Crop PDF Pages Online
Drag a crop box to trim margins or resize any page, apply it to one page or the whole document, and download — free and completely private.
Drop a PDF to crop
One PDF at a time. Every page keeps its content, just trimmed to the area you choose.
How does cropping a PDF page work?
PDFBell's crop PDF tool lets you trim the visible area of a page down to exactly the region you want, whether that's cutting off a wide scanner margin, tightening a page around a diagram, or removing a header and footer before printing. Drag the corner and edge handles directly on a live preview of your page, or type exact numbers into the Left, Top, Width, and Height fields if you already know the measurements you need. It's a fast way to crop a PDF file without installing desktop software or learning a design tool just to trim one page.
The page you are adjusting is rendered in this browser tab with pdf.js, and the cropped file is rebuilt with pdf-lib on your own device, so nothing is sent to a server. Close the tab and every trace of the file goes with it.
The crop box is fully adjustable: drag any of the four corner handles to resize both dimensions at once, drag an edge handle to adjust just one side, or drag inside the box to move the whole selection without changing its size. If you'd rather work with numbers than a mouse, switch the unit toggle between points and percent and type the exact left, top, width, and height values — useful when you're matching a crop to a specification from a print shop or template. Once the box looks right, choose whether to apply it to the page you're viewing or to every page in the document.
People reach for a crop PDF free tool for a lot of practical reasons: trimming oversized scanner margins so a page fits neatly on a slide, cutting a wide-format drawing down to just the relevant panel, removing a letterhead before reusing a page, or resizing a batch of uniformly scanned pages to match. Because the crop only changes what's visible — the underlying content isn't redrawn or re-rasterized — text stays selectable and sharp, and the file downloads the moment the ding! plays.
How to crop a PDF
- Step 1
Upload your PDF
Drag and drop a PDF onto the upload area, or click Browse files to pick it from your device.
- Step 2
Adjust the crop box
Drag the corner or edge handles on the page preview, or type exact Left, Top, Width, and Height values in points or percent.
- Step 3
Choose where it applies
Pick This page only to crop just the page you're viewing, or Every page to apply the same crop area to the whole document.
- Step 4
Crop and download
Click Crop PDF. The cropped file is ready as soon as the ding! plays.
When does cropping a PDF help?
Trim scanner margins
Cut off the wide white margins a flatbed scanner adds around a page, so it looks clean on screen or in print.
Tighten a diagram or chart
Crop a page down to just the diagram or table you need, ready to drop into a slide or document.
Remove a letterhead or footer
Trim off a company letterhead, header, or footer before reusing a page in a different document.
Resize scanned pages to match
Crop a batch of unevenly scanned pages to a consistent size before merging or printing them.
Crop PDF limits and edge cases
- Cropping hides, it does not delete. The tool sets the page's crop box and leaves the content outside it in the file, so anyone editing the PDF can bring it back. Do not use Crop PDF to hide sensitive information.
- PDF viewers honor the crop box, but a program that ignores crop boxes will show the full page again.
- The crop box can't be smaller than 5% of the page's width or height.
- A crop is stored as a fraction of each page, so "Every page" lands the same relative crop on pages of different sizes: an A4 cover and Letter pages get the same proportional trim, not the same absolute size.
- You preview and adjust one page at a time. To give different pages different crops, choose "This page only" and repeat for each page before you download.
- A PDF that needs a password to open is rejected. A PDF that opens without a password but carries editing restrictions (a permissions password) is also refused with a clear message, because PDFBell cannot decrypt files and the cropped copy would come out blank or unreadable; remove the restriction in the app that created it, then try again.
Frequently asked questions
Does cropping delete the content outside the crop box?
No. Cropping only changes the visible page area (the PDF's crop box); the original content underneath isn't deleted, so a document you crop too tightly can still be re-cropped later. It also means cropping is not a way to hide private information.
Can I use different crop areas on different pages?
Yes. Adjust the crop box while viewing each page and apply it with This page only, repeating for as many pages as you need before downloading.
What's the difference between points and percent?
Points are the PDF's native unit (72 points per inch) and give you an exact, repeatable measurement; percent expresses the same box as a share of the page's width and height, which is easier to eyeball on differently sized pages.
What does "Every page" do when my pages are different sizes?
The crop is applied as a proportion of each page, so every page is trimmed by the same relative amount rather than the same number of points.