ATS CV Fonts and Formatting: A Practical Guide

The safe setup is simple: one column, a common font at 10 to 12 pt, standard section headings, nothing important in headers, text boxes or images, and a PDF exported directly from your editor. Then test it by copying the text out. This guide shows the exact settings and where to find them in Word and Google Docs.

Fonts: what matters and what does not

Any common, plain font is fine. ATS software reads the characters stored in the file, not the shape of the letters, so a well-made PDF in Georgia reads the same as one in Arial.

Good choices:

Avoid decorative or script fonts, icon fonts used for phone and email symbols, and fonts that turn letter pairs like "fi" into a single joined character (a ligature). Some PDFs store that joined character in a way that copies out as a strange symbol, so "profile" becomes "pro le". The copy-paste test below will catch it.

Sizes, spacing and margins

These are sensible defaults. You can move a little either way.

• Name: 18 to 22 pt, bold. It should be the largest text on the page.
• Section headings: 12 to 14 pt, bold. Title case or capitals.
• Body text and bullets: 10 to 12 pt. Below 10 pt is hard for people to read, even if software can.
• Line spacing: 1.0 to 1.15, with a little space after each paragraph.
• Margins: about 1.5 to 2.5 cm (0.6 to 1 inch). Less than that looks crammed and can clip when printed.
• Paper size: A4 for the UK, Gulf and Pakistan; US Letter for the US and usually Canada.

The layout rules that actually prevent errors

1. One column. Parsers read top to bottom, left to right. Two columns can be merged line by line.
2. Contact details in the body, not the header. In Word, the header area (Insert > Header) is a separate part of the file. Some systems skip it. Type your name, phone and email as normal text on the first lines.
3. No text boxes or shapes. If you can drag a box around with the text inside, it is a text box. Delete it and retype the text in the page body.
4. No tables for layout. A simple table for a list of skills is usually fine; using a table to build a whole two-column page is not.
5. No skill bars, star ratings or charts. Write "Excel (advanced: pivot tables, XLOOKUP, Power Query)" instead of a bar at 80%.
6. Standard headings. "Work Experience", "Education", "Skills". Not "My Journey". The CV structure guide covers order and naming.
7. Plain bullets. Round dots or simple dashes. Avoid arrows, emoji and custom symbols.
8. Dates in one format. "Mar 2022 – Present" or "03/2022 – Present", used the same way everywhere.

A photo is a separate question. It does not help the software, and in the UK it is best left off; in the Gulf it is common. See the UAE and UK format guides.

Setting it up in Word

1. Layout > Margins > Custom Margins. Set about 2 cm on all sides.
2. Layout > Size. Choose A4 or Letter for your target country.
3. Home > Styles. Right-click "Normal", choose Modify, and set your font and size once. Do the same for "Heading 1" for section titles. This keeps everything consistent.
4. Home > Paragraph settings. Set line spacing to Single or 1.15 and "After" to 4 to 6 pt.
5. Check for hidden objects. Home > Select > Selection Pane lists every text box and shape on the page. If it shows any, move that text into the body.
6. Export. File > Save As (or Export) > PDF. On Windows, choose "Best for electronic distribution" if asked.

Setting it up in Google Docs

1. File > Page setup. Choose A4 or Letter and set margins.
2. Format > Paragraph styles. Set "Normal text" and "Heading 1", then choose "Update to match".
3. Avoid drawings. Insert > Drawing creates an image. Any text in it will not be read.
4. Export. File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).

If you design in a graphics tool like Canva, be careful with export options. Some tools offer a "flatten" setting that turns the whole page into a picture. Leave it off, then test the result.

The two-minute copy-paste test

This is the most useful check you can do, and it needs no special software.

1. Open your PDF in any viewer (Edge, Chrome, Adobe Reader or Preview).
2. Press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C (Cmd+A, Cmd+C on Mac).
3. Open Notepad on Windows. On Mac, open TextEdit and choose Format > Make Plain Text.
4. Paste.

Now read the result and check:

• Your name, phone and email appear at the top.
• Each job title sits next to its employer and dates.
• Sections come in the same order as on the page.
• No words are broken, missing or replaced with boxes or symbols.
• Skills are not mixed into job descriptions.

If you cannot select any text at all, your PDF is an image. That usually means it was scanned, photographed, or exported with a "flatten" or "print as image" option. Export again from the original document.

Common problems and fixes

Then check the content

Clean formatting only gets your words read. To see whether those words match a specific job, paste your CV and the advert into our free resume checker. If you want a layout where all of the above is already done, start with Compact One-Page or Classic Professional and run the copy-paste test on the PDF you download.