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Crop PDF

Trim what the page shows without pretending crop is redaction

Cropping is useful for oversized scanner margins, screenshots converted to PDF, print preparation and documents where the useful content occupies only part of the page. Users should be able to drag crop handles, enter precise margins and apply the same crop to selected or all pages.

Choose a PDFDrop a file here or browse. Your pages are opened and rewritten inside this browser tab — nothing is uploaded.

The page must explain an important distinction: changing a PDF crop box can hide content outside the visible area without necessarily deleting the underlying objects. When information must be permanently removed for privacy, users should use Redact PDF instead.

What this tool does and does not change

  • Preserved where the source file allows it: text, vectors, links, annotations, forms, bookmarks, metadata.
  • Cropping changes the visible page box only — hidden content outside the crop still exists in the file. Use Redact to remove information.

Questions about Crop PDF

How do I remove white margins from a PDF?
Open the PDF, drag the crop boundary around the content you want to keep, preview the result and apply it to the relevant pages. A smart “detect content bounds” option can speed up scans, but users should always be able to fine-tune the crop manually.
Can I apply the same crop to every page?
Yes. This is the fastest option for documents scanned with consistent borders. For mixed layouts, apply the crop only to selected pages or adjust pages individually so headings, footnotes and page numbers are not clipped.
Does cropping permanently delete everything outside the crop area?
Not necessarily. Many PDF crop operations change which part of the page is displayed while leaving underlying objects outside the visible box. Crop must therefore never be presented as a privacy or redaction feature. Use Redact PDF when the hidden material must be removed from the exported file.
Can I crop pages that have different sizes?
Yes, but a single numerical crop may not make sense for every page. The interface should group pages with matching dimensions or let users preview how a global crop affects each page before applying it.
Will cropping reduce image quality?
Cropping a PDF page does not inherently require recompressing the page. Quality should remain unchanged unless the export process also rasterizes or compresses content for another reason.
Can I undo a crop?
During the current session, yes. Undo should restore the previous crop box. After export, the safest way to recover the original page area is to reopen the original source file rather than relying on the cropped copy.
Is crop useful for printing?
Yes. Trimming excessive borders can make printed content larger and more consistent, but page size, printer scaling and bleed requirements still matter. PDF Atelier should show the resulting page dimensions so users know what will be sent to print.

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