Plainline: the plainest ATS resume template
Bold sans heads, no rules, generous leading. The least for a parser to misread.
Plainline is one of 22 free résumé templates in PaperKit, the no-login résumé builder from CodeSierra. It is free to use and free to download as a PDF (no account, no watermark and nothing to pay) and it prints to A4 or US Letter. Plainline is single-column and ATS-safe, so an applicant tracking system reads it in the order you wrote it. You fill it in as a form with the real PDF rendering beside you, and switching to any other template carries your content across untouched.
- Audience
- Product · Tech · Consulting
- Colour schemes
- Ink, Indigo, Navy
- Photo slot
- No
- Paper
- A4 and US Letter
Pick Plainline if…
- You are applying through a large company's ATS and want zero parsing risk.
- Your bullets are long, and the wide leading keeps a dense page readable.
- You want a layout that looks deliberate without a single graphic element.
How it stays parsable
- One column, top to bottom: no sidebars or text boxes to reorder your history.
- Section headings are real text, not images, so a parser can label your content.
- No background graphics, so a scanner reads black text on white paper.
- Dates and employers sit on the same line as the role they belong to.
How much fits on one page
Generous leading and no rules mean Plainline breathes, and it holds roughly four roles with three or four bullets each before a second page starts. A fresher or a candidate with under five years fits comfortably on one page. Past ten years, cut the oldest roles to a single line each or move to Split, which is built for density.
When to use something else
Plainline is deliberately plain, so it gives a recruiter nothing to look at while they decide. If a person reads your resume before any software does, and you want the page to carry some character, Ledger gives you the same parsing safety with serif headings and ruled sections.
Plainline works well for these roles
Each example comes with profession-specific bullets you can edit in place.
Questions about Plainline
- Is the Plainline resume template free?
- Yes. Plainline is free: no login, no watermark and nothing to pay at the download step. You can edit it in your browser and download the PDF straight away. Every PaperKit template is free the same way, in all four makers: there is no premium set and nothing to unlock.
- Is Plainline ATS-friendly?
- Yes. Plainline is single-column with semantic headings and no background graphics, sidebars or text boxes: the structure an applicant tracking system parses reliably. The editor also shows a live ATS score as you type.
- Can I switch away from Plainline later?
- Yes. Templates are a design layer over your content, so you can change template at any point inside the editor without retyping or losing a single line.