Crop PDF Pages Online
Remove unwanted margins, borders, headers, footers, or page areas from your PDF. Preview the crop and apply it to one page, selected pages, or the complete document. All processing happens locally in your browser.
Choose a PDF File
Drop a PDF here or click to browse. One PDF at a time.
How it works
Upload PDF
Choose or drag your PDF into the visual cropper.
Select area
Drag margins or crop handles over the visual layout.
Choose pages
Apply the crop boundaries to one page or all pages.
Download
Compile page boxes and download your cropped PDF.
What Is a PDF Cropper?
A PDF cropper changes the visible area of a PDF page. It can help remove white margins, scanner borders, headers, footers, or other page areas that you do not want to display.
You select the rectangular area you want to keep. The tool then saves that visible area for the selected page, all pages, or a page range.
Cropping normally keeps the original text, images, fonts, and graphics because the page is not converted into a new image.
How to Crop a PDF
- Choose your PDF. Select one PDF file from your device.
- Open a page. Use the page controls to view the page you want to crop.
- Select the area to keep. Move or resize the crop box around the useful page content.
- Choose the pages. Apply the crop to the current page, all pages, or a selected page range.
- Crop the PDF. The tool changes the visible page area for the selected pages.
- Download and review. Open the result and check every cropped page.
Crop One Page, All Pages, or a Page Range
Current Page
Apply the crop only to the page currently shown in the preview. All other pages stay unchanged.
All Pages
Apply the same relative crop area to every page in the PDF.
Page Range
Apply the crop only to selected pages, such as 1-3, 5, and 8.
When pages have different sizes, the tool uses the crop area as a percentage of each page. This helps keep similar margins on portrait, landscape, A4, Letter, and mixed-size pages.
How PDF Cropping Works
A PDF page has a visible page boundary. Cropping changes that boundary so the PDF viewer shows only the selected area.
The tool does not normally rebuild the page as an image. This means selectable text, original images, vector graphics, and fonts can remain in the document.
Content outside the visible area may still exist inside the PDF file. It is hidden from normal viewing but may be found again with another PDF editor.
What the Crop Area Means
The crop rectangle shows the part of the page that will remain visible. You can move the rectangle or resize it using the handles.
- Keep important text, signatures, stamps, and images inside the crop area.
- Leave a small space around content so letters and borders are not cut off.
- Check pages with different layouts before applying one crop to the complete document.
- Use Reset Crop when you want to return to the complete page.
Crop Presets
Crop presets provide a quick starting point. You can still adjust the crop area manually.
| Preset | What It Does | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| Full Page | Keeps the complete original page | Resetting the crop or keeping an unchanged page |
| Remove Small Margin | Removes a small amount from every side | Thin scanner borders and light white margins |
| Remove Medium Margin | Removes a larger amount from every side | Wide empty margins around page content |
| Custom | ||
| Custom | Uses the area selected by the user | Headers, footers, receipts, slides, and uneven borders |
Crop Box vs Permanent Removal
Cropping changes what is visible when the PDF is opened. It does not guarantee that content outside the crop area has been deleted.
Text, photographs, signatures, account numbers, or other information outside the visible area may still remain in the PDF file.
Cropping and Redaction Are Different
Cropping hides page areas from normal view. Redaction is used when information must be permanently removed.
| Action | What It Does | Use It For |
|---|---|---|
| Crop | Changes the visible page area | Removing margins, borders, headers, and empty areas |
| Redact | Permanently removes selected information when correctly applied | Passwords, account numbers, addresses, and confidential details |
How to Remove White Margins
White margins often appear in scanned books, certificates, forms, receipts, and printed documents.
- Start with the Remove Small Margin preset.
- Check that no text or border is cut off.
- Use Remove Medium Margin when the empty area is wider.
- Choose Custom when margins are uneven.
- Review portrait and landscape pages separately.
Leave a small amount of space around important content. Cropping too close can cut letters, signatures, seals, or page borders.
Cropping Scanned Documents
Scanned PDFs may contain dark scanner borders, uneven edges, shadows, desk backgrounds, or large white spaces.
Use a custom crop to keep only the useful document area. Check small text, stamps, QR codes, signatures, and page numbers before downloading the result.
Cropping does not improve scan quality or remove blur. It only changes the visible page area.
