How to Crop a PDF

Cropping a PDF trims the visible area of a page — cutting off margins, headers, footers, or unwanted content around the edges. It is the PDF equivalent of trimming a photo. This guide covers what cropping actually does to a PDF (and what it does not do), the choices you make, and the trusted local tools that do it. IXPDF also has a free in-browser crop tool that runs entirely on your device.

What cropping actually does to a PDF

A PDF page has several boxes: the media box (the full page size), the crop box (what viewers display and what prints), thetrim box (the finished page after printing), the bleed box (for printing), and the art box (the page's content area). Cropping usually changes the crop box — the visible region — without removing the underlying content.

The choices you make when cropping

• Crop region. A rectangle defined by its distance from the left, bottom, right, and top edges, or a visual drag-selection in the tool's UI.
• Page range. Apply the crop to the current page only, all pages, or a custom range (e.g., pages 3–10). Different pages can have different crop regions in some tools.
• Uniform vs. per-page. A uniform crop applies the same margins to every page. A per-page crop lets you trim each page individually — useful when pages have different margins.
• Box type. Most tools change the crop box. Advanced tools (Acrobat Pro, qpdf) can also set the trim and bleed boxes for print production.

Three tools that crop a PDF locally

Every option below runs on your machine. None of them upload your document. For a sensitive document, that matters — the file should not travel to a "free online PDF cropper" before the crop is applied.

1. Adobe Acrobat Pro (paid)

The most full-featured option. Open the PDF, thenTools > Edit PDF > Crop Pages. Drag a rectangle on the page to define the crop region. In the dialog, choose whether to apply to the current page, all pages, or a custom range. Click OK and save. Acrobat Pro also lets you set the trim and bleed boxes for print production. Acrobat Standard and the free Adobe Reader cannot crop — only Pro can.

2. Preview (macOS, free)

Open the PDF in Preview, then Tools > Adjust Size is not what you want — that resizes the page. To crop, use theMarkup Toolbar (View > Show Markup Toolbar), select theRectangular Selection tool, drag a region, and pressCmd+K or Tools > Crop. Preview applies the crop to the current page only — to crop all pages, you need a script or a different tool. Preview's crop changes the media box, so the cropped content is actually removed from the visible page.

3. PDF24 (free, Windows desktop)

PDF24's desktop app (Windows) has a "Crop PDF" tool in its toolbox. Open the PDF, drag the crop handles or enter explicit margins, pick the page range, and click OK. PDF24 runs locally on the desktop app — the browser version uploads to PDF24's servers, so use the desktop app for sensitive files.

Step-by-step: crop a PDF with Adobe Acrobat Pro

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
2. Go to Tools > Edit PDF.
3. Click Crop Pages in the secondary toolbar.
4. Drag a rectangle on the page to define the crop region.
5. In the dialog, set the page range: All,Current, or a custom range (e.g., 3-10).
6. Click OK to apply.
7. Save the PDF with File > Save.

Step-by-step: crop a PDF with Preview (macOS, single page)

1. Open the PDF in Preview.
2. Choose View > Show Markup Toolbar.
3. Select the Rectangular Selection tool.
4. Drag a rectangle over the area you want to keep.
5. Press Cmd+K (or Tools > Crop).
6. Save with File > Save (or Export to keep the original).

To crop every page in Preview, you would need to crop each page individually or write an AppleScript. For multi-page crops on Mac, the PDF24 desktop app (via Wine) or qpdf from the command line is faster.

Crop vs. remove pages vs. redact

These three operations are often confused. They do different things:

• Crop changes the visible region of a page. Content outside the region is hidden but still in the file. File size does not change.
• Remove pages deletes entire pages from the document. The pages and their content are gone. File size shrinks. IXPDF does this today — see Remove Pages.
• Redact permanently removes content (text, images) from a page so it cannot be recovered. File size shrinks. This is the only secure way to hide sensitive content — seeHow to Redact a PDF.

Common mistakes

• Cropping to hide sensitive content. Cropping hides content from the viewer but the content is still in the file. Anyone who resets the crop box can see it. Use redaction to truly remove sensitive content.
• Cropping one page and expecting all pages to crop.Most tools default to cropping only the current page. Check the page range setting.
• Cropping too aggressively. If you crop into the content area, you cut off text or images. Preview the result before saving.
• Uploading a sensitive PDF to a "free online" cropper.The file is on someone else's server before the crop is applied. Use a local tool.
• Confusing crop with rotate or remove pages. Rotate changes orientation; remove pages deletes pages; crop changes the visible region of a page. They are different operations.