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Trim margins from PDF pages
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How to crop a PDF
Trim margins, scan borders or white space from PDF pages. The tool can find white margins for you, or you can drag a crop box over a page preview or type exact margins.
Open your PDF
Drag a PDF onto the upload box, click to browse, or import it from Google Drive. Password-protected files are supported.
Choose an option
Automatic finds the white margins shared by all pages and gives every page the same crop. Automatic maximum crop trims each page's white margins separately, so pages can end up different sizes. Both crop the file as soon as you click Continue. Choose Preview pages & select to set the crop yourself.
Pick a preview mode
In the settings bar, Blended draws all pages on top of each other and applies one crop to every page. Page by page gives each page its own crop; use Prev and Next to move between pages. Odd & even uses one crop for odd pages and another for even pages.
Set the crop area
Drag the edges or corners of the blue box, or drag inside it to move it. The darkened area is cut off. You can also type Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Width and Height, in inches, cm, mm or points.
Crop and download
Click Crop PDF. On the results screen you can preview the cropped pages, download the file, save it to Google Drive, open it in another tool, or delete the files.
Auto-trim white margins
Auto-trim white margins finds the white border around the content and sets the crop. In Page by page mode, Auto-trim this page trims the page you are viewing and Auto-trim every page trims each page separately.
Crop only some pages, or shrink the page size
Under More options, Pages limits the crop to pages such as 1-5, 8 or odd. By default the cropped area is hidden, not deleted, so it can be restored later. Tick Also shrink page size if printers and other apps should use the cropped size as the page size.
How crop margins are measured and applied
Margins start from what you can see
Every number you type or drag is measured from the edges of the page as it appears on screen. That matters in two situations.
If the PDF was already cropped, by this tool or by another app, the starting point is the area that's currently visible, not the full sheet. Cut 0.5 in from the left of a page that was already cropped by 0.5 in and the new edge sits 1 in from the original one. Crops stack like this, and they only go inwards. Margins can't be negative, so the tool can't widen an earlier crop back out.
If a page carries a rotation setting, which is common on landscape scans and on pages turned with a rotate tool, the margins still follow the screen. Top is the top edge you're looking at, even when it's a different side of the page inside the file.
Documents with mixed page sizes
A crop is stored as four distances from the edges, in points. In Blended mode the same four distances go onto every page. On a file that mixes A4 and Letter, or has a few landscape pages, a 1 in cut from the right lands in a different place relative to the content on each size.
The Blended preview hides this. It scales every page to the width of the first one before stacking them, so a wider page can look safe when it isn't. For mixed files, use Page by page, or make the pages one size with Resize PDF before you crop.
Blank pages are handled differently by the two automatic options. Automatic skips blank pages when it measures, then gives them the same crop as the rest. Automatic maximum crop has nothing to measure on a blank page, so it leaves those pages at full size.
The numbers behind the fields
- 1 in is 72 pt, 1 cm is about 28.35 pt and 1 mm is about 2.83 pt.
- The area you keep can't be smaller than 18 pt (a quarter of an inch) across or down. If the margins you type leave less than that, both opposite margins are scaled back in proportion until it fits.
- Changing Width moves the right edge and leaves the left one where it is. Changing Height moves the bottom edge.
Auto-trim counts a pixel as content when any of its red, green or blue values is below 240 out of 255. That's pale enough that a light grey rule above the footer, a faint DRAFT watermark or a tinted header band all count as content and stop the trim. If an automatic crop stops short, look for something light near the edge and set that side by hand.
Print files with bleed
"Also shrink page size" changes more than the page size. It also deletes the page's BleedBox, TrimBox and ArtBox. Print software uses those boxes to know where the sheet will be cut and how far the artwork runs past that line. For artwork prepared for a commercial press, ticking the option throws away information the printer may rely on, so leave it unticked or ask the printer what they need.
Features
- Trims margins, scan borders and white space from PDF pages.
- The PDF is processed in your browser. It is not uploaded to a server.
- Drag the crop box over a page preview, or type exact margins in inches, cm, mm or points.
- Use one crop for all pages, a separate crop for odd and even pages, or a different crop on each page.
- Free to use. No installation or account needed.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a file size limit?
There is no fixed limit. The file is processed in your browser, so the practical limit is your device's memory.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Dragging the crop box precisely is easier with a mouse, and typing exact margins works on any screen.
Is it safe to use with confidential documents?
Yes. The PDF is processed in your browser and is not uploaded to a server.
