Crop PDF

Make room for what matters.

Draw a rectangle on the preview. Cropping hides the outside area; use Redact to permanently remove sensitive content.

How to use Crop PDF

1. Open your document from your device.
2. Adjust the settings and preview the result.
3. Read text results on screen or download your file. Your original remains untouched.

Local by design

Your documents are processed on your device. No account, payment or document upload is required.

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Trim the visible page without confusing cropping with deletion

Crop PDF changes the visible area of a page. It is useful for removing excessive borders from a scan, focusing a reading copy on the main content or making a page fit more comfortably on screen. Cropping is not permanent redaction: content outside the visible boundary can remain inside the PDF.

That distinction is essential when the border contains a name, account number or confidential note. A recipient using another editor may be able to reveal hidden areas. Use Redact PDF when information must be removed from a delivery copy, and verify the exported result. Choose cropping only when changing presentation is the intended purpose.

Draw and review a crop boundary

1. Open the source PDF and navigate to the page you want to crop.
2. Draw the crop rectangle over the area that should remain visible.
3. Inspect all four edges, including small page numbers and captions.
4. Use Undo or clear the mark if the boundary is wrong, then redraw it.
5. Create a separate result and reopen the downloaded PDF.

On a small touch screen, leave enough room to place the boundary accurately. A page fitted into a narrow viewport can hide small edge details. If precision is difficult, use a larger screen rather than accepting an uncertain rectangle. Do not assume that a mark placed on one page applies appropriately to differently sized pages elsewhere in the document.

Understand the page-box effect

PDF pages can describe several boundaries used for viewing and printing. A crop changes the area presented by a reader; it does not necessarily rewrite every underlying drawing or image. This is why a cropped page can become visually smaller without reducing the file size proportionally. The hidden source data may still occupy space.

Cropping also does not correct perspective distortion or straighten a slightly tilted scan. It can remove a desk visible around a photograph, but it cannot make converging document edges parallel. If the source capture is poor, a better photograph or an appropriate image correction workflow may be more useful than a tighter crop.

Check whether the new boundary clips meaningful content. Thin rules, handwritten notes and footnote markers are easy to overlook. A crop that looks cleaner may also remove context the reader needs. Preserve the original and describe a focused excerpt honestly when it no longer shows the complete page.

Review the saved file in its intended use

Open the downloaded result in a PDF reader and inspect its page dimensions and edges. Check several zoom levels and the first and last affected pages. If the file will be printed, inspect print preview: fitting a newly cropped page to paper can enlarge it, changing the physical size of diagrams and text.

For exact-scale drawings, avoid casual crop-and-fit printing. The visible page boundary and printer scaling interact, so a ruler or calibration mark may be needed in a physical proof. For professional printing, cropping is not a substitute for a printer’s required trim and bleed setup.

If the document contains a certificate signature, preserve the original and follow the required editing or re-signing procedure. A visible signature graphic can remain even though the transformed file is not the original signed byte sequence. Read the redaction guide for permanent removal and the print checklist for scale and margins.

Frequently asked questions

Does cropping erase information outside the box?

No. It changes the visible boundary. Use a verified redaction workflow for permanent removal.

Why did the file size barely change?

The underlying images and content can remain in the file even when their edges are hidden from view.

Can it fix a slanted photograph?

No. Cropping is not perspective correction or automatic deskewing.

Will the page print at the same scale?

That depends on printer settings. A fit-to-paper option can enlarge or reduce the cropped page.

Can I undo a wrong crop before exporting?

Use the preview’s Undo or clear control and redraw the boundary. Keep the original so you can restart after export as well.