Free web tool
Crop a PDF — trim the margins off
Cut whitespace, scanner edges, or printer crop marks off your pages. Trim by percentage or millimetres from any edge, preview the resulting page size, and download. Runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
The short answer
To crop a PDF, open it in a cropping tool, set how much to trim from the top, right, bottom, and left edges, and download the new file. Cropping sets the PDF's CropBox, which is the area viewers and printers actually render — the trimmed content still exists in the file but is no longer displayed or printed.
How this works
Add your PDF
Drag it in or click to browse. The tool reads page 1's dimensions so it can show you what the crop will produce.
Set your margins
Choose percent or millimetres, then enter how much to trim from each edge. A live line shows page 1 going from its current size to the cropped size.
Crop and download
Apply to every page or just the ones you name. The new PDF is built locally and handed straight back to you.
Why on-device matters here
Cropping is usually a scanning cleanup job, which means the file on your desk is often a scanned contract, ID, or record. Most free croppers upload the whole document to a server just to change four numbers on each page.
This tool does the work in your browser with pdf-lib. Your file is read into memory, edited, and handed back — no request ever carries it off your machine. Open your browser's Network tab if you want to verify that yourself.
Frequently asked questions
How do I crop a PDF without Acrobat?
Use a browser-based tool like this one. Enter the margin to trim from each edge and download the result — no Acrobat licence, no signup, and no upload. Acrobat's crop tool does the same job, it just costs money and requires an install.
Is the cropped content actually deleted?
No — and this is important. Cropping sets the PDF's CropBox, which controls what viewers display and printers output. The trimmed content still exists in the file and can be recovered by resetting the CropBox. If you are cropping to hide sensitive information, crop is the wrong tool: use redaction, or delete the page entirely.
What's the difference between percent and millimetres?
Percent scales with each page, so 5% trims proportionally whether a page is A4 or US Letter — useful for mixed-size documents. Millimetres are absolute, which is what you want when you know exactly how wide the scanner border is.
Can I crop only some pages?
Yes. Choose "Specific pages" and enter them as single pages and ranges, like "1, 4-6". Everything else is left at its original size.
Why do my pages have different sizes after cropping?
If the source document mixes page sizes — a common result of merging scans with digital pages — an absolute millimetre trim removes the same physical amount from each, leaving different finished sizes. Use percent if you want the proportions to stay consistent.
Does cropping reduce the file size?
Barely. Because the content is still there and only the visible window changes, the file stays roughly the same size. If your goal is a smaller file, cropping is not the lever — you would need image downsampling, which this tool does not do.
Will cropping affect text selection?
Text outside the crop area is still in the file and can still be selected if a reader lets you drag beyond the visible page. This is another reason not to treat cropping as redaction.
Does my PDF get uploaded to a server?
No. The crop runs in your browser tab with pdf-lib. Open the Network tab while you click Crop and you will see nothing transmitted.
Can I crop a password-protected PDF?
Not here. Encrypted PDFs are rejected with a clear message rather than producing broken output. Remove the password in Preview (macOS) or Adobe Reader first, then come back.
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