What is PDF Crop?

PDF Crop lets you trim margins and crop pages in your PDF documents. Upload a PDF, visually select the crop area or set precise margin values, then download the cropped version — all without uploading to any server.

PDF Crop uses pdf-lib to write a new CropBox and pdf.js to render the live preview, so what you see is exactly what saves. Adjust each margin with a slider or by typing the exact value in points, millimetres, or inches, link the top and bottom (or left and right) pairs so symmetric edits stay symmetric, and let Auto-crop find the white space for you. Snap to a standard size like A4, Letter, or a 16:9 ratio with one click, overlay every page to spot a crop that clips none of them, or turn on Per-page crop to give each page its own trim. Apply the result to every page, the current one, just odd or even pages, or a custom range like 1, 3-5, 8.

How to use

1. Upload your PDF file — pages load as previews so you can see the current margins.
2. Adjust the margin sliders, type exact values, snap to a preset size like A4 or 16:9, or click Auto-crop to detect the white margins automatically.
3. Apply the crop to all pages or selected pages, then download the trimmed PDF.

When to use

• Removing wide scanner margins from a scanned book to read on a phone or tablet.
• Trimming the bottom strip of slides exported from Keynote that always has speaker-notes whitespace.
• Cleaning up borders from PDFs converted from word processors before printing.

Result

A student crops the wide margins from a scanned textbook PDF to make it readable on a tablet screen without constant zooming.

FAQ

Does cropping reduce the file size of the PDF?

Not by much. Cropping in PDF actually adjusts the visible area (the CropBox) — the original page content is still there, just hidden. To shrink the file you'd need to flatten and re-encode the PDF, which most readers don't do by default.

Will the crop be permanent if I share the PDF?

The crop survives in any reader that respects the CropBox setting, which is essentially all of them (Adobe, Preview, Chrome, mobile readers). Someone could technically restore the hidden area by editing the CropBox, but no normal viewer exposes that.

Can I crop different amounts on different pages?

Yes, two ways. For a quick mixed job, pick Current, Odd, Even, or Custom (like 1, 3-5, 8) and your margins apply only to those pages. For full control, switch on Per-page crop: each page then keeps its own margins, so you can give every page a different trim and download them all in one go.

Why are my margin values in points instead of millimetres?

PDF coordinates are defined in points (1/72 of an inch) by the PDF specification, so every PDF tool uses points internally. As a quick conversion, 28 points is roughly 1 cm, and 72 points is exactly 1 inch.

Does the tool work with password-protected PDFs?

It opens files with encryption ignored, so most read-protected PDFs load fine for cropping. Files with strong owner-password encryption that blocks modification will fail to load. Remove the protection first if you have permission.

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