Scanned documents often carry a wide white border, sometimes with the edge of the scanner bed visible. Cropping trims those margins so the content fills more of the page — useful before printing, and it makes the document look considerably tidier.
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What the Crop PDF does
Cropping sets the PDF crop box, which is the area readers display and printers use. It does not delete anything: the content outside the crop box still exists in the file and can be restored by resetting the box.
That matters for one reason above all — cropping is not a way to hide sensitive content. If something must be gone, use redaction.
How to use this tool
- Select your PDF and check the thumbnails to judge how much margin there is.
- Enter the percentage to trim from each edge. Start at 5% and increase if the margins are wide.
- Tick specific pages if only some need cropping.
- Press Crop pages and check the result before printing a batch.
How the crop box is set
Percentages are measured from each edge of the page:
new x = width × left%
new y = height × bottom%
new width = width × (1 − left% − right%)
new height = height × (1 − top% − bottom%)
This sets the CropBox. The MediaBox — the true page size —
is unchanged, and content outside the crop box remains in
the file.
Cropping hides content. It does not remove it.
Worked example
Example: a scan with wide borders
| Before | A4 with roughly 12 mm of white on every edge |
| Trim | 4% each side |
| After | content fills the visible area, no visible scanner edge |
| File size | unchanged — nothing was deleted |
File size stays the same because cropping changes only which part of the page is displayed.
What your result means
File size does not change. Cropping adjusts the visible window, not the content.
Some readers ignore the crop box when printing. Check a test page before printing a long document.
It is reversible, which is convenient for you and a problem if you were trying to conceal something. Use redaction for that.
Important considerations
- Crop conservatively. Trimming too much cuts into content, and different pages in a scan often have different margins.
- Uneven scans need per-page cropping — tick pages in groups and run the tool more than once.
- To genuinely reduce page size rather than hide margins, use the page size converter.
- Some older printers and readers ignore the crop box and print the full page. Test before a large print run.
- Cropping never removes content, so it must not be used to hide confidential information.
Limitations of this tool
- Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened without the password.
- Processing happens in your device's memory, so very large documents can be slow.
- Existing text cannot be edited or removed — these tools add content on top of the page.
- Cropping is by percentage rather than by dragging a box on the page.
- The same crop is applied to every selected page, so pages with different margins need separate passes.
- Content outside the crop box remains in the file and can be recovered.
Frequently asked questions
Does cropping reduce the file size?
No. It changes the displayed area only — the content outside it is still stored. To reduce size, use the compress tool.
Can cropping hide confidential information?
No, and this is important. The content still exists and the crop can be reversed. Use redaction, which removes it permanently.
Why do my pages still print with margins?
Some printers and older readers ignore the crop box and use the full page size. Convert the page size instead if the printer must respect it.
Can I crop each page differently?
Yes, but not in one pass. Tick a group of pages, apply a crop, then repeat on the output with a different group.