On sourcing: every limit below is quoted from the employer that published it — a US state, three universities, and one company's applicant FAQ — because there is no single Workday rule to quote. Accepted formats and size caps are configured per employer, which is why the sources disagree with each other, and those disagreements are shown rather than averaged. One widely repeated fix is labelled commonly reported because we could not read a primary source for it.
Symptom: the file is rejected for being too big
Documented cause. The State of North Carolina, which runs its careers site on Workday, states it flatly: "Attachments larger than 5 megabytes will not attach." Its remedy is equally plain — "If your file is larger than 5 megabytes, you will need to reduce the file size" (NC Office of State Human Resources). The University of Miami gives the same number with a different shape: "You can upload up to five documents (5MB max per file) under resume/CV in the 'my experience' section" (University of Miami HR).
The fix. A resume of plain text does not approach 5 MB — a two-page PDF is usually well under half a megabyte. If yours is over, something is embedded: a scanned page, a photo, a high-resolution logo, a background image. Remove the images rather than compressing harder. That also fixes a second problem, because image-based files are the ones parsers cannot read at all.
Symptom: the format is not accepted
Documented cause, and the reason there is no single answer. Compare three employers, all on Workday. North Carolina accepts "most standard file extensions and many picture viewer extensions that result from scanning documents… (i.e. pdf, doc, docx, WP, wpd, txt, bmp, gif, jpeg, jpg, tif, etc.)". The University of Wisconsin–Madison tells candidates "Workday supports a range of file formats, such as .pdf, .doc, .xls, .mp4, .png, .jpg, and .ppt" (Jobs at UW–Madison). Neither list is Workday's; each is an employer's configuration.
The fix. Use a text-based PDF or .docx and the question disappears — those two appear on every list we found. If the posting names a format, use that one instead.
Symptom: you click upload and nothing happens
Documented cause, and the least obvious one on this page. North Carolina's instruction is: "Make sure the document you are trying to attach is closed." A file still open in Word can be locked by the operating system, and the upload fails with no useful message.
Second documented cause: the browser. Employer FAQs still carry Workday's guidance that "Workday no longer supports version 10 or earlier of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)", recommending "version 11 of IE or use another supported browser such as Google Chrome or Firefox" (University of Miami HR; same wording in the SCI Shared Resources candidate FAQ). The version numbers are dated now, but the underlying point holds: a very old or unusual browser is a real cause, and switching to a current Chrome or Firefox is a thirty-second test.
Commonly reported, not documented: the filename. Renaming the file to remove spaces, brackets, commas and accented characters is advice that circulates widely for Workday uploads. We could not read a primary source for it — the one government support article whose title matches sits behind a bot check that blocked both plain fetching and a real browser — so treat it as commonly reported rather than documented. It costs nothing to try: firstname-lastname-resume.pdf is a safe name, and if that works when the original did not, you have your answer.
Symptom: it uploaded, but it is not on the application
Documented cause. There are two different upload places and they do different jobs. Washington and Lee tells applicants that "The My Experience page is the only place to upload documents" for the application you are filling in (Washington & Lee University). The Attachments tab in Candidate Home is separate: a CV uploaded there "will be attached to all vacancies you apply for" (Eastleigh Borough Council).
The fix. If a specific application needs the file, attach it on My Experience during that application. Updating Attachments afterwards does not reach back into an application you already sent.
See what your resume is missing — before you apply.
CVder reads the job posting and your resume side by side, then shows the exact terms to add and the formatting a parser would trip on.
Symptom: you want to replace the file after submitting
Documented cause: you generally cannot. Ohio State: "once you have applied for a specific job requisition, you cannot change the attachments you uploaded" — though "new attachments can be added for each new job requisition you apply to" (Ohio State University HR). Washington and Lee: "You cannot change your application after submission." The SCI FAQ: "Once the application is complete, the attachment can no longer be edited."
The fix. Withdraw and reapply if the posting is still open — Candidate Home's My Applications tab carries the withdraw action — or email the recruiter named on the posting with the corrected file. Neither is embarrassing; recruiters process both routinely.
Before you upload: a thirty-second check
- The file is a text-based PDF or .docx, not a scan or a screenshot.
- It is well under 5 MB — if not, an image is hiding in it.
- The document is closed in Word.
- You are on My Experience if this file is for this application.
- The filename is plain:
firstname-lastname-resume.pdf.
- Size: 5 MB is the limit two Workday employers publish; a text-based resume is nowhere near it, so an oversized file means an embedded image.
- Format: accepted lists are set per employer and genuinely differ; a text-based PDF or
.docxis on every list we found. - Nothing happens on upload: close the file in Word first, then try a current Chrome or Firefox.
- Filename advice is commonly reported but undocumented — free to try, so try it.
- Uploaded but missing: My Experience is the application's upload point; the Attachments tab is your standing CV.
- After submitting the attachment is frozen: withdraw and reapply, or email the recruiter.
- If the upload worked and you now want the file back, see getting your resume back out of Workday. For the full application flow, see the Workday upload guide, and for what a parser reads at all, how to pass an ATS.