A document scanned from a paper original includes black borders, hole-punch marks, or excessive margins. The actual content is centered on the page but surrounded by visual noise. PDFKits Crop PDF removes margins and noise by setting a new visible area on each page. Free, in your browser, no upload.
Cropping in PDF is a metadata operation: the CropBox (the visible area) is set smaller than the MediaBox (the actual page extent). The underlying content isn't deleted — it's just hidden outside the new visible area. This is lossless and reversible if you save the original. For permanent removal of cropped content, the file would need to be re-saved with destruction of hidden data, which is a separate operation.
Drop the file. PDFKits renders the first page with crop handles you can drag.
Drag the four edges or corners to define the new visible area. Apply the same crop to all pages (uniform crop, fastest) or define different crops per page (custom, useful for mixed content). A live preview shows the result.
Click Crop. PDFKits sets the new CropBox on each page via pdf-lib. The cropped PDF downloads instantly. Cropped pages now display only the area you selected in any viewer.
Scanned books and documents often have wide white borders. Cropping reduces visual noise and focuses readers on the content.
A multi-column technical drawing needs to share only one specific quadrant. Crop the page to that region instead of distributing the entire document.
Some software (older CAD, certain Word add-ins) exports PDFs with content positioned on oversized pages. Cropping trims them to the actual content extent.
Crop wide margins to maximize content area when reading on phone screens.
Online cropping tools typically upload your file. Adobe Acrobat handles it but requires a subscription. PDFKits Crop PDF runs in your browser via pdf-lib, free, no signup, with both uniform and per-page crop options.
By default, cropped content is hidden but technically still in the file (CropBox vs MediaBox). For true content deletion, run the result through our Optimize PDF tool, which can flatten and discard hidden data.
If you still have the original, yes. From a cropped PDF only, you can reset the CropBox to match the MediaBox via the same tool with a 'full page' selection — restoring visibility of any hidden content.
No on its own — the underlying content remains. To reduce size, follow up with our Compress PDF tool.
Yes. Switch from uniform mode to per-page mode and adjust each page individually.
Yes. Printers print the CropBox area only, so cropping is the standard way to control print extent without modifying source files.
Unlock it first with our Unlock PDF tool, then crop.