Are Canva CV Templates ATS Friendly? A Plain-Text Test

Are Canva CV templates ATS friendly? The honest answer is: some are, many aren't, and you can't tell by looking at them. A design that looks clean on screen can turn into jumbled text when software tries to read it. The good news is that you don't need special tools to find out. A simple copy-paste test into a plain-text editor will show you roughly what a parser might see, in about two minutes.

This guide walks you through that test, explains what the results mean, and shows how to fix the most common problems without throwing your whole design away.

What an ATS actually does with your CV

An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software employers use to collect, store and sort applications. When you upload a CV, many systems try to parse it: pull out your name, contact details, job titles, dates, skills and education, and drop them into database fields.

Recruiters then search and filter those fields, or read the parsed version alongside your original file. Different systems parse in different ways, and some employers read every CV by hand. So there is no single "ATS score" that applies everywhere, and no format that guarantees you'll get through.

What you can control is whether your text is readable by machines. If a parser can't extract your job titles or skills, a recruiter searching for them may never see your application, even if you're a strong fit.

Why Canva designs sometimes break

Canva is a design tool, not a word processor. That matters because of how it builds a page:

• Text boxes: each block of text often sits in its own box. When exported, the reading order of those boxes may not match the visual order.
• Columns: a sidebar with skills next to a main column of experience can be read left-to-right across both columns, mixing lines together.
• Icons instead of words: a phone icon next to your number looks tidy, but software sees nothing, or a stray symbol.
• Text as graphics: headings made from shapes, skill bars, star ratings and charts usually contain no readable text at all.
• Flattened PDFs: some export settings turn the page into something closer to an image, so there may be no selectable text.

None of this is unique to Canva. Heavily designed templates from any tool can cause the same issues. The point is to test your actual file, not assume.

The copy-paste test: step by step

You need your exported PDF and a plain-text editor: Notepad on Windows, or TextEdit on Mac (switch it to plain text via Format > Make Plain Text).

1. Export your CV as a PDF the way you normally would. If you see an option to flatten the PDF, leave it unticked.
2. Open the PDF in a browser or PDF reader.
3. Select all (Ctrl+A or Cmd+A). If nothing highlights, or only part of the page highlights, note that. It's your first warning sign.
4. Copy (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C).
5. Paste into your plain-text editor (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V).
6. Read the result from top to bottom as if you were a stranger who had never seen the design.

That pasted text is a rough stand-in for what a parser works with. It isn't identical to any specific ATS, but if the text is broken here, it's very likely broken for software too.

How to read your results

Go through this checklist with the pasted text in front of you.

Check	Pass looks like	Fail looks like
Name and contact details	Name, email, phone and city appear near the top as plain text	Missing, scattered, or replaced with symbols like □ or ?
Section headings	"Experience", "Education", "Skills" appear as words	Headings missing or stuck mid-sentence
Reading order	Each job reads in order: title, employer, dates, bullet points	Lines from your sidebar interrupt your job descriptions
Dates	"Jan 2021 – Mar 2024" stays together next to the right job	Dates float on their own lines or attach to the wrong role
Skills	Skills listed as words	Nothing where your skill bars or ratings were
Special characters	Hyphens, apostrophes and bullets look normal	Odd characters, merged words, missing spaces
Completeness	Every piece of text on the page is present	Whole blocks are missing

A quick example

Imagine a two-column template with a dark sidebar. The pasted result might look like this:

Marketing Coordinator Python ABC Ltd, Lagos Excel Managed social media for three Communication 2021 – 2024 brands, growing...

The sidebar skills are woven into the job description line by line. A human can guess what's going on. A parser may file "Python" as part of your job title or miss your dates entirely.

A passing result looks dull, and that's what you want:

Marketing Coordinator ABC Ltd, Lagos | Jan 2021 – Mar 2024

• Managed social media for three consumer brands

How to fix a Canva CV that fails

You don't always need to start again. Work through these fixes in order and re-run the test after each one.

1. Move to a single column

This fixes more problems than anything else. Bring your sidebar content (skills, languages, certifications) into the main column as normal sections. Many Canva templates have single-column versions; search for "simple" or "minimalist" CV templates and test them before you commit.

2. Replace icons with words

Write "Email: name@example.com" and "Phone: +44 7700 900000" instead of relying on icons. Keep your contact details in the main body, not in a decorative header or footer graphic.

3. Swap graphics for text

Delete skill bars, pie charts and star ratings. Write your skills as a plain list instead, with context where it's honest and useful, for example "Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP)" rather than four out of five stars.

4. Use real text for headings

Make sure headings are typed text, not shapes or images. Use standard labels such as "Work Experience", "Education" and "Skills" so software and recruiters recognise them.

5. Check your export settings

Download as a standard PDF with selectable text. If text still won't highlight, the template may be built in a way that resists fixing, and switching template is faster.

6. Keep a plain backup version

Many job seekers keep two versions: a designed CV to email directly to a person or bring to an interview, and a simple, text-first version for online application portals. If you'd rather build the plain version from scratch, a text-based tool like the AI CV builder or a basic Word document will usually parse more cleanly than a design file.

Beyond formatting: what the text says

Passing the copy-paste test only means your words can be read. It doesn't mean they match the job. Once your format is clean, compare your CV against the job ad: do the skills and responsibilities you've genuinely done appear in words the employer will recognise?

If the ad says "stakeholder management" and you've done exactly that but wrote "liaised with partners", it's fair to use their phrasing. Only add keywords that truthfully describe your experience; recruiters check, and interviews quickly expose padding. You can paste your CV and a job ad into the ATS CV checker to see which terms overlap. Its score is QuickApplyPilot's own estimate, not the score any employer's system will give you; this guide to match scores explains how to read it sensibly.

Country differences worth knowing

The parsing advice is the same everywhere, but what belongs on the page varies:

• UK: Photos, date of birth and marital status are generally left off. Two pages is common for experienced candidates. Many public-sector roles (NHS, councils) use their own application forms, so your CV design may not matter at all for those.
• US: It's called a resume, and one page is common for early-career applicants. Photos and personal details like age are usually left off.
• Canada: Also "resume". Photos and personal details are generally omitted, and North American formatting expectations apply. Newcomers can see our guide to the Canadian resume format.
• Australia: "CV" and "resume" are both used. Photos are usually left off, and CVs often run longer than in the US.
• Nigeria: Expectations vary more by employer. Some organisations still ask for a photo or personal details, while multinationals and many banks lean towards clean, international-style formats. Follow the instructions in the job ad. If a photo is requested, add it as an image but keep all your key information as real text.

For remote and international roles, a plain single-column format is the safest choice, because you can't know which system or country the employer's hiring team uses.

Your two-minute checklist

Before you hit submit on any portal:

• Exported as a PDF with selectable text
• Select-all highlights the whole page
• Pasted text reads in the right order, top to bottom
• Name, email, phone and location appear as plain words
• Every job shows title, employer and dates together
• Skills are written as text, not bars or ratings
• No missing blocks or strange symbols
• Keywords reflect experience you genuinely have
• Personal details match the norms of the country you're applying to

Canva can produce a perfectly readable CV. It can also produce one that falls apart the moment software touches it. The copy-paste test tells you which one you have, so test every new template and every major edit before you apply.