Free Google Docs resume templates that an ATS can still read.
Google Docs has resume templates of its own. Ours are 60 complete role examples, laid out in one clean column that parsers read. Edit one free in your browser, then open it in Google Docs as a Word file with ATSPrep Pro, or as plain text with no account at all.
How to open one in Google DocsStart from a role example in the two plainest designs.
Each opens with that design picked. Clean and Minimal draw no borders or shading, so there is less for Google Docs to redraw. Your role isn't here? All 60 templates are in the library.
- Software EngineerClean design, scored 97/100
- Registered NurseMinimal design, scored 96/100
- Data AnalystClean design, scored 96/100
- TeacherMinimal design, scored 96/100
- Customer Service RepresentativeClean design, scored 96/100
- Project ManagerMinimal design, scored 97/100
- AccountantClean design, scored 96/100
- Marketing ManagerMinimal design, scored 98/100
- Administrative AssistantClean design, scored 97/100
- Product ManagerMinimal design, scored 97/100
How it works: from our template to a Google Doc.
Updated
Pick a template
Open one of the 60 role examples and click Use this example. It opens in the Studio, where editing needs no account and the draft saves as you type.
Download it
Click Download, then Word (.docx), which comes with ATSPrep Pro. On the free plan, choose Plain text (.txt) in the same menu. It needs no account.
Upload it to Google Drive
Go to drive.google.com, click New at the top left, then File upload, and choose the file.
Open it in Google Docs
Double-click a Word file and it opens in Google Docs. For plain text, right-click it and choose Open with, then Google Docs. Read the page through once, since fonts and spacing can move.
What's in our Word file, and what we haven't tested.
We checked the Word file the Studio builds for all 60 examples in every design. Here is what Google Docs gets when you open one.
| Feature | In our Word file | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Columns | One | A parser reads it top to bottom. In our two-column test, lines from side-by-side columns fused. |
| Tables and text boxes | None | Every line is a normal paragraph, so there is nothing to unpick. |
| Header and footer | Empty | Your name and contact details sit at the top of the body, where they're read first. |
| Pictures | None | Nothing on the page is an image, so every word is text you can edit. |
| Charts, SmartArt, macros | None | Google lists these among the parts of an Office file that don't convert as they were. |
| Headings and bullets | Heading styles and real lists | Each heading is a heading and each bullet a list item, not a typed symbol. |
| Fonts | Arial, Georgia, Calibri or Courier New, by design | If Google Docs swaps a font, lines can wrap differently. Read the page once. |
What we haven't done is open each design in Google Docs and compare it with the PDF, so we don't promise how the page looks after it converts. If you plan to keep editing in Google Docs, pick Clean or Minimal. They are only text, lists and tab stops, with no borders or shading to redraw. The other designs add rules or shaded bands that Docs may draw differently.
Keep a Google Docs resume readable by an ATS.
Writing in Google Docs is fine. The risk is the file you send: if its text comes out of an ATS jumbled, a recruiter searching for you may never see it. Get these right first:
- One columnIn our two-column test, every word survived but lines from the two columns fused, and sidebars and text boxes came back in different orders.
- No tables for layoutIn our table test the DOCX read cleanly and the PDFs didn't. If you send a PDF, keep your content out of tables.
- Contact details in the bodyPut your name, email and phone at the top of the page, not in the header or footer. In our margin test, contact details in the margins were all recovered, but phone and email landed at the end of the text.
- Text, not picturesA skill or heading inside an image is pixels, not text. Type everything.
- Standard headingsExperience, Education and Skills. Use the names recruiters and parsers expect.
- Send a file, not a linkIn Google Docs, click File, then Download, and choose PDF or Microsoft Word (.docx). Send what the job post asks for. PDF or DOCX covers the trade-off.
Then run the file you'll send through the free ATS resume checker. It shows the text a parser pulls out, in order, so you catch a fused line before a recruiter does.