Pages with Different Sizes and Directions
A PDF can contain portrait pages, landscape pages, A4 pages, Letter pages, or several page sizes in the same file.
When the same crop is applied to all pages, it is based on the percentage of each page instead of fixed screen pixels. This helps the crop adjust to each page size.
Pages with very different layouts may still need separate crop areas. Use Current Page when one page requires a different selection.
What Cropping Usually Keeps
Because cropping changes the visible page boundary instead of rebuilding every page, the following features can usually remain:
- Selectable and searchable text
- Original image quality
- Vector graphics and diagrams
- Fonts and page layout
- Links and form fields inside the visible area
Features outside the crop area may become hidden. Always test important links and forms after cropping.
What Cropping Does Not Change
Cropping does not automatically:
- Compress the PDF
- Improve image quality
- Sharpen blurry text
- Remove passwords
- Delete hidden information safely
- Change the original page content
- Remove complete pages
Use PDF Compressor when you need a smaller file. Use PDF Page Remover when you need to delete complete pages.
Why Cropping May Not Reduce File Size
Cropping changes the visible page area, but content outside that area may remain inside the PDF. Images, fonts, text, and other document data are not necessarily removed.
Because of this, the output file may be close to the same size as the original.
Common PDF Cropping Mistakes
- Cropping too close: leave enough space around text, stamps, signatures, and borders.
- Applying one crop to every page: pages with different layouts may need separate crop areas.
- Using cropping as redaction: hidden content may remain in the PDF.
- Expecting a smaller file: cropping may not reduce the PDF size.
- Not checking the result: open every cropped page before sharing or submitting it.
- Deleting the original: keep the source PDF in case the crop needs to be changed.
Browser Memory and Large PDFs
Opening and previewing a PDF uses browser memory. Large files, many pages, and high-resolution scans may process more slowly on phones and older computers.
When the tool becomes slow or fails, close other browser tabs, split the PDF into smaller parts, or use a device with more available memory.
Browser Processing and File Data
The cropping workflow is designed to process the selected PDF in the browser. PDF text, page previews, filenames, passwords, crop coordinates, and downloaded files should not be included in analytics events.
The webpage may still load normal website resources and analytics. Browser-based file processing does not mean the complete webpage works without network activity.
Related PDF Tools
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I crop a PDF?
Upload your PDF, move or resize the crop box around the area you want to keep, choose which pages to crop, and click Crop PDF.
Can I crop only one PDF page?
Yes. Choose Current Page to apply the crop only to the page currently shown in the preview.
Can I apply the same crop to all pages?
Yes. Choose All Pages to apply the same relative crop area to every page.
Can I crop a selected page range?
Yes. Choose Page Range and enter pages such as 1-3, 5, 8. Pages outside the range remain unchanged.
How do I remove white margins from a PDF?
Start with Remove Small Margin or Remove Medium Margin. Use Custom when the margins are uneven.
Does cropping reduce PDF file size?
Not always. Cropping changes the visible page area, but hidden content may remain inside the PDF file.
Does cropping reduce image quality?
The normal crop operation does not rebuild pages as images, so original page quality is usually kept.
Will selectable text remain?
Selectable text can usually remain because the page is not converted into a flat image.
Are links and forms preserved?
Links and form fields can remain in the PDF. Items outside the visible crop area may become hidden.
Is hidden content permanently removed?
No. Content outside the crop area may still remain inside the PDF and may be recovered with another editor.
Can I use cropping to remove sensitive information?
No. Cropping is not secure redaction. Use a proper redaction tool when information must be permanently removed.
What is the difference between cropping and redaction?
Cropping changes what part of the page is visible. Redaction is used to permanently remove sensitive information.
Why does the crop look different on some pages?
Pages may have different sizes, directions, or layouts. A crop based on percentages can still appear different on portrait and landscape pages.
Can I crop portrait and landscape pages together?
Yes, but pages with very different layouts may need separate crop areas.
Can a password-protected PDF be cropped?
A protected PDF may need to be unlocked first. Only remove a password when you own the file or have permission.
Does the PDF cropper work on mobile?
It can work in supported mobile browsers. Large PDFs may require more memory than some phones have available.
Are PDF contents sent to analytics?
PDF text, page previews, filenames, passwords, crop coordinates, and downloaded files should not be included in analytics events.
Why did PDF cropping fail?
The PDF may be damaged, password protected, unsupported, or too large for the available browser memory.
