PDF Tool

Crop PDF — Trim Margins or Set a Custom Crop Box

Remove unwanted white space or crop every PDF page to a custom rectangle with a browser-based tool.

100% privateNo signupClient-side onlyFree forever
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Upload & crop
All values are in PDF points (1 inch = 72 pt).
File stays in your browser.
About this tool

Crop PDF trims the visible area of every page by shrinking the PDF’s crop box. Unlike image editors, PDF cropping does not delete data — it just tells readers to display a sub-rectangle of each page. That means it is instant, lossless and reversible.

All processing is 100% client-side. Your PDF is opened inside your browser tab, edited with pdf-lib (and rendered with pdf.js when needed), and saved as a Blob download. Nothing is ever uploaded to any server and closing the tab wipes every working buffer.

Key features
  • Set left / right / top / bottom margins in points
  • One-click “Trim margins” preset to remove common scanner whitespace
  • Applies to every page or a specific range
  • Structural setCropBox — no rasterization, no quality loss
  • 100% browser-based via pdf-lib
Why choose this tool
Lossless
CropBox metadata edit — no rasterization.
Local only
File never leaves your browser.
Instant
Even 500-page documents crop in a second.
Universal
Every reader honours the new crop box.
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How it works
  1. 1
    Upload the PDF.
  2. 2
    Set the number of points to trim from each side.
  3. 3
    Press Crop to update the CropBox on every page.
  4. 4
    Download the cropped PDF.
Popular use cases
Remove giant white borders around a phone-scanned document
Crop a portrait scan to only the content area for print bureaus
Prepare a slide deck PDF for a mobile-optimised viewer
Trim identical margins across an entire report before archiving
Tips & best practices
  • 1 inch = 72 points. A 36 pt crop from all sides trims half an inch.
  • For mixed page sizes, use Custom margins per side and preview the first page
  • Always keep the original PDF — crop is applied to the entire chosen range
How PDF cropping actually works

Every PDF page has several rectangles: MediaBox (physical paper), CropBox (what readers show by default), BleedBox and TrimBox. When you “crop” a PDF you’re usually just changing the CropBox. Our tool computes a new CropBox by subtracting your margin values from each edge, then calls pdf-lib’s setCropBox on every affected page. The underlying content is untouched — which means the file stays the same size and no fonts or vectors are converted.

Trim vs. Custom crop

The Trim preset subtracts an equal margin from all four sides — perfect for removing the white halo that phone scans and cheap copiers add. The Custom crop mode lets you specify each edge independently, which is what you need when the top has a header you want gone but the bottom is already tight. Both modes operate in PDF points (1/72 inch); the tool shows the resulting page dimensions after crop so you can verify the layout before saving.

What crop does not do

Because crop simply hides content beyond the new rectangle, the original content still lives inside the file. Anyone who receives the PDF can restore the full page by resetting the crop box in an editor. If you need to permanently delete the hidden content, print the cropped PDF back to PDF from your reader — that bakes the crop into the page contents.

Privacy note

Your files never leave your browser. All parsing, page rendering and PDF assembly happens locally on your device using open-source libraries (pdf-lib and pdf.js). ilovedigital.in cannot see, store or share the contents of your documents.

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about the Crop PDF — Trim Margins or Set a Custom Crop Box tool and how your data is handled.

Is cropping lossless?
Yes. It only updates the page’s CropBox metadata.
Can others restore the hidden content?
Yes — crop only hides it. To bake the crop, print to PDF from your reader.
What units are the margin values in?
PDF points (1 inch = 72 points).
Are my files uploaded?
No. Cropping runs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib.
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