How this was collected
Every row below came from a vendor’s own documentation, support article, API reference or engineering blog, read on 15 August 2026. Nothing was inferred from a third-party article, a recruiter’s opinion, or another resume tool’s marketing. Each claim carries a direct quotation of twenty-five words or fewer so you can check it against the source rather than trusting this summary.
The scope is deliberately narrow: what happens when a system ingests, parses, maps or displays an uploaded CV. It excludes recruiter-configured scoring, ranking, filters, knockout questions and rejection statistics, because those are set by the employer, not the software, and no vendor publishes them.
1 of the 32 sources showed a publication or update date; the rest are marked undated below, which is a real weakness in the evidence and is shown rather than smoothed over. Vendor documentation changes without notice. This is a dated snapshot, not a live feed — cite it with its collection date attached.
The evidence
| Vendor | Documented behaviour | In the vendor’s words | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashbyupload size | Resume uploads have a 50MB maximum file size. | “50MB is the maximum file size for resume uploads.” | Ashby application formsno date shown |
| Ashbyprocessing size | Resumes must be 16MB or smaller for full-text search processing and application-field autofill. | “Resumes need to be 16MB or smaller to be processed for full text searches and auto-filling application fields.” | Ashby application formsno date shown |
| Ashbyparsing failure | An image-only PDF can fail parsing during email import. | “The file is an image of a PDF (someone took a picture and converted it to a PDF)” | Ashby bulk import optionsno date shown |
| Ashbyparsing failure | Unexpected placement of demographic information can cause parsing failure. | “The file is in a unique format (the candidate’s demographic information is in an unexpected place in the file)” | Ashby bulk import optionsno date shown |
| Ashbyparsing failure | Manually uploading a resume after a parsing failure does not cause its candidate data to be parsed. | “Even when manually uploaded, the candidate’s data won’t be parsed from the file.” | Ashby bulk import optionsno date shown |
| Ashbyprofile mapping | A successfully email-imported resume creates a candidate profile and stores parsed details in its Summary tab. | “a candidate profile is created, the resume details are parsed and stored in the Summary tab” | Ashby bulk import optionsno date shown |
| Ashbycomplex layouts | Ashby states that its enhanced parser improves parsing of resumes with complex layouts or formatting. | “This will also improve parsing for resumes with more complex layouts or formatting.” | Ashby AI featuresno date shown |
| Jobviteparser provider | Jobvite products embed the DaXtra resume parser. | “DaXtra resume parser is embedded within Jobvite Products” | Jobvite DaXtra provider pageno date shown |
| Jobviteprofile mapping | Applicant details produced through the embedded parser are stored in the Candidate Record and made searchable. | “details from each applicant are stored in Jobvite in the Candidate Record and searchable throughout the Jobvite Platform.” | Jobvite DaXtra provider pageno date shown |
| BambooHRaccepted formats | BambooHR’s Create Candidate API accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF and BMP resume MIME types. | “Accepted MIME types: `application/pdf`, `application/msword`, `application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document`, `text/plain`, `application/rtf`, `image/jpeg`, `image/gif`, `image/png`, `image/tiff`, `image/bmp`.” | BambooHR Create Candidate APIno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingprofile mapping | Resume parsing places extracted information into corresponding candidate-profile fields. | “reads information from candidates' resumes and automatically enters it in the corresponding candidate profile fields.” | SAP configuring resume parsingno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingfield mapping | Third-party parser fields are standardised before being mapped to the organisation’s configured profile fields. | “Third-party sources are mapped to standardized fields and you have to map these standardized fields to the configuration of your preferences.” | SAP configuring resume parsingno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingaccuracy limitation | SAP explicitly states that resume parsing is not always completely accurate. | “Resume parsing isn’t always 100% accurate. This is a known limitation.” | SAP configuring resume parsingno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors RecruitingAPI limitation | Candidate creation through the API does not invoke resume parsing. | “The creation of candidates through API does not support parsing.” | SAP configuring resume parsingno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingparsing formats | SAP’s parsing workflow documents DOCX, PPT, TXT, TIFF, JPG, BMP and GIF as upload formats for parsing. | “You can upload resume with DOCX, PPT, and TXT format. You can also upload TIFF, JPG, BMP, and GIF image types for parsing resumes.” | SAP working with resume parsingno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingresume replacement | After uploading an updated resume, the candidate can retain the existing profile or overwrite it with extracted information. | “You can see a confirmation screen to either keep the current profile or overwrite the profile with the information extracted” | SAP working with resume parsingno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors RecruitingPDF restriction | Candidate-profile resume attachments cannot be protected or secured PDFs. | “You can't attach protected or secured PDFs.” | SAP candidate profileno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingscanned PDF failure | PDFs originating as scans or images may not parse as expected. | “PDF documents that were scanned in or were previously images will not parse as expected.” | SAP KBA 2081576no date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingworkflow limitation | Resume parsing is not supported in the Quick Apply application flow. | “Resume Parsing is currently not supported for Quick Apply job application.” | SAP Quick Apply notesno date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingmapped fields | Parsing can prepopulate previous work experience, current employer and contact-address fields. | “Resume Parsing provides the ability to extract information from an uploaded resume to pre-populate the previous work experience, current employer and contact address fields” | SAP KBA 2081576no date shown |