Google's own resume templates, and where to find them.
Google Docs comes with templates of its own, and resumes are one of the kinds Google names. Open Google Docs, click Template gallery at the top right, then click a template, and a copy opens for you to edit.
We haven't reviewed Google's templates. Check any you like against the rules above, and if it puts text in columns, a table or a text box, run the downloaded file through the checker before you send it.
Already have your resume as a PDF or a Doc?
Google Drive can turn a PDF into a Doc: right-click it, then Open with, then Google Docs. Google says the file should be 2 MB or smaller, and that bold, italics, font size, font type and line breaks are likely to be kept, while lists, tables and columns are not likely to be detected. Expect to rebuild the layout.
Or import it into the Studio. It takes a PDF or a Word file, including one downloaded from Google Docs, shows the text a parser reads and lets you pick a design without retyping.
Sources for every Google step.
The Google Docs and Drive steps on this page come from Google's own help pages, checked on . Google moves its menus now and then. If a step looks different, its help page has the current one.
- Google Docs Editors Helpsupport.google.comWork with Office files
- Google Drive Helpsupport.google.comUpload files and folders to Google Drive
- Google Drive Helpsupport.google.comConvert PDF and photo files to text
- Google Docs Editors Helpsupport.google.comUse templates
- Google Docs Editors Helpsupport.google.comCreate, view, or download a file
Google Docs resume templates: common questions.
Are there free Google Docs resume templates?
Yes. Google Docs has its own in the Template gallery. ATSPrep's 60 role examples are free to edit in your browser too, and you can open one in Google Docs as a Word file with ATSPrep Pro, or as free plain text.
Can Google Docs open a Word resume?
Yes. Google lists .docx among the Office files Docs converts: upload the file to Google Drive and double-click it, and it opens in Google Docs. Macros don't carry over and SmartArt becomes a drawing, but ATSPrep's Word files use neither.
Are Google Docs resumes ATS-friendly?
The layout decides that, not the app. One column, standard headings, no tables or text boxes and nothing in the header or footer, downloaded as a PDF or Word file, gives a parser your text in order. Check the downloaded file in a free ATS checker before you send it.
Should I send my Google Docs resume as a PDF or Word file?
Send what the job post asks for. If it doesn't say, a text-based PDF keeps your layout fixed, and a Word file is the safer pick when a portal warns that PDF isn't supported. Both are under File, then Download, in Google Docs.
Do I need an account?
Not to edit. Picking a template and editing it in the Studio needs no account, and neither does the plain-text download. A PDF needs a free account, and the Word file comes with ATSPrep Pro.
Which ATSPrep design should I pick for Google Docs?
Clean or Minimal. Both are only text, lists and tab stops, with no borders or shading, and both are in the free plan. We haven't tested how Google Docs draws each design, and the plainer the file, the less there is to move.
Will it look exactly the same in Google Docs?
Not always. Google Docs converts the file into its own format, so fonts, line breaks and spacing can move. Read the page through once after it opens, and fix any line that wraps badly before you download it.
What does the plain-text download look like?
Your words with no design: your name, title and contact line at the top, section headings in capitals and each bullet starting with a dash. In Google Docs you add the formatting yourself, so it suits you if you want to build your own layout.
Can I turn a PDF resume into a Google Doc?
Yes, with limits. In Google Drive, right-click the PDF and choose Open with, then Google Docs. Google says the file should be 2 MB or smaller and that lists, tables and columns are not likely to be detected, so expect to redo the layout. Importing the PDF into the ATSPrep Studio is the other way.
Can I use these as a CV template in Google Docs?
Yes. Outside the US and Canada, a CV usually just means a resume, and these work as one. Keep it to one or two pages, rename the headings if you like, and open it in Google Docs the same way.
Rather skip the conversion? Edit and check it here.
The Studio has every role example and design. Write once, switch designs without retyping, and see the text a parser pulls from your file before you send it.
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