Overleaf resumes: sharing, history and privacy

A phone number you delete from an Overleaf resume an hour before you ask for feedback is still in the project: its History panel shows the last 24 hours of edits and every labelled versionlabelled version: A version of an Overleaf project that you have named in its History panel. It stays listed in History after the 24 hours for which other edits are shown without a subscription., even without a subscription. Sharing the project shares more than the page you see.

This lesson starts a resume project from a template, shares it for feedback without exposing your contact details or its history, and keeps your details out of places they should not travel.

A template becomes your own project, with a TeX Live year and a compiler

“Open as Template” in Overleaf’s gallery gives you your own copy of a template to edit. Each project compiles with one TeX Live year and one compiler, both chosen under Compiler in the settings that the gear icon or the File menu opens. The default compiler is pdfLaTeX; the others are LaTeX, XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX. The year depends on how the project began:

Write down the year and the compiler for your resume and keep them unchanged while you apply. Overleaf warns that switching years can change how packages behave, and the template lesson measured a keyword lost to a ligature in XeLaTeX that LuaLaTeX kept whole. Compile any copy before you share it, too: Overleaf notes a small risk that a copy of an older project does not compile correctly on the newest year, which switching the copy back resolves.

Invite one person by e-mail, and never post a link

Every Overleaf project is private when you create it. Link sharinglink sharing: An Overleaf setting that creates a view link and an edit link to a project. Anyone who has a link can use it until link sharing is turned off. then creates a view link that anyone who has it can open and an edit link that anyone with an Overleaf account can use, and Overleaf warns that a website where a link is posted may even appear in search results. An invitation by e-mail gives one account view-only, review or edit access; review turns their edits into suggestions. Without a subscription, a project has one collaborator place, for an editor or a reviewer, and unlimited viewers. Answer three questions about who will look, and the table marks the ways that fit:

In short: send a group the PDF, invite one person by e-mail with the least access the task needs, and turn link sharing off as soon as a link has gone further than you meant.

The history keeps what you deleted, so share a cleaned copy

Deleting a detail removes it from the page, not from the project. Step through what Overleaf’s history keeps:

“Make a copy” starts a project whose history, comments and chat are empty, with link sharing off and none of the original’s collaborators, so a cleaned copy is the project to share. The program checks a project’s files before you make that copy, because old files that no longer build into the PDF still travel with it:

# Checks the files of an invented Overleaf resume project for the details that should not travel with a shared
# project or into an AI feature: phone numbers, a date of birth, a street address with a PIN code and 12-digit
# identity numbers. An e-mail address is expected on a resume and is only counted. Meera's project has an old header
# file that no longer builds into the PDF but is still in the project, which is how such details are missed. The
# patterns are MySmartCoPilot's and look for Indian formats; no check can see the project's history, which is why the
# lesson shares a copy. Press Edit, paste your own files into PROJECT, and run it again.
import re

PROJECT = {
    "main.tex": r"""\documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
\input{header}
\begin{document}
\Header
% Phone for recruiters only: +91 01234 56789
\Section{Education}
B.Tech. Computer Science, Example Institute of Technology, 2023--2027 (expected), CGPA 8.4/10
\end{document}
""",
    "header.tex": r"""\newcommand{\Header}{{\LARGE\bfseries Meera Iyer}\par
Pune \textperiodcentered{} meera.iyer@example.com \textperiodcentered{} github.com/meera-iyer-example\par}
""",
    "old-header.tex": r"""% The first version of the header, no longer read by main.tex
\newcommand{\Header}{{\LARGE\bfseries Meera Iyer}\par
Flat 4B, 12 Example Road, Kothrud, Pune 411038 \textperiodcentered{} +91 01234 56789\par
Date of birth: 14 August 2005 \textperiodcentered{} ID: 0000 1111 2222\par}
""",
}
CHECKS = [
    ("a phone number", re.compile(r"(?:\+91[\s-]?)?(?<!\d)[0-9]{5}[\s-]?[0-9]{5}(?!\d)")),
    ("a date of birth", re.compile(r"date of birth|\bDOB\b", re.IGNORECASE)),
    ("a PIN code, so a street address", re.compile(r"(?<!\d)[1-9]\d{5}(?!\d)")),
    ("a 12-digit identity number", re.compile(r"(?<!\d)\d{4}\s?\d{4}\s?\d{4}(?!\d)")),
]


