Image-Based Resume ATS Failure: Why Visual Resumes Get Zero Scores
If your resume was created in a design tool and looks like a work of art, there's a significant chance the ATS sees nothing at all. Image-based resumes—where text is rendered as graphics rather than extractable text—receive a score of zero because the parser has no content to evaluate. This is the most severe ATS failure possible.
What Makes a Resume 'Image-Based'
An image-based resume is one where the text content is stored as pixels (raster image) or vector paths (vector graphic) rather than as character-encoded text. To a human, it looks like a normal document with readable text. To an ATS parser, it's a blank page.
This happens most commonly with resumes created in Canva, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or similar design tools. These applications store text as part of the visual design rather than as separate, extractable text data.
Scanned paper resumes saved as PDF also fall into this category. The scanner creates an image of each page, and without OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing, the text in the image is not extractable.
| Resume Source | Text Extractable? | ATS Score |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Word (.docx) | Yes | Normal scoring |
| Google Docs export | Yes | Normal scoring |
| Canva design export | Often no | Zero or very low |
| Photoshop/Illustrator | No | Zero |
| Scanned paper (no OCR) | No | Zero |
| LaTeX-generated PDF | Yes | Normal scoring |
How to Check If Your Resume Has Extractable Text
Open your resume PDF and try to select individual words by clicking and dragging. If you can highlight specific words and lines, the text is extractable. If clicking selects the entire page as one object (or nothing at all), the text is image-based.
Another test: try using Ctrl+F (Find) to search for a word you know is on your resume. If the search finds it, the text is extractable. If it can't find any words, the text is embedded as images.
For DOCX files, this issue is rare because Word inherently stores text as text. The problem is almost exclusively with PDF files created from design tools or scanners.
How to Fix Image-Based Resumes
The best fix is to recreate your resume in a word processor (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or LibreOffice Writer). Copy the text content from your design file, paste it into a word processor, and reformat using simple, ATS-friendly formatting.
If you want to keep your designed resume for specific purposes (portfolio, networking), create two versions: an ATS-friendly version in DOCX for online applications, and your designed version for situations where a human will view it directly.
For scanned resumes, run OCR processing (available in Adobe Acrobat Pro, Google Drive, or free online tools) to add a text layer. However, OCR accuracy is 80-90% at best, so verify the output and correct any errors.
Pro Tips
Always create ATS-submission resumes in a word processor, not a design tool
Keep your Canva/design resume for portfolios and networking—never submit it to an ATS
Test your PDF by trying to select individual words—if you can't, the ATS can't read it either
If you only have a scanned resume, run OCR before submitting, then verify the text accuracy
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Creating a resume in Canva and submitting it to ATS applications without realizing the text isn't extractable
Scanning a paper resume to PDF without OCR processing
Designing a resume in Photoshop or Illustrator for ATS submission
Assuming that because you can read the text on screen, the ATS can too

