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How Workable reads your resume

Workable publishes exactly what its application form takes, which is more than most applicant tracking systems will tell you. The list is unusually broad at one end (OpenOffice and HTML both appear) and unusually strict at the other, with a resume ceiling well below what the same form allows for other files.

See what Workable reads from your resumePDF or Word. The file stays on your device.Check my resume

Workable is a trademark of its owner. ATSPrep isn't affiliated with it.

Will Workable read your file?

Your file
Size
WorkableRead

1.5 MB is well inside the published 5 MB limit.

Made by
Workable
Parser
Not published
Accepts
PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML, ODT
ATSPrep exports
PDF accepted, DOCX accepted

Source: Workable Help, file types accepted on the application form

What Workable pulls out, and what gets lost.

Your file goes in, Workable fills the fields it recognises, and the line underneath types what its own documentation says goes missing on the way.

What Workable accepts, with sources.

Every line below links to the page it came from. Where Workable does not publish a detail, this guide leaves it out rather than guessing.

Accepted file types

PDFDOCDOCXRTFHTMLODT
Source: Workable Help, file types accepted on the application form · checked Jul 30, 2026

Size limits

Uploads accepted up to 5 MB.

Source: Workable Help, file types accepted on the application form · checked Jul 30, 2026

What ATSPrep exports, and whether Workable takes it

This is computed at build time by comparing our export formats to Workable's published list. It is not written by hand, so it cannot drift out of date.

  • PDFATSPrep exportAccepted by Workable
  • DOCXATSPrep exportAccepted by Workable

Workable takes both, so the choice is yours. PDF or DOCX: a simple rule for picking

What trips people up on Workable

  1. The resume limit is stricter than the form's other limits

    A resume is capped at 5 MB, while file uploads attached to custom questions on the same application are allowed up to 20 MB. If a portfolio attachment goes through and your resume does not, this asymmetry is why: the constraint is specific to the resume field.

    Source: Workable Help, file types accepted on the application form · checked Jul 30, 2026

  2. Plain text is not on the list

    PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML and ODT are accepted. A .txt file, often the safest possible format elsewhere, is not among them, so the plain-text fallback that works on other systems will be rejected here.

    Source: Workable Help, file types accepted on the application form · checked Jul 30, 2026

  3. OpenOffice and HTML are genuinely supported

    ODT and HTML both appear on the official list, which is broader than most systems allow. Breadth is not a recommendation, though: the further you get from a plain linear document, the more ways there are for the extracted text to arrive in an order you did not intend.

    Source: Workable Help, file types accepted on the application form · checked Jul 30, 2026

  4. The parsing engine is not disclosed

    Workable does not publish which parser it uses, and no credible source names one. This guide leaves that blank rather than repeating the guesses that circulate. It does mean you cannot reason about behaviour from a vendor's documentation the way you can with systems that have named theirs.

Formatting for Workable

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 Workable job.

  • Lower than it sounds once a photograph or a design-tool export is involved. A text-based PDF will normally be a small fraction of it.

  • Plain text is missing from Workable's accepted list even though it is the safest option on several other systems. Use PDF or DOCX instead.

  • Custom question uploads allow up to 20 MB. Heavy visual work belongs there, not bolted onto the end of the resume where it eats the tighter limit.

  • With no published engine, the only safe assumption is the conservative one: single column, ordinary headings, real text, contact details in the body of the page.

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.

Track this application

Read your resume back before Workable 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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Workable and your resume

What is Workable?
Workable is an applicant tracking system used mostly by small and mid-sized companies to post jobs and collect applications. Its job pages usually sit on apply.workable.com.
What file types does Workable accept for a resume?
PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML and ODT. Workable publishes this list in its help centre. Plain text files are not included.
What is the file size limit for a Workable resume?
5 MB. Separately, file uploads attached to custom questions on the same application form are allowed up to 20 MB, so the resume field is the stricter of the two.
Which parser does Workable use?
Workable does not publish this, and no reliable source names it. Claims you may find asserting a specific vendor are not supported by any Workable documentation, so this guide does not repeat them.
Can I upload a .txt resume to Workable?
No. Plain text is absent from Workable's published list of accepted formats, which is worth knowing because .txt is the standard fallback on several other systems.

How the rest of them read a resume

Start from an example that Workable can read.

Each one is a single-column document, scored by the same checks the Studio runs.