> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rxresume.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Checking any resume PDF with the ATS checker > Find out whether applicant tracking software can read your resume PDF. Free, no account needed, and the file never leaves your browser. The ATS checker answers one question: can software read your resume? It opens a PDF the way an applicant tracking system (ATS) does, pulls out the text, and shows you what survived and what didn't. It works with a PDF made in any tool, not only Reactive Resume. The check runs entirely in your browser. The file isn't uploaded or stored, and you don't need an account. ## Before you start * Have your resume as a PDF, up to 25 MB. Password-protected PDFs can't be checked; save an unprotected copy first. * Optionally, copy the text of a job posting you're applying for. ## Check your PDF Go to [rxresu.me/ats-checker](https://rxresu.me/ats-checker). If you host Reactive Resume yourself, add `/ats-checker` to your own address. Paste the posting into **Job posting**. The report then shows which of its terms your resume already has. Do this before you add the file. Drag the file onto the box, or select **Drop a PDF here or choose a file** to pick it. To see how the checker works first, select **Check a sample file**. Drop zone reading Drop a PDF here or choose a file, Up to 25 MB, checked in your browser, never uploaded, with a Check a sample file button and an empty Job posting box below The checker shows its progress: **Opening the file**, **Reading the text**, then **Checking layout and content**. This usually takes a few seconds. ## Read the report The report has the score and issues on the left and your file on the right. ATS checker results page with a score of 88, Reads cleanly, issue rows for Readability, Layout and Terms from the posting, a Fix these in the editor button, and the sample resume PDF on the right **The score.** A number from 0 to 100 with a verdict: **Reads cleanly** (80 and above), **Mostly readable** (50 to 79) or **Hard for software to read** (below 50). It combines five categories, and a serious problem (a blocker) caps it: a PDF with no real text can't score well because its margins are tidy. The score reflects how reliably text comes out of the file, not your chances of getting the job. **The issue rows.** Each category with something to fix gets a row, worst first. Open a row to see each problem in bold, followed by what to do about it. If you pasted a posting, the last row, **Terms from the posting**, counts the terms found (for example 4/14) and lists the missing ones. Score of 88 with the Readability row open, listing a ligature problem and icon-font glyphs with their fixes, then Layout and Terms from the posting rows and the Fix these in a few minutes card The five scored categories are: | Category | What it checks | | - | - | | **Readability** | Whether software can recover the words at all: a real text layer rather than a picture, fonts that map to letters, no hidden text, encryption or form fields in the way, and a sensible file and page size. | | **Layout** | Whether the page geometry keeps the reading order: columns, tables, lines stored out of order, tight spacing, very small text and narrow margins. | | **Sections** | Whether the resume is split into sections software expects. | | **Contact details** | Whether a recruiter can reach you: name, email, phone and links survive intact. | | **Dates** | Whether your timeline can be reconstructed from the dates. | **Writing** gives advice for the person reading your resume, such as numbers that show impact, first-person pronouns and long bullets. These tips appear in the results alongside the scored findings and never affect the score. Only the first 30 pages of a long file are checked; the report says so when that happens. ## See your file as software reads it Above your file, switch between two views: * **Original page** shows the PDF as a person sees it. * **As software reads it** shows the plain text a parser extracts, in the order it comes out. Compare the two. Look for a sidebar landing in the middle of your experience, contact details split across lines, or icons turning into empty boxes. Plain text extracted from the sample resume in a monospace font, with empty box characters where the section icons were ## Fix the issues in Reactive Resume Select **Fix these in the editor** to import the same file into a free Reactive Resume account. The file is read in your browser, the same way the check read it, and the new resume opens in **Check** with the issues waiting for you. * **If you're signed in,** the import starts straight away. * **If you aren't,** you're taken to create an account first. The file waits in your browser in the meantime and is imported as soon as you're back, then removed from the browser. To start over with a different file, select **Check another file**. No tool can tell you whether an application will be rejected. That depends on the employer's system, the screening questions and the person reading. The checker measures one thing: how faithfully software can extract your file's text. ## Related guides Check mode in the editor: live checks, job match and a writing review. Bring an existing resume into Reactive Resume from a PDF, Word or JSON file. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.