How to crop PDF margins

How to crop the margins step by step

Cropping margins means reducing the visible area of every page, from the top, bottom, left and right, by the amounts you set. It takes under a minute:

1. Open the Crop margins tool.
2. Choose the file: drag the PDF into the window, or click to pick it.
3. Say how much to crop: four fields, one per side, top, bottom, left and right. Leave at zero the sides you do not want cropped.
4. Pick the unit: millimetres for most cases, points for typographic precision, percentage when the document has sheets of different sizes.
5. Press crop and download the PDF you get. The text is still text: nothing was converted to an image.

Nothing to install, no account and no upload wait: the processing runs in your browser, and the file never leaves your computer.

Millimetres, points or percentage: which one?

Millimetres work for most cases: you know how much you want off, and the same value is applied to every page. Points are the PDF's typographic unit, use them when you need precision to the detail, like preparing a document for print. Percentage is the right choice when the document has sheets of different sizes: 5% is calculated against the visible area of each page, one by one, and crops proportionally on each, instead of applying the same millimetres to an A4 and an A3.

You can also pick specific pages. The pages field takes ranges (1-3) and single numbers (5), separated by comma. Leave it empty to crop all of them.

Tips for cropping margins

• Cropping hides, it does not delete. Cropping changes the visible area of the page, what the PDF format calls the CropBox. What falls outside that area stops showing in any normal reader, but it stays inside the file and can be restored by anyone who knows how to edit the document. Do not use this tool to remove personal data or to redact: it is not a redaction tool.
• The file does not get lighter. Since nothing is removed, the file weight does not drop. If your goal is a smaller file, the right tool is Compress PDF.
• On already trimmed pages, the crop starts from the visible area. Scans that were already trimmed and print work come with a visible area smaller than the sheet; the crop is applied from that area, not from the whole sheet, which is the correct behaviour, cropping 10 mm from the paper on an already trimmed page would cut far more than the 10 mm you can see.
• The text is still text. Nothing is converted to an image, so the text stays selectable, searchable and copyable after cropping.
• Check what is really inside the file. The PDF properties tool shows what is actually in the document, without changing it.
• If the problem is the sheet, not the margin. To change the page size itself, use the PDF page size tool; to change the page order, use Reorder PDF pages.

Is cropping margins free? What are the limits?

This tool is part of the Premium subscription, EUR 1.99 a month, which removes the limits on every tool and adds OCR. Sign PDF opens on the free plan, with one signature a day.

Sources

• BestPDFInTheWorld, Cortar margens
• MDN, File API
• pdf-lib