee | | This document | https://atsprep.com/ats/recruitee.md | Recruitee publishes a help article on why its parser fails, and the answer is mostly about one field. The email address is how Recruitee recognises a CV as a candidate, so an address it cannot read, in a header, a footer or an image, causes more trouble here than almost any layout choice. ## Taking the file in | | | | --- | --- | | Accepted file types | PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF, TXT, JPG, PNG | Source: [Recruitee Help Center, upload and parse CVs](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/1109254-upload-and-parse-cvs) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ## Autofill Recruitee reads each CV, pulls out the candidate's name, contact details and work history, and builds a profile from it. Profile fields an employer sets up, such as years of experience, languages, certifications or notice period, are filled in by the parser too. Recruitee documents the correction on the recruiter's side: each profile is shown next to the original CV so anything the parser got wrong can be fixed. It does not document a step where the applicant reviews the parse. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, upload and parse CVs](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/1109254-upload-and-parse-cvs) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ## What Recruitee does differently ### No readable email address, no parse For an emailed application to become a candidate, Recruitee says the attached CV must contain an email address, and the name and email fields are pre-filled with what its parser extracts from that file. It recommends one attachment per email, so another file is not mistaken for the CV. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, CV and resume FAQ](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/8206027-faq-cv-resume) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### An email in the header or footer is the usual miss The most common warning Recruitee shows when CVs are added is that the candidate email could not be extracted, which it says is usually a CV where the email sits in a header, a footer or an image. The profile is still created, and someone has to type the address in. Recruitee also says a profile needs a name, an email address and a readable CV, and gives a CV forwarded as a scanned image as an example of an email that is kept rather than turned into a candidate. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, add candidates to Recruitee](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/1109213-add-candidates-to-recruitee) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### Highly visual CVs are not parser-friendly Recruitee names a highly visual CV as the most common reason a document cannot be read. Its own checklist asks whether the file is Word, PDF or ODT, whether the text can be highlighted, whether a standard web-safe font such as Arial or Times New Roman was used, whether a scanned CV is searchable, and whether the document is protected. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, why a CV was not parsed correctly](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/4752121-why-was-my-candidate-s-cv-not-parsed-correctly) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### One file should hold one CV When a single file combines a CV with a cover letter, references or other documents, Recruitee parses the whole thing, and can pick up someone else's email address as the candidate's. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, why a CV was not parsed correctly](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/4752121-why-was-my-candidate-s-cv-not-parsed-correctly) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### Every file is shown to the recruiter as a PDF JPG and PNG images of a CV are on Recruitee's upload list alongside the document formats, and anything else is marked unsupported and not uploaded. Files that are not already PDFs are converted to PDF so they can be previewed inside Recruitee; the original stays on the profile and can still be downloaded. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, upload and parse CVs](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/1109254-upload-and-parse-cvs) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### Knockout questions can reject on the spot Employers can mark screening questions as knockout questions that disqualify an applicant who picks a set answer. If the disqualify reason has an automated rule such as a rejection email, Recruitee says it triggers immediately after the candidate applies. Name and email are always on the form; the CV field can be required, optional or hidden. The form itself sits at the job's URL followed by /c/new. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, create an application form for each job](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/1066259-create-an-application-form-for-each-job) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### Careers sites live on recruitee.com by default Recruitee hosts each employer's careers site at an address like yourcompany.recruitee.com. An employer can use its own subdomain, such as jobs.yourcompany.com, as a custom domain for the same site, so the address bar will not always say Recruitee. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, show jobs on your own website](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/1066286-show-jobs-on-your-own-website) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### The parser is third-party and unnamed Recruitee says it uses third-party CV parsing software and that mistakes can happen because of that software's machine learning rules. It does not name the vendor, so this guide does not either. Source: [Recruitee Help Center, why a CV was not parsed correctly](https://support.recruitee.com/en/articles/4752121-why-was-my-candidate-s-cv-not-parsed-correctly) (checked Oct 19, 2026) ### No size limit is published Recruitee's help centre does not state a maximum file size for a CV. This guide leaves the field blank rather than borrow a number from a different part of the product. ## What to do about it ### Put your email in the body of the page Not in a header, a footer, a text box or an image. Recruitee's parser keys on the email address, and those are the places it says the address gets missed. ### Send a text-based PDF, DOCX or ODT Make sure you can highlight the text, especially the email address. If you can't, the parser can't read it either. ### Use a standard font and a plain layout Recruitee names web-safe fonts such as Arial and Times New Roman, and warns that highly visual CVs are hard to parse. One column and ordinary headings keep you clear of both. ### Upload the CV on its own Use the cover letter field for the cover letter. A combined file can hand the parser the wrong email address. ### Remove any protection before you upload Recruitee lists a protected document among the reasons a CV is not parsed. Export an unrestricted copy. ### Read the screening questions carefully A knockout answer can disqualify you and trigger a rejection email straight away, before anyone opens your CV. ## Questions ### What is Recruitee? Recruitee, also called Tellent Recruitee, is an applicant tracking system employers use to run their