Trim the margins off a PDF

Scanned books and academic papers waste enormous amounts of screen space on margins, which matters most on the small screens where you'd actually want to read them.

Drag a crop box over the page, apply it to one page or the whole document, and download. You can also enter exact measurements if you're matching a print specification, and there's an auto-detect option that finds the actual content bounds and trims to them.

Cropping is also how you rescue a scan that came out with a black border, or split a page that was scanned as a two-page spread. Since it changes the visible area rather than re-drawing anything, it's lossless and instant — the text stays selectable and the file doesn't grow.

What this does — and what it doesn't

  • Cropping sets the page's visible area rather than deleting content, which is how the PDF format works. The cropped-away content is still in the file and can be restored by another editor — so don't use cropping to hide sensitive information.

Next steps

Crop PDF — frequently asked questions

Does cropping delete the hidden content?
No — it changes the visible area of the page. The content outside it remains in the file. That's a property of the PDF format, and it's worth knowing before you crop something confidential out of view.
Can I apply one crop to every page?
Yes. Set it once and apply to all pages, or crop pages individually. There's also an auto-detect option that finds the actual content bounds on each page and trims to them, which is what you want for a scanned book with inconsistent margins.
Will cropping reduce the file size?
Barely, if at all. Cropping changes the visible area rather than removing content, so everything that was in the file is still in the file. If size is what you're after, use Compress instead.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. Every operation runs in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly — the file never leaves your device. You can verify it: load the page, disconnect from the internet, and the tool still works. There is no upload endpoint to send it to.

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