How to get your resume as a Word file
- Pick a template from the gallery above. You can switch at any time without losing a word.
- Fill it in, or upload your current resume as a PDF or Word (.docx) file and we lay it out for you.
- Download, and choose Word. The Download button at the top right of your resume offers PDF or Word. Building and checking are free; downloading either file is paid.
- Open it in Microsoft Word (or Google Docs) and edit as you like.
The file is made in your browser from the same resume as the PDF, so the two always match at the moment you download them.
What is inside the Word file
Many “Word templates” are pictures of a resume made of text boxes, which fall apart as soon as you type more than the sample. Ours is built from Word's own parts:
- Section titles are “Heading 1” and your name is “Title”, so they appear in Word's navigation pane and Google Docs' outline.
- Bullets are real Word bullets. Press Enter at the end of one and the next bullet appears, with the same indent.
- Dates sit on a right-aligned tab stop, not in a text box or a table, so a line reads “Role, tab, dates” in the right order, and stays aligned when the job title gets longer.
- Lines and colour bars are paragraph borders and shading, so they move with the text.
- Nothing with words in it sits in the page header or footer, because many resume parsers skip both.
- The fonts travel with the file. The template's typeface is embedded, so it looks right in Word on a computer that doesn't have it installed.
Editing it in Word
- Add a job: copy the whole entry (title line and its bullets), paste it above the old one, and type over it. The tab stop keeps the dates aligned.
- Add a bullet: put the cursor at the end of a bullet and press Enter.
- Change a heading: type over it; it stays Heading 1.
- Keep it to one or two pages. If Word spills onto a new page by a line or two, shorten a bullet rather than shrinking the font.
- Bigger changes (a new template, a tailored version for a job, reordering sections) are quicker back in CVEmber, where your resume stays saved: change it there and download a fresh file.
Word or PDF: which should you send?
Send the PDF unless the employer asks for Word. A PDF looks the same on every screen, and it is the file we test with commercial resume parsers (the method and results are on how we test our templates). We have not yet run the Word files through those parsers, so we don't claim results for them.
Send Word when the job ad, a recruiter or a staffing agency asks for a .docx, for example a staffing agency that wants to edit the file. And keep the Word version for yourself if you prefer to make small edits offline.
One column or two?
20 of our 30 templates are one column. In the Word file, a two-column design is one borderless table row: Word, Google Docs and parsers all keep that structure, but software reads the whole of one column before the other. On designs with the side column on the left, that means your contact details and skills are read before your experience. For an online application form, choose a one-column design; see ATS-friendly templates.
Making a resume in Word from scratch
If you would rather build it yourself in Word, the same principles keep it editable and readable:
- Start from a blank document.
- Type your name and contact details at the top, in the body of the page, not in Word's header area.
- Type each section title (Summary, Experience, Education, Skills) and apply the Heading 1 style to it; change the style once to restyle them all.
- For each job, type the title and company, press Tab, type the dates, then set a right-aligned tab stop at the right margin.
- Use Word's bullet button for achievements, not typed hyphens or symbols.
- Avoid text boxes, images of text and tables for layout; save as PDF (File, Save As or Export) when you send it.
It is slower than filling in a template, but it works. What to write in each section is in the resume format guides for each country.
A CV template for Word
In the UK, India and most countries the same document is called a CV (see CV vs resume). Every template here works as a CV and downloads as a Word file. For what a UK CV should include, see the UK CV format; for India, the resume format for India. Working in Google Docs instead? See Google Docs resume templates.
If you want a designed layout rather than a plain one, see creative resume templates.
Sources
Checked on 4 October 2026.