Crop PDF pages
Trim the empty margins off a PDF so the actual content fills the screen. Drag four sliders, watch the frame update on a live preview, and apply the same crop to every page at once.
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How to crop a PDF
- Drop your PDF into the box or click “Choose file” — the first page appears as a preview.
- Drag the top, bottom, left and right sliders. The dashed frame shows what will be kept, and the line underneath gives the new page size in points.
- Press “Reset” to start over if you overshoot; each side can be trimmed by up to 45%.
- Click “Crop PDF” and download the result — the same crop is applied to every page in the document.
Why cropping is worth it on a phone
A scanned A4 page can be a third empty margin. On a 27-inch monitor nobody notices; on a phone that margin is the reason you are pinching and dragging to read a single paragraph. Crop the white space away and the reader fills the screen width with actual content — the text roughly doubles in apparent size without a single font changing.
The same trick helps on e-readers and tablets, which fit the whole page to the screen and therefore shrink the text to make room for margins nobody needs. Cropping is also the quickest way to clean up a scan with a dark edge or a sliver of the scanner lid down one side, and to cut off a header or footer band that repeats on every page.
How much to trim, and where to be careful
The sliders work in percentages of the page and each side stops at 45%, so there is no way to crop the document out of existence. The readout under the preview tells you the new page size in points as you drag, which is the fastest way to see whether you have gone too far.
Keep in mind that the preview shows the first page while the crop is applied to all of them with the same numbers. For a uniformly scanned document that is exactly what you want; for a file that mixes portrait and landscape pages, or a scan where the paper shifted in the feeder, check the result before you rely on it. Some starting points:
- Ordinary office scans — 5-8% off each side usually removes the margin without coming near the text.
- Books and reports with wide gutters — 10-15% off the left and right, much less top and bottom.
- A header or footer you want gone — trim that one edge only and leave the other three at zero.
- Pages with numbers or signatures near the edge — watch the preview, then go a percent or two lighter than looks right.
Cropping doesn't shrink the file — here's why
Cropping sets a new CropBox: a rectangle that tells every PDF viewer which part of the page to display. The page content underneath is untouched. That is why the operation is instant even on a long document, and why the result stays perfectly sharp — nothing is re-rendered or re-compressed. It also means the file size does not go down, and may tick up by a few bytes.
Two consequences are worth knowing. First, if your goal is a lighter file, cropping will not get you there — use Compress PDF for that, ideally after cropping, since it is the images that carry the weight. Second, the material outside the frame is hidden, not deleted, and other software can bring it back, so this is not a way to redact anything confidential. To remove content for good, drop whole pages with Delete PDF pages, or flatten the cropped file into images with PDF to JPG and rebuild it from those.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free?
Yes — free, no account, no watermark, and no limit on how many documents you crop.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The PDF is read and rewritten by your browser, so your files never leave your device. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored.
Does cropping make the PDF smaller?
No. Cropping changes which area of the page is displayed, not what is stored inside the file, so the size stays essentially the same. Run the cropped file through Compress PDF if you need it lighter.
Can I crop each page differently?
Not in a single pass — the sliders apply the same margins to every page. If you need different crops, split the document first, crop each part on its own, then merge them back together.
Can the cropped-off part be recovered?
The hidden content is still inside the file, so some tools can restore it. Treat cropping as a change to what is displayed rather than as deletion, and keep the original if you might want the full page back.
Is there a limit on file size or page count?
None that we impose. Because pages are not re-rendered, even a few hundred of them are cropped almost instantly. You work on one PDF at a time.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. The preview and the sliders are touch-friendly in Chrome on Android and Safari on iOS, and the cropped file saves to your device like any other download.