Overall Parse Rate
A 0-100 estimate of how cleanly your file's text extracts. Upload a file to see yours.
Free ATS Parse Rate Checker
Find out how much of your resume a parser can read. Upload a PDF or DOCX to see its parse rate, the section headings and contact details that were detected, and the formatting issues that get in the way.
- No sign-up required
- File not saved, no AI service used
- PDF or DOCX up to 5 MB, 20 free checks per hour
PDF or DOCX, up to 5 MB. You can also drop a file anywhere in this panel.
Ready
Your Document
Drag and drop your resume here
PDF or DOCX, up to 5 MB. Text-based files only.
Browse ComputerYour file is read on our server to extract its text and is not saved. No AI service is used for this check, so nothing is sent to OpenAI or any other third party. Privacy Policy
Illustrative layout
Extraction Diagnostics
Awaiting file// WAITING FOR A FILE
// WHEN YOU UPLOAD ONE, THESE CHECKS RUN ON ITS EXTRACTED TEXT
----------------------------------------
[SECTIONS] standard headings, 30 points
[CONTACT] email, phone, LinkedIn, 20 points
[FORMATTING] merged words, encoding artifacts, column signals, 30 points
[STRUCTURE] bullets, length, date ranges, 20 points
Results come from the plain text extracted from your file, not from a rendered preview.
Section Header Recovery
Checks for standard headings such as Work Experience, Education and Skills.
Contact Fields
Checks whether your email, phone and LinkedIn URL appear in the extracted text.
Detected Issues and Checks
Issues found in your file, each with an explanation and a suggested fix, will be listed here after a scan.
What You'll See at Each Step
The checker moves through four states. Here is what each one means.
State 01
Drop PDF or DOCX
Up to 5 MB
1. Ready for input
Upload a text-based PDF or DOCX. Nothing runs until you choose a file.
State 02
Reading your file...
Extracting text
2. Text extraction
Your file is sent to our server, which pulls out the plain text and runs four rule-based checks.
State 03
90+
Good parse rate
Text extracts cleanly
3. Clean extraction
A score of 90 or higher means headings, contact details and structure came through readable.
State 04
Little or no text
Scanned or image-only file
4. Unreadable file
If a PDF is a flat image, there is no selectable text to extract. The tool reports an error or a very low score.
How parsing works
How an ATS Reads Your Resume File
Your parse rate is the share of your resume an ATS can read and categorize correctly. A resume that looks perfect to you can still score poorly if its layout defeats text extraction before keyword matching starts. Systems differ, so treat the points below as common patterns, not rules for every ATS.
Reading Order and Columns
A parser works with the text in your file, not with how the page looks. In a multi-column layout, a table or a text box, the order the text is stored in may not match the order you read it, so lines from different columns can end up mixed together.
Text extraction order
Section Headings
Many systems try to recognise familiar headings such as Work Experience, Education and Skills to sort your content into fields. Creative headings like "My Journey" may not map to anything.
Heading matching
Fields and Contact Details
Parsed text is typically mapped into structured fields such as name, employer, job title and skills. Details that only live in a header, footer or image may be missed, which is why the checker looks for them in the extracted text.
Field mapping
What the Checker Looks For
Section detection
Standard headings like Work Experience, Education, Skills and Projects.
Contact info extraction
Email, phone number and LinkedIn URL in the extracted text.
Formatting and layout
Merged words, encoding artifacts, and signs of columns or tables.
Structure and readability
Bullet points, a reasonable word count and detectable date ranges.
What Your Score Means
| Score | Rating | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| 90-100 | Good | Move on to keyword and content review. |
| 70-89 | Average | Worth a formatting pass on the flagged areas. |
| 0-69 | Poor | Fix formatting first. Keyword work can't help text a parser never reads. |
How to Fix a Low Parse Rate
- 1Switch to a single-column layout.
- 2Move contact information into the body of the document, not a header or footer.
- 3Use standard section titles like "Work Experience" and "Skills".
- 4Remove images, icons, and graphics that carry information a parser can't read.
- 5Save as a clean, text-based .docx or .pdf, never a scanned image.
- 6Apply ATS-friendly formatting throughout the document.
No checker can promise how a specific employer's ATS or recruiter will treat your resume. Use the score as a guide for fixing formatting problems.
Frequently Asked Questions
How the checker works, which files it accepts, and what happens to your file.
It extracts the plain text from your PDF or DOCX file on our server, then runs four checks (section headings, contact info extraction, formatting artifacts, and structure) entirely with rules and pattern matching. No AI model is involved, so results come back quickly.
Yes. There is no signup and no paywall. Because no AI model is involved, the only limit is 20 checks per hour, which is enough to fix a formatting problem and re-check.
PDF and DOCX files up to 5 MB. Legacy .doc files and scanned or image-only PDFs aren't supported, since neither contains the selectable text an ATS parser needs.
No. Your file is processed in memory to extract text and generate your score, then discarded. We never save the file or log its contents.
There is no single official parse rate standard shared across ATS vendors, so every checker uses its own scoring approach. Treat this score as a diagnostic estimate of how cleanly your file's text extracts, not an official number from Workday, Greenhouse, or any other specific platform.
These are ReframeCV's own bands, not an industry standard. In this tool, 90% or higher is our good band, 70-89% is average and worth a formatting pass. Below 70%, treat formatting as the priority fix before you spend more time on keywords.
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