| SAP SuccessFactors Recruitingmass upload | The mass-upload workflow accepts up to 100 resumes and creates candidate profiles from parsed information. | “The Recruiting Administrator can upload up to 100 resume files. The system automatically parses the resumes and creates candidate profiles” | SAP mass upload of resumesno date shown |
| SmartRecruitersAPI output | The standalone parsing endpoint returns parsed candidate data after a successful request. | “Parsed candidate data.” | SmartRecruiters Parse a resume APIno date shown |
| SmartRecruitersimage failure | The parser can return `UNPARSABLE_RESUME` when the supplied resume is an image. | “UNPARSABLE_RESUME when provided resume cannot be parsed, e.g. an image” | SmartRecruiters Parse a resume APIno date shown |
| SmartRecruitersincomplete data | The parser returns `INCOMPLETE_RESUME` when the document lacks information required to parse a candidate. | “INCOMPLETE_RESUME when provided resume does not contain all required information to parse a candidate.” | SmartRecruiters Parse a resume APIno date shown |
| SmartRecruitersstandalone parsing | SmartRecruiters added support for parsing a resume without creating a candidate application. | “Users can now parse resumes directly without needing to create a candidate application.” | SmartRecruiters API changelog2025-12-02 |
| Workdayrecord creation | Attaching a resume can create a prospect or job application through resume parsing. | “Resume parsing enables recruiters to create a prospect or job application when attaching a resume in Workday.” | Workday resume parsingno date shown |
| Workdayprofile mapping | Workday populates fields from the resume and allows the resulting data to be reviewed. | “Resume parsing populates fields from a resume, and Workday enables you to review the resume data.” | Workday resume parsingno date shown |
| Workdayexcluded fields | Core Workday parsing does not autofill hidden fields, Languages or Skills. | “Workday doesn't auto-fill fields you configure as hidden or these fields: Languages, Skills” | Workday resume parsingno date shown |
| Workdayformat sensitivity | Parsing results can change according to resume format and word order. | “Resume parsing results can vary based on resume format and order of words.” | Workday resume parsingno date shown |
| Workdayextracted sections | External-application parsing includes personal and contact information, work experience, education and languages. | “The parsed data includes: Personal and contact information, Work experience, Education, Languages” | Workday prospects and candidatesno date shown |
| WorkdayHiredScore formats | Workday HiredScore accepts DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF and TXT resume attachments for its parsed CV view. | “HiredScore supports these file types for resume attachments: DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, and TXT.” | Workday HiredScore candidate profilesno date shown |
| Workdayemployment history | Workday HiredScore calculates employment gaps and time spent in each position from parsed resumes. | “HiredScore calculates employment gaps and time in position.” | Workday HiredScore candidate profilesno date shown |
Claims no vendor documents
These are repeated constantly in CV advice, including by tools that sell against them. Reading the vendors’ own documentation, none could be traced to a source. That is not proof the behaviour does not exist — vendors document selectively, and absence of documentation is not evidence of absence. It does mean anyone stating these as fact is not citing the vendor, and neither should you.
That the core parser categorically rejects two-column layouts, tables, text boxes, headers or footers.
Checked against: WorkdayThat the parser drops icons, graphics, tables, columns, headers or footers.
Checked against: JobviteThat particular section headings or reverse-chronological employment dates are required.
Checked against: Ashby, BambooHR, SmartRecruitersAny exact description of how tables, columns, text boxes, headers, footers or icons are handled.
Checked against: SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting
What each vendor leaves unpublished
A vendor missing from a row in the table above has not necessarily passed that check — it may simply publish nothing about it. These are the gaps, so the table’s silence is not mistaken for coverage.
- Jobvite. Only the embedded DaXtra integration and Candidate Record mapping are public. Formats, limits and layout failures were not found.
- BambooHR. The public API documents accepted upload MIME types but not parser extraction, field mapping, layout handling or failure modes.
- Ashby. Size limits and failure modes are documented; no accepted-format list or complete parsed-field schema was found.
- SmartRecruiters. The API documents parsing errors but not accepted formats, size limits or its parsed candidate-data schema.
- Workday. Core Recruiting publishes no format or size list. The documented format list applies specifically to Workday HiredScore.
Citing this page
This research is free to quote, in full or in part, with attribution and a link. If you are a careers adviser, journalist or educator and need a behaviour checked that is not covered here, say so — the next collection pass can include it.
Suggested citation
Ryzio (2026) What ATS vendors actually document about resume parsing. Documentation collected 15 August 2026. https://ryzio.app/research/ats-resume-parsing
How this feeds the product
- The Ryzio ATS score methodology
Which of these documented behaviours the checker tests for, and which it cannot.
- Why ATS scores differ between tools
Why two checkers disagree about the same file.
- PDF or DOCX for an ATS
What the format evidence above means in practice.
Check your own CV against these behaviours.
The public checker runs the documented, deterministic checks and shows every finding. No signup to see the result.