Don't use tables for anything the employer needs to read, like your name, job titles, dates or skills. The reliable approach is to test the exact file you'll send, read what each failure means, then confirm in the application portal's preview, because a clean copy-paste is necessary but not enough.
Key takeaways
- Keep tables, text boxes and sidebars away from contact info, titles, dates and skills.
- Put your name and email in the body of the page, not the header or footer.
- Paste your final file into a plain-text editor and read it top to bottom.
- A clean paste isn't proof. Check the parsed preview in the application portal too.
- To tell a table from true columns, click inside the layout and see whether table gridlines appear.
In this article
The short answer: keep tables out of anything that matters
Roche's careers site lists tables and text boxes among the elements to avoid in a resume an ATS will parse. It gives no explanation, but it adds two warnings. ATSs read left to right, so some may read straight across columns. And information in the header and footer sometimes gets dropped by the ATS completely.
University career centers say much the same in their published ATS guides, including Utah Valley University, UMD, George Mason and Santa Clara. Between them they cover tables, columns, text boxes, headers and footers.
None of these sources test a named system such as Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo or iCIMS. Treat the advice as a safe default, then test your own file instead of trusting a rule.
Which layouts actually cause trouble
The risky pattern is any layout where the order you see on the page isn't the order a parser reads it. Here are the layouts to watch, with a safer move for each.
| Layout | Safer move |
|---|---|
| Table or text-box template for the whole page | Rebuild as a single column with normal paragraphs |
| Sidebar or two-column layout | Move skills into their own section in the main column |
| Merged or nested table cells | Use a comma-separated line or plain bullets |
| Name or email in the page header or footer | Put contact details in the body, under your name |
| Icons or graphics in place of phone, email or links | Type the actual text |
| Creative section headings | Use standard ones: Work Experience, Education, Skills |
A table-based layout and a column layout can look identical on the page, and the fix differs. Here's a quick way to tell which one you have in Word (this is practical advice, not something from the sources above):
- Click inside the content. If gridlines or table-editing tabs appear, it's a table. Remove the table and rebuild the content as normal paragraphs.
- No table tools? Open Layout > Columns. If it's set to two, the page uses true columns. Set it back to one.
- A box with a border or handles when you click it is a text box. Move that text into the main body.
See which keywords your resume is missing
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Test your file in about two minutes
This is the copy-paste test described by ATS Verification. Run it on the exact file you plan to send, not the draft you built it from.
- 1
Open the file as you'd send it
If you're submitting a PDF, open the PDF. If it's Word, open the Word file.
- 2
Select all and copy
Press Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C (Cmd+A then Cmd+C on a Mac).
- 3
Paste into a plain-text editor
Use Notepad, or TextEdit in plain-text mode, so no formatting carries over.
- 4
Read the result top to bottom
Is your name first, then your email? Do jobs appear in order? Does each date sit next to its employer?
What each failure pattern means
ATS Verification ties each paste symptom to a likely cause:
- Scrambled reading order, such as work history mixed with a sidebar, usually points to a two-column layout.
- Glued words like "SAPOracle" point to merged table cells or letter-spacing.
- A missing name or section suggests that content is an image.
- Contact details gone from the paste usually means they sat in the header or footer, which Roche says sometimes gets dropped completely.
Before
Paste result: "Python SQL Tableau" interleaved with "Led a team of 5 analysts", with sidebar skills mixed into the job bullets.
After
Skills moved into a single-column section. Paste result: a Skills heading with one clean line, then job bullets in order.
Why it works: One column leaves nothing to read across.
Before
Paste result: "SAPOracleExcel" with no spaces.
After
A Skills heading followed by: SAP, Oracle, Excel
Why it works: A plain comma-separated line has no cells to merge.
Before
The email sits only in the Word header and is missing from the pasted text.
After
Email typed in the body, directly under your name.
Why it works: The body is the safe place for contact details.
A clean paste isn't proof: check the portal preview
So go one step further. JobShinobi (its publisher sells a resume product) suggests checking the application portal's parsed-resume or auto-fill preview. Table trouble can show up there as messy auto-fill. Check titles, employers, dates, locations and skills, and fix anything that landed in the wrong field.
It also suggests running more than one parser, since results differ. If you want another read, our own free ATS resume checker is one option. If it disagrees with the portal preview, I'd trust the portal, since that's the system your application actually goes through.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use one simple table for skills or dates?
JobShinobi says that if you do use a table, keep it small and non-critical, and avoid merged cells, nested tables, and tables in headers or footers. A comma-separated Skills line gives you the same information with less risk. Either way, run the paste test and check the portal preview.
Is a two-column resume okay?
Roche warns that some ATSs may read straight across columns, so it's riskier than one column. That applies whether the columns come from a table or from Word's Layout > Columns setting. Move sidebar content into the main column and retest.
Do tables break Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Taleo or iCIMS?
None of the sources here test specific systems, so there's no honest verdict for each one. The closest you can get to seeing what a given ATS extracted is the parsed-resume or auto-fill preview in the portal you're applying through.
Will contact info in the header or footer be missed?
It can be. Roche says information in the header and footer sometimes gets dropped by the ATS completely. Put your name and email in the body, directly under your name, and confirm they appear in the paste test.
See which keywords your resume is missing
Paste a job posting and your resume. Free, no sign-up, nothing is uploaded.