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Crop PDF pages

Draw a crop region on the page preview, choose all pages or just the current one, and download the result. Everything stays in your browser, no file is ever sent to a server.

How Crop PDF pages works

Crop PDF pages lets you drag a visible rectangle over any page and adjust what gets displayed, trimming excessive white space, cutting off scanner borders, or standardising margins across a document. The operation runs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib, and the PDF file stays on your computer throughout. Nothing is transmitted to a server at any point.

Cropping a PDF adjusts the CropBox value stored inside each page descriptor. The content outside the crop rectangle is not erased from the file; it is simply excluded from the visible area. This means a PDF viewer that ignores the CropBox may still display the hidden content. If your goal is to permanently eliminate content rather than hide it, a different approach is needed. For most use cases, such as removing blank scanner borders or trimming a document to a consistent margin, CropBox adjustment is exactly the right tool.

Written by Bastien Sulyan

How to use Crop PDF pages, step by step

  1. Open the tool and drop your PDF onto the upload area.
  2. Use the crop handles to draw the rectangle over the area you want to keep on the preview page.
  3. Choose whether to apply the same crop to all pages or only to the current page.
  4. Click the crop button and download the adjusted PDF.

Common use cases

  • A scanner adds a dark border around each page; crop it off before sharing the document.
  • A presentation PDF has large blank margins you want to remove so it fits better on screen.
  • A legal document has a watermark strip along one edge that you need to hide for review copies.
  • Multiple pages from different sources have inconsistent margins; apply a uniform crop to standardise them.

Frequently asked questions

Is the PDF sent to a server for cropping?

No. pdf-lib runs directly inside your browser tab. Your file is read from disk into browser memory, the CropBox values are updated there, and the result is written back to memory and offered as a download. The file never travels over the network.

Does cropping permanently remove the content outside the crop area?

No. Cropping sets the CropBox, which controls the visible area shown by PDF viewers. The hidden content remains in the file structure and a PDF editor that resets the CropBox can reveal it. If you need to fully remove content, CropBox adjustment alone is not sufficient.

Can I apply the same crop rectangle to every page at once?

Yes. The "apply to all pages" option propagates the same CropBox coordinates to every page in the document, so you only need to set it once.

What happens to the text layer and bookmarks when I crop?

Both are preserved. Only the CropBox entry for each page is updated. Text, fonts, embedded images, bookmarks and annotations all remain in the file exactly as before.

Can I crop different regions on different pages?

Yes. Select the page you want to adjust, set the crop rectangle, and apply it to just that page. Repeat for each page that needs a different crop area.

Can I crop a PDF offline?

Yes, once the page has loaded in your browser. pdf-lib is bundled with the page, so an internet connection is not required to process your file after the initial load.