careers site, collect applications and parse CVs into candidate profiles. ### Does Recruitee read PDF resumes? Yes. PDF is on Recruitee's accepted list. Recruitee's checks for a CV that will not parse include whether you can highlight the text, whether a scanned CV is searchable, and whether the document is protected, so a text-based, unprotected PDF is the safe choice. ### What file types does Recruitee accept for a CV? PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF and TXT files, and JPG and PNG images of a CV. Anything else is marked as unsupported and not uploaded. Files that are not PDFs are converted to PDF for preview, and the original stays downloadable. ### What is the Recruitee resume size limit? Recruitee does not publish a maximum file size for CVs in its help centre. If an upload goes through but nothing is extracted, the email address and the layout are more likely causes than size. ### Why did my resume fail to parse in Recruitee? Recruitee names the causes: no email address in the CV, an email address in a header, footer or image, a highly visual layout, a non-standard font, text that cannot be highlighted, a scan that is not searchable, a protected document, and several documents combined into one file. It also says some mistakes come from the parsing software's machine learning rules. ### Does a failed parse mean Recruitee rejected my application? No. Recruitee documents manual fallbacks: a profile is still created when the email cannot be extracted, and an email application that cannot be converted is kept for the recruiter to convert by hand. What can reject you automatically is a knockout question. ### How do I know if an employer uses Recruitee? Recruitee careers sites are hosted at an address like yourcompany.recruitee.com, unless the employer has set up its own domain such as jobs.yourcompany.com. The application form itself sits at the job's URL followed by /c/new. ## Exporting from ATSPrep to Recruitee ATSPrep exports a linear, single-column, parser-safe document. Against Recruitee's published list of accepted types: - **PDF** — on Recruitee's accepted list - **DOCX** — on Recruitee's accepted list ## The other guides - [Greenhouse](https://atsprep.com/ats/greenhouse) — Greenhouse takes PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF and TXT, and will not parse a resume larger than 2.5 MB. Its own support docs name what makes a parse fail: columns, contact details in a header, abbreviated job titles and more. - [Oracle Taleo](https://atsprep.com/ats/taleo) — Oracle ships Taleo with a 1 MB default attachment limit and no resume parser of its own. Parsing only works if the employer has enabled a third-party partner integration, so behaviour differs from one Taleo site to the next. - [SmartRecruiters](https://atsprep.com/ats/smartrecruiters) — SmartRecruiters accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, JPG and PNG at 2 MB per file, and its CEO named Textkernel as the parsing engine, whose own documentation warns about PDFs more bluntly than any resume blog does. - [Ashby](https://atsprep.com/ats/ashby) — Ashby accepts PDF, DOC and DOCX up to 50 MB but does not support Markdown. Its docs name the two reasons a resume fails to parse, and its better parser is an opt-in feature some employers never switch on. - [Workable](https://atsprep.com/ats/workable) — Workable 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. - [Manatal](https://atsprep.com/ats/manatal) — Manatal 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. - [SAP SuccessFactors](https://atsprep.com/ats/successfactors) — SAP 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. - [BambooHR](https://atsprep.com/ats/bamboohr) — BambooHR 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. - [Jobvite](https://atsprep.com/ats/jobvite) — Jobvite accepts twelve file types for a resume, from PDF and DOCX to images and spreadsheets, but its own help centre says scanned or locked PDFs cannot be added and image files are not parsed. - [Workday](https://atsprep.com/ats/workday) — Workday's own careers site takes DOC, DOCX, HTML, PDF or TXT resumes up to 5 MB. Its documentation says parsing results vary with format and word order, and that images and image-based styles get in the way. - [Lever](https://atsprep.com/ats/lever) — Lever takes resume files up to 10 MB and parses Word, PDF, RTF, WordPerfect, HTML and OpenDocument files, but not images. Its help centre is specific about when a parse fails, and most of the reasons are about how the file arrived rather than how it looks. - [iCIMS](https://atsprep.com/ats/icims) — iCIMS extracts text from PDF, Word, RTF, plain text, HTML and OpenDocument resumes by default and fills profile fields from the file you upload. It does not publish a resume size limit. - [JazzHR](https://atsprep.com/ats/jazzhr) — JazzHR takes PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT and TXT resumes up to 5 MB. Its own support docs say a scanned resume is treated as an image: no name, no email, nothing searchable. - [Breezy HR](https://atsprep.com/ats/breezy-hr) — Breezy HR takes DOC, DOCX, Pages, PDF, RTF and TXT resumes. Its docs say a scanned resume, or one in an unsupported language, is not parsed, and its AI review tools skip any resume that wasn't. - [Personio](https://atsprep.com/ats/personio) — Personio parses PDF and DOCX CVs with Textkernel, if the employer has opted in. Its own help centre lists ten reasons a parse fails, from headers and tables to 8 pt text and skill bar charts. - [Dayforce](https://atsprep.com/ats/dayforce) — Dayforce takes DOC, DOCX, PDF and RTF resumes up to 5 MB. Import Resume parses the file into your candidate profile, and uploading again overwrites what the last one filled in. - [Pinpoint](https://atsprep.com/ats/pinpoint) — Pinpoint takes a CV as PDF or DOCX, and nothing else. Its software reads the CV on upload to write the candidate summary recruiters see first. - [Comeet](https://atsprep.com/ats/comeet) — Comeet, now Spark Hire Recruit, takes PDF, DOC and DOCX resumes and parses them in 39 listed languages. Arabic and Korean are not among them, and a file that is not a true PDF may not even open. ## About ATSPrep ATSPrep (https://atsprep.com) is a free resume and application workspace. Match experience to a posting, strengthen claims with evidence, and track the next action. Its PDF check shows text recovered by ATSPrep's extractor, not an employer's proprietary ATS or hiring decision. - **Price:** free. Checking, importing, editing and downloading cost nothing, and downloads carry no watermark. Everything listed here is free. - **Account:** none needed to check, import or edit a resume. A free sign-in is needed to download after the first file, to sync, and for more checks or more than 5 AI edits. - **Your file:** parsed and exported inside the browser. The resume file itself is never uploaded. - **Optional:** text leaves the browser only when you press a button: semantic match and AI edits (the lines involved), a job link (the link) and Pip voice calls (your speech). Never your contact details, and none of it is stored. - **Connection:** some tools load on first use and need a connection to download. Local storage is not a cloud backup. - **Accepts:** PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, or pasted plain text. Start here: https://atsprep.com/studio