Export formats
The files the Export menu writes, what each is good for and what each leaves out, and how to choose between them for a form, an employer or a backup.
The Export button in the bar above the editor writes the open resume to a file, or prints it. Its menu has two parts: Print, which has PDF, and File, which lists the formats below. A file is named after the resume, with characters that some systems refuse removed, and with the right extension.
Nothing is uploaded. The file is made in your browser and handed to it to save.
A resume is sent as a PDF, so this is the format most people want. It is described in PDF.
HTML
One self-contained file with the same layout as the preview. The styles, the page breaks the paper measured, your custom CSS, and the images and fonts are all inside it, as data and not as links, so it needs no network and no other files. Open it in any browser and it looks as the paper does. The PDF is made by printing this same document.
Markdown
The resume as the text the editor shows in resume.md, written by the editor's
own writer, so it reads back in exactly. It holds content only. Style, the
template and your CSS are not in it, and a section you have hidden is written as
an ordinary section, because hiding has no syntax. Use a bundle to keep those.
See The shape of the file.
JSON Resume
The content in the JSON Resume format, which many other resume tools read. It holds the words, the dates and the structure. It has no place for templates or layout, and it leaves out hidden sections and custom sections, because the format has fixed section names and nothing a free-titled section could honestly be called. The item is not offered for a cover letter, which has no such sections.
Plain text
The resume with no styling, for a form that has a box to paste into. The name comes first, then the headline and the contacts on one line, then each section under its title. An entry is written on one line as its title, subtitle and place, then its dates in brackets, then the summary and bullets. A link is written as its label followed by its address in brackets, because text has no links. Pictures, rules and page breaks have nothing to write. Hidden sections are left out.
Bundle (.zip)
The one format that reads back to the same resume, with its style, CSS, images and fonts. See Bundles.
Which to send
- To an employer: the PDF, or whatever they ask for.
- To a form with a box: plain text.
- To keep a copy that can be edited again: a bundle, and also the Markdown if you want a plain file to read.
- To use the content somewhere else: JSON Resume.
Importing is the other direction. See Import formats.