def findings(files):
    found = []
    for name, text in files.items():
        for number, line in enumerate(text.splitlines(), start=1):
            for what, pattern in CHECKS:
                if pattern.search(line):
                    found.append(f"{name}, line {number}: {what}")
    return found


def show(title, files):
    found = findings(files)
    emails = sum(len(re.findall(r"[\w.+-]+@[\w-]+\.[\w.]+", text)) for text in files.values())
    print(f"{title}: {len(files)} files, {emails} e-mail address(es)")
    for line in found or ["nothing to remove"]:
        print(f"  {line}")
    print()


show("Meera's working project", PROJECT)
# The cleaned copy: the old file deleted, the phone comment taken out of main.tex.
cleaned = {name: text for name, text in PROJECT.items() if name != "old-header.tex"}
cleaned["main.tex"] = "\n".join(l for l in cleaned["main.tex"].splitlines() if "Phone for recruiters" not in l) + "\n"
show("The copy she shares", cleaned)

Meera's working project: 3 files, 1 e-mail address(es)
  main.tex, line 5: a phone number
  old-header.tex, line 3: a phone number
  old-header.tex, line 3: a PIN code, so a street address
  old-header.tex, line 4: a date of birth
  old-header.tex, line 4: a 12-digit identity number

The copy she shares: 2 files, 1 e-mail address(es)
  nothing to remove

It found the phone number twice, in a comment of main.tex and in old-header.tex, a file the build no longer reads, with an address, a date of birth and an identity number. The copy without them passed. Two more places can carry your details further. Overleaf’s template gallery is public and accepts no CV or resume templates and no personal data, so a resume project never belongs there. And Overleaf says some of its AI features send project content to other services, so take private details out before you use them.

Twelve sharing situations, each with its safest move Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass

Compile limits, TeX Live years and backups, measured Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass

Practise: choose the safest way to share

Write the rules of this lesson as a function; the sample tests use the situations above:

def safest_share(request):
    """The safest way to share an Overleaf resume for this request, by the lesson's rules in order."""
    # Replace this comment and the line below with the rules of the prompt.
    return "invite as editor"

from share import safest_share

BASE = {"link_posted": False, "who": "one", "deleted_private": False, "needs": "read"}


def ask(**changes):
    return safest_share({**BASE, **changes})


def test_a_posted_link_comes_first():
    """turns link sharing off whenever a link was posted, whatever else is true"""
    assert ask(link_posted=True) == "turn off link sharing"
    assert ask(link_posted=True, who="group", deleted_private=True, needs="edit") == "turn off link sharing"


def test_a_group_gets_the_pdf():
    """sends a group the PDF, even when they would need to edit"""
    assert ask(who="group") == "send the PDF"
    assert ask(who="group", needs="edit") == "send the PDF"


def test_a_deleted_detail_needs_a_copy():
    """shares a cleaned copy when a private detail was ever deleted"""
    assert ask(deleted_private=True, needs="suggest") == "share a cleaned copy"


def test_the_role_follows_the_need():
    """invites one person with the least access their task needs"""
    assert ask(needs="read") == "invite as viewer"
    assert ask(needs="suggest") == "invite as reviewer"
    assert ask(needs="edit") == "invite as editor"

Then test yourself on projects, sharing and history; each round starts where your answers have been weakest:

Interview questions

Warm-up (fresher): How would you share an Overleaf resume with a senior for feedback?

I would send the PDF if reading is enough. If they need to suggest edits, I would make a cleaned copy, so its history starts empty, and invite them to it by e-mail as a reviewer. I would never post a link, and I would remove their access when they are done.

Three questions of this module’s bank go further:

Key takeaways

• A template opened from the gallery becomes your project, with a TeX Live year and a compiler worth writing down.
• Send a group the PDF, invite one person by e-mail with the least access needed, and never post a link.
• History keeps what you delete, so share a cleaned copy, whose history starts empty.