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FormatDrop
How-To Guide

How to Crop PDF Pages

Cropping a PDF removes margins or unwanted areas from each page. Useful for: trimming whitespace from scanned documents, removing headers/footers from book scans, focusing attention on a specific area, or matching paper sizes. Cropping in a PDF editor is usually metadata-only — content is hidden, not deleted. Image-based routes flatten the crop instead; the FAQ below explains both.

Open the PDF to PNG Converter

Step-by-step instructions

  1. 1

    Export each page as an image with the PDF to PNG converter

    FormatDrop does not have a PDF crop tool yet. A crop tool with a drag box is coming soon. Until then, the browser route is a three-step workaround. Start by dropping your PDF into the free PDF to PNG converter. Each page becomes a PNG image. It runs on your device and nothing is uploaded. The free plan takes up to 5 files at 10 MB each.

    Go to converter
  2. 2

    Crop the exported images on your device

    Open each PNG in an editor you already have and crop it. On a Mac use Preview. On Windows use Photos or Paint. On a phone use the built-in photo editor. FormatDrop cannot draw the crop box for you yet, so this middle step happens outside the site.

  3. 3

    Rebuild the PDF with the PNG to PDF converter

    Drop the cropped PNGs into the free PNG to PDF converter at formatdrop.com/png-to-pdf. You get one PDF with one image per page. Know the limit: the result is an image-based PDF, so text is no longer selectable. If you need live text, crop with Preview on a Mac or with the free cpdf command line instead — both keep the original PDF data. See the FAQ below for exact steps.

Why crop a PDF?

Scanned documents have wasted margins; cropping focuses attention on content. It's a metadata operation that takes seconds with proper tools.

Your files never leave your device

FormatDrop runs the conversion engine entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly. No file upload. No server. Nothing stored. You can verify this by opening DevTools → Network tab and watching: zero upload requests.

Frequently asked questions

Command-line tool to crop PDF?
cpdf: `cpdf -crop "100 100 400 600" input.pdf -o output.pdf` (left bottom width height in PDF points, 1 point = 1/72 inch). Ghostscript can also crop via PDF box manipulation but is more complex.
Is cropping reversible?
Yes if the original is preserved. The crop is stored as a CropBox in PDF metadata — the original MediaBox (full page content) remains in the file. Tools can reset the CropBox to remove the crop. However, some 'flatten and crop' tools permanently delete content outside the crop area.
How do I crop on a Mac?
Preview: open the PDF, Tools → Show Inspector (or Cmd+I), select Page Inspector → set Trim Box. Or use the marquee tool: select an area, then Tools → Crop. File → Save changes the PDF.
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How to Convert PNG to PDFHow to Convert PDF to Word (DOCX)How to Convert a Picture to PDF on iPhoneHow to Convert DOCX to PDF