Crop PDF Margins
Trim white space, scanner borders, or crop marks from the edges of every page in a PDF. Enter how many millimetres to cut from each side and download the tidier copy. Nothing is uploaded.
How to crop a PDF
- 1Enter the margins. Type how many millimetres to trim from the top, right, bottom, and left. Leave a side at 0 to keep it as it is.
- 2Add your PDF. Drop the file onto the box or tap to choose it. The same margins are applied to every page.
- 3Check and download. Open the cropped copy. If you trimmed too much or too little, start again from your original with new numbers.
How much to trim
A ruler on screen is not reliable, so estimate from the page size instead. An A4 page is 210 mm wide and 297 mm tall; a US Letter page is about 216 by 279 mm. If the text on an A4 page starts about a third of the way in from the left, there is roughly 25 to 30 mm of margin there.
Start conservatively, for example 10 mm on each side, check the result, and increase it if needed. Margins are measured on the page as you see it, so "top" always means the top edge, even on landscape pages.
Good reasons to crop a PDF
- Removing the grey or black border a scanner adds around each page
- Cutting wide white margins so slides or papers are easier to read on a phone or e-reader
- Trimming printer crop marks and bleed from print-ready artwork
- Focusing on the content area of a scanned book page
Cropping hides content, it does not delete it
Cropping changes the visible area of each page. Anything in the trimmed margins is hidden from view and from printing, but it is still stored in the file, and some editing software can reveal it again.
So cropping is not a safe way to remove sensitive information, such as an account number in a page footer. For that, remove the whole page with Remove PDF Pages, or edit the original document and export a new PDF.
Pages with different layouts
The same margins are applied to every page. If a document mixes layouts, such as a wide cover followed by text pages, use Split PDF to separate them, crop each part with its own margins, and merge them back together.
For scans, fix the orientation with Rotate PDF first so that top and bottom mean what you expect.
Frequently asked questions
Can I crop just one page?
The margins apply to every page. Split out the page you need, crop it, and merge it back if necessary.
Does cropping reduce the file size?
Not usually, because the trimmed areas are hidden rather than removed.
Does cropping reduce quality?
No. Text and images inside the visible area are untouched.
What happens if the margins are too big?
If the margins would leave nothing of the page, you will see a message asking for smaller numbers.
How do I crop an image instead of a PDF?
Use Crop Image, which can also crop to shapes such as square or 16:9.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. Cropping happens in your browser on your own device.