Step 2: Save as Text Only, Plain Text, or Notepad. Either a Text Only, Plain Text, or Notepad document works best for posting your resume online. If you want to have your resume email-ready (see Emailing Your Resume), you can save some work by converting your document to Text Only or Plain Text at this point

Here's how to convert to Text Only and Plain Text:

A. Open the MS Word document that contains your resume.

B. Click File in your toolbar and select Save As.

C. Type in a new name for this document in File Name, such as ResTextOnly.

D. Under this is the Save As Type pull-down menu. From this list, select Text Only (*.txt). If you're on a Windows XP computer, select "Plain Text" from the pull-down menu.

E. Click Save to perform the conversion.

F. Now close the document but stay in MS Word.

G. Reopen the document you just closed by going to File in the toolbar, click Open, select the file named “ResTextOnly.txt,” and click Open. Warning: If you exit MS Word and then open the resume document by clicking on its icon in the directory, it will become a Notepad document — not what you want if you intend to use this version to prepare an emailable resume! (See Emailing Your Resume.)

Here's how to convert to Notepad:

A. Open the MS Word document that contains your resume.

B. Click File in your toolbar and select Save As.

C. Type in a new name for this document in File Name, such as “ResNotepad.”

D. Under this is the Save As Type pull-down menu. From this list, select “Text Only (*.txt).” If you're on a Windows XP computer, select "Plain Text" from the pull-down menu.

E. Click Save to perform the conversion.

F. Now close the document and reopen it by clicking on its icon in the directory. It will automatically open as a Notepad document (named “ResNotepad.txt”).

After converting your resume to either Text Only, Plain Text, or Notepad, what appears in your document window is your resume stripped of any fancy formatting. You are now ready to make a few final adjustments before posting it online.