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Editing a PDF resume

A PDF is a description of where to draw marks on a page, not a document with sections in it. Reading one back into editable fields works well for most resumes and not at all for some. Here is which is which, before you spend ten minutes finding out.

What happens to your file

A PDF exported from Word, Docs or LaTeXWorks
There is a real text layer, so every word comes back. Structure is rebuilt from the text. See the caveat below about where the lines run together.
A scanned or photographed resumeDoes not work
There is no text in the file at all, only an image of text. Re-uploading cannot fix it and neither can a better reader. Paste the text instead, or export a fresh PDF from the original document.
A password-protected or corrupted fileRefused
Told to you immediately rather than half-read. Export an unprotected copy.
A two-column templateWorks, with reordering
A PDF stores the order text was drawn in, not the order you read it. Some templates emit the sidebar first, so a name can arrive halfway down. The words are all there; where they land is decided by whatever produced the file.

Why the lines run together

A date sitting on the right-hand edge of a line is not separated from the job title by anything: the gap is empty space on a page, not a character. Pulled back out, the two arrive touching. Every reader has this problem, including ours on its own output, which is why the text is read into fields by a model rather than split on punctuation that is not there.

It transcribes and does not improve: nothing is reworded, reordered or invented on the way in. What you see in the editor is what your resume said.