Fonts, special characters and languages in PDFs – Page 2

From the builder (or your original document) if you can. Copying from the source avoids the line breaks, merged words and character problems that PDFs sometimes produce.

When you must copy from the PDF:

• Copy one section at a time.
• Paste into a plain text editor first to tidy it.
• Check special characters, apostrophes and dashes after pasting.

Whichever you use, read the form before submitting. The form often becomes what recruiters search, so it needs to be accurate.

Usually it is the viewer, not the file. Some viewers smooth or sharpen text differently at certain zoom levels, which can make thin letters look heavy or fuzzy on screen.

Check:

• Zoom to "100%" or "Actual size" and see whether it looks normal.
• Open the PDF in another viewer or browser.
• Try selecting the text to confirm it is real text, not an image.

If it prints clearly and copies correctly, the PDF is fine.

A recruiter may copy your email address from the PDF to contact you, and a hidden space or odd character means their message will not arrive.

Check:

• Copy your email from your own PDF and paste it into a new email's To field. Does it look correct?
• If not, retype your email address in the source (do not paste it), and export a new PDF.
• Do the same test with your phone number.

Typing contact details by hand, rather than pasting them, avoids most of these problems.

You cannot fix it inside the PDF easily, but you can choose a layout that copies cleanly. The viewer reads across the page, mixing column lines together.

Options:

• Use a single-column template for applications that will be read by software.
• Keep the two-column version for printing or for people who read it directly.
• When copying into forms, copy one column section at a time.

In ResumeBuilder.ae, single-column templates such as ATS Classic or ATS Professional are the safest default for software. If you have already paid for that resume, you can download again within 7 days, up to 10 attempts, including after edits.

Select all the text in Word and apply one font and size, then rebuild the formatting. Pasted PDF text often brings mixed fonts and spacing with it.

Steps:

• Paste using "Keep text only".
• Press Ctrl+A and choose a common font, such as Calibri or Arial, at 10 to 12 points.
• Apply Heading styles for section titles and bullet formatting for lists.
• Fix line breaks and spaces.

Then check the whole document for merged words and missing symbols before saving it as .docx. Read it in print preview to see the final layout.

Check how the text was entered. Some keyboards or apps insert extra invisible characters, or produce combinations a font cannot join properly.

Try:

• Retyping the affected word with a standard Hindi keyboard, such as Google's Gboard Hindi layout or your phone's built-in keyboard.
• Avoiding text pasted from images, social media posts or messaging apps.
• Checking that the resume language is set to Hindi on the Design tab, so the right font is used.

If the preview still looks wrong for a specific word, try an alternative spelling commonly used for it.

In the PDF, they display fine. The risk is when text is copied into forms or read by older systems, where they can turn into odd symbols.

Practical approach:

• Use normal hyphens for date ranges: "2021 - 2024".
• Use straight quotes in text you will paste into forms.
• Keep typographic dashes only if you are sure the file will be read as a PDF.

Consistency matters too: use the same dash style for all date ranges.

Not in a ResumeBuilder.ae PDF at the moment: Chinese, Japanese and Korean are not supported in the PDF yet, and the builder warns before payment if any character cannot be included.

Instead:

• Use the company's official English name, for example "Shenzhen Example Electronics Co., Ltd.".
• If the company is better known by a romanised name, use that.
• If needed, add the city and country to help recruiters identify it.

For roles where Chinese is important, mention your language skill clearly in a Languages section.

The text might be an image, might use unusual characters, or the word might be split in a way the search cannot match.

Check:

• Try selecting the word. If you cannot, the PDF is image-based; recreate it from the source.
• If you can select it, search for a shorter part of the word. Ligatures (such as "fi") and hyphenation can block full-word searches.
• Accented letters stored as two characters can also fail searches.

This matters because applicant tracking systems also search your text. Fix the source and export again if the search fails.

No, not if your name uses a supported language. Use the spelling on your official documents' Latin-letter line, including accents where they appear, so employers can match your resume to your ID and certificates.

Use a simplified spelling only when:

• The PDF cannot include a character (the builder warns before payment).
• An online form rejects the character; type the simplified version there and keep the correct one in your resume.

Example: "François Dubois" stays as it is in your French or English resume; a form might accept only "Francois Dubois".

Usually it is just the font's design. Some fonts draw numbers with different heights or shapes, which looks different from your keyboard's display but means the same digits.

Check that:

• Each number is correct, especially phone numbers and dates.
• Digits are not replaced by boxes or other symbols.
• In an Arabic resume, one digit style (Western or Arabic-Indic) is used consistently.

If a number looks wrong, retype it in the source and preview again.

Translation and messaging apps sometimes add invisible formatting characters, especially around mixed-direction text such as Arabic with English words. These can display as boxes or cause odd spacing in other tools.

What to do:

• Paste into a plain text editor first, then copy into your builder.
• Retype short phrases where problems appear.
• Read the translation carefully for accuracy; translations of job titles and skills often need correction by a fluent speaker.

Then preview again and check for any warning about characters that cannot be printed.

Check that every accented letter appears correctly and that the special letters copy out properly.

Quick checks:

• Read your name, addresses and job titles letter by letter: é, è, ç, ñ, ü, ö, ß.
• Search the PDF for an accented word to confirm it is stored as text.
• Copy a line into a plain text editor and check the accents survive.
• Make sure section headings are in the same language as the content.

ResumeBuilder.ae supports French, Spanish and German in the PDF; choose the resume language on the Design tab.

They can. Decorative fonts often lack many characters, such as accented letters or certain punctuation, and some draw letters that software misreads when extracting text.

For a resume:

• Use a clean, common font family for all text.
• If you want personality, use it in colour or layout choices, not in exotic fonts.
• Test your PDF by copying the text into a plain text editor.

Whatever tool you use, preview the final PDF and check every accent and punctuation mark.

Use your keyboard's built-in methods rather than copying letters from websites, which can bring hidden characters.

Common methods:

• Windows: add the language keyboard in Settings, or use the touch keyboard and hold a letter to see accents.
• Mac: press and hold the letter key, then choose the accented version.
• Phones: press and hold the letter on the on-screen keyboard.

Typing letters directly stores them as single characters, which display, print and search correctly in your PDF.