Crop PDF Online — Trim Margins Precisely (Free & Secure)
Trim the margins of a PDF by an exact amount, on all pages or only the ones you choose. Fast, simple and free.
What Is This Tool?
Crop PDF shrinks the visible area of a page by a fixed amount on each side, without touching the underlying content — it changes the page's crop box so viewers and printers show less of the surrounding white space or scanned edge.
Everything runs on our servers over a secure connection; your files are processed, made available for download, and then automatically deleted a short time later.
Why Crop a PDF File?
Scanned pages often carry wide margins, dark borders, or the edge of a scanner bed. Cropping removes that unwanted space so the document looks clean and consistent, without ever touching the text or images inside the visible area.
Benefits of Cropping PDFs
- Removes excess white space or scanner borders
- Set exact margins for every side independently
- Crop the whole document or just specific pages
- No desktop software needed
Who Can Use This Tool?
- Anyone trimming wide margins or scanner borders off a scanned document
- Publishers preparing print-ready PDFs with exact trim margins
- Students cleaning up textbook or lecture-note scans before studying
- Office staff standardizing margins across mixed-source scanned pages
A Few Real-World Examples
- A student crops a photocopied textbook chapter to remove the dark scanner-bed border along one edge.
- A publisher trims a document down to exact print margins before sending it to a commercial printer.
- An office assistant crops just the cover page of a scanned packet, leaving the rest of the document untouched.
- A designer crops excess white space around a one-page flyer PDF before sharing it on social media.
Step-by-Step Guide
Upload the PDF you want to crop.
Enter the margins to trim from each side, in points.
Click "Crop PDF".
Download your cropped PDF.
Choosing Margins
Margins are entered in points (pt), the same unit PDF page sizes are measured in — 72pt equals 1 inch, and roughly 28.3pt equals 1 centimeter. Setting a larger margin on one side trims more from that edge; leaving a field at 0 keeps that edge untouched.
"All Pages" vs. "Custom Pages"
All Pages applies the same margins to every page — ideal when the whole document has consistent borders. Custom Pages lets you crop only specific pages, for example 1,3,5-7, leaving the rest of the document exactly as it was.
Features
- Free
- Easy to use
- No registration
- Independent top/bottom/left/right margins
- Secure processing — files are deleted automatically
Supported Formats
Tips for Cropping PDFs
- Measure the margin you want to trim in a PDF viewer's ruler first, then convert it to points (1 inch = 72pt)
- Start with a small margin value and check the result before committing to a larger, more aggressive crop
- Use "Custom Pages" when only a cover page or a handful of scans have uneven borders, not the whole document
- Remember cropping only hides content outside the new page area — it doesn't reduce file size on its own
Troubleshooting
Problem: "Margins leave no visible area" error
Solution: Your combined top+bottom or left+right margins are larger than the page itself. Reduce the margin values and try again.
Problem: Only some pages need cropping
Solution: Use the "Custom Pages" option and enter the specific page numbers or ranges — the rest of the document is left exactly as it was.
Crop PDF FAQ
Is cropping PDFs really free?
Yes. Crop PDF is completely free, with no sign-up, watermark, or hidden limits beyond the file size shown above.
What if I use the wrong margins?
No problem — your original upload isn't modified, only a new cropped copy is created. Just re-upload the same file and crop it again with different margin values; there's no limit on how many times you can try, and it's completely free.
Does cropping delete any content?
No. Cropping only changes the page's visible area (its crop box); the underlying content outside that area is not deleted, just hidden from view and printing.
Can I crop just one or two pages?
Yes — choose "Custom Pages" and enter page numbers or ranges like 1,3,5-7. Only those pages are cropped; the rest keep their original size.
Will my file be kept after cropping?
No. Both your uploaded file and the cropped result are automatically deleted from our servers a short time after processing.
What is the maximum file size?
You can upload PDF files up to 50 MB. If your file is larger, try our Compress PDF tool first.
Privacy & Security
Your files are handled securely
All uploads are transferred over an encrypted SSL/TLS connection and processed in an isolated job folder. No one at PDFCherry views, shares, or uses the content of your documents for anything other than completing the crop you requested.
- Uploaded files are automatically deleted within 30 minutes.
- Cropped results are automatically deleted within 1 hour after completion.
- Your original file is never modified — cropping always produces a new, separate output file.
Read our full Privacy Policy or Contact Us if you have any questions about how your files are handled.
Why Trust PDFCherry?
PDFCherry is built and maintained by a small, dedicated team and runs on established, industry-standard PDF libraries — not an anonymous "free tool" that resells your files or data. The privacy practices above apply across the whole site. More about PDFCherry.
Having issues or need help? Contact Us — we're here to help.
Ready to Crop Your PDF?
It's free, secure, and takes just a few seconds. Upload your file and trim the margins now!
Upload Your File — Start Cropping