Khallas

Crop PDF margins

Scanned documents often arrive with borders that distract the reader and waste print area. Pick how much to trim from each edge and apply it to every page or to a range.

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Files are processed on your device and never uploaded

Runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.

You can process several files at once, up to 3.

100% local, nothing uploaded

Three steps, that's it

  1. Drop a PDF in the tray

  2. Choose how much to trim from each edge

  3. Press Crop margins and download the file

What does the crop PDF margins tool do?

The crop tool takes a PDF and narrows the viewing frame on every page you choose, so the excess border around the content disappears and the text or picture fills the space that is shown. What changes is the frame a reader displays, not the content of the page: nothing is re-drawn and nothing is re-compressed, text stays text you can select and search, and a scanned page keeps the same resolution and the same colours.

Because the sheet size stored inside the file is left alone, cropping stays a step you can walk back: any tool that resets the frame to the sheet size shows what disappeared again. All of it runs inside your browser, so the file is not uploaded to a server and never passes through Khallas, which makes cropping safe for contracts, bank statements and personal documents you would rather keep on your own device.

When you need to crop PDF margins

The most common case by far is a scanned document. A flatbed scanner leaves a black band around the sheet when the lid is open or the paper is smaller than the glass, and a page photographed with a phone brings a strip of the table along with it. A book page scanned while open arrives with half of the facing page attached, so the document is read with material on it that has nothing to do with it.

The need comes back in reading and in printing. A document laid out for a large sheet leaves wide margins that eat the width of a phone screen, so the type shrinks for no reason. A presentation exported to PDF sometimes arrives with black bands above and below the slide. And a black edge on a scan burns through toner when printed, and it makes a mess of a document you are attaching to an official request or handing across a desk.

How cropping differs from compressing and from resizing pages

Cropping narrows what is shown and does not make the file smaller. We measured it on a test file: trimming 10 percent off every edge left the size almost exactly where it started, because all of the page content is still there and none of it was deleted. So if a portal is asking for a smaller number of megabytes, cropping will not get you there, and the compress PDF tool is the one built for it.

Resizing pages is a third thing again: the unify page sizes tool rewrites the sheet size itself so that every page becomes A4 or Letter, which is what some offices ask for before printing. The short rule is this. Crop to hide an unwanted border, compress to bring the size down, resize to fix the paper. You can run a file through all three, in whatever order the job needs.

What changes in the file after cropping

The percentage is taken off each edge separately, so a 10 percent crop removes 10 percent from the right, the same from the left, the same from the top and the same from the bottom, and the page is then shown at 80 percent of its width and its height. Cropping a second time is measured from the current frame rather than from the original sheet, so two 10 percent crops leave about 64 percent of the area. That is deliberate: a crop on top of a crop has to trim further, not quietly restore what the first one hid.

Pages outside the range keep their full size, so a file can end up with pages of different sizes, which is sometimes what you want and sometimes not. Text that falls outside the frame stays inside the file, but text extractors stop reporting it: we tested exactly that, and a line sitting in the corner of the page vanished from the extraction result after the crop and came back when the frame was reset to the sheet size. So if the margin holds a page number or a stamp you will want to find later, crop by a smaller amount.

How to crop PDF margins, step by step

  1. Open the crop margins page and drop a PDF into the tray, or tap the tray to pick it from your device or from the Files app on a phone.

  2. Choose how much to trim from the row: 3, 5, 10 or 15 percent off each edge. Start at the smallest if the document already has tight margins.

  3. Tap the thumbnails of the pages you want cropped, or type their range in the field, for example 1-3,5. If you pick nothing, every page in the file is cropped.

  4. Press Crop margins and wait a few seconds; a progress bar runs and then the result card appears.

  5. Look at the preview on the result card, step through its pages, and check that the crop has not clipped the edge of the text. If it has, bring the original file back and pick a smaller amount.

  6. Name the file if you like and download it, or share it straight from the share row under the result.

Limits worth knowing

  • There are four amounts: 3, 5, 10 and 15 percent off each edge. There is no field for typing another number, and no dragging a frame on the page with a mouse.
  • One amount covers all four edges. You cannot trim only the top or only the right, because the tool takes the same share off every edge.
  • Cropping does not make the file smaller, because the content is all still there behind the frame. To bring the size down in megabytes, run the result through the compress PDF tool.
  • Pages outside the range keep their size, so cropping only some pages leaves a file with mixed page sizes. Leave the range empty to crop the whole file.
  • Text outside the frame stays in the file but text extractors stop reading it. If you plan to pull the text out later, do that before cropping, or crop by a smaller amount.
  • You can drop more than one file in a run and each takes the same amount and the same range, up to 3 files in one run. The ceiling is technical, not commercial: every file is unpacked and rebuilt inside your browser. The result is then a ZIP, so no preview appears before you download.
  • A password-protected file cannot be opened for cropping. Remove the password first with the unlock PDF tool using the password you know, then protect it again afterwards if you need to.

Common problems and their fixes

The crop clipped the text or the page number

The amount was more than the document's margins could take. Bring the original file back to the page, pick 3 percent, and check the preview before downloading. And if you already downloaded the cropped copy without keeping the original, only the frame changed: the content is still inside the file, and any tool that resets the frame to the sheet size will show it again.

The file size did not change after cropping

That is the correct behaviour: cropping narrows the viewing frame and deletes nothing from the page, so the byte count does not drop. If a smaller file is what a particular office is asking for, run the result through the compress PDF tool, which takes a limit in megabytes and compresses until it fits.

The black edge is still showing after the crop

A scanner edge is usually uneven, so it survives on one side after disappearing from three. Step the amount up by one and check the preview. If the edge is on one side only, it is usually better to straighten the page with the rotate PDF tool first and then crop, or to clean the scan with the clean scan tool.

Some pages were cropped and others were not

The range in the field decided which pages, or you tapped some thumbnails and not others. Clear the field and leave the range empty so that the crop covers the whole file, because an empty field means every page.

It says the page range is not valid

The field takes digits, commas and hyphens only, for example 1-3,5,8. It also accepts Arabic-Indic digits and the Arabic comma exactly as an Arabic keyboard types them, but it refuses words and other punctuation. The easier route is to tap the page thumbnails instead of typing, since that writes the field for you.

I only want to crop the top margin

The tool takes the same share off all four edges and has no per-edge option. If the job is to remove a band on one side, the edit PDF tool lets you draw a cover box in a colour over it, and the clean scan tool works on the background of the whole sheet.

It says the file is password protected

The message carries a link to the unlock PDF tool that takes your file with it. Open the file there with its password, then drop the unlocked copy into the crop page. If you do not know the password there is no way in, because the protection is enforced on your own device and is not broken here.

Frequently asked questions

How do I crop the margins of a PDF?

Drop the file into the tray at the top of this page and pick how much to trim from each edge: 3, 5, 10 or 15 percent. Tap the thumbnails of the pages you want cropped, or leave the range empty so the crop covers the whole file, then press Crop margins and check the preview before you download. All of it runs inside your browser with no upload.

Does cropping a PDF delete the page content permanently?

No. The tool narrows the viewing frame a reader uses, and the sheet size stored in the file stays as it was, so all of the page content is still there behind the frame. That means cropping costs you no quality, and any tool that resets the frame to the sheet size shows what disappeared. Text extractors do stop reading text outside the frame, so pull the text out before cropping if you will need it.

Does cropping a PDF make the file smaller?

Hardly at all. We measured it on a test file and the size came back essentially unchanged after a 10 percent crop on every edge, because nothing was deleted from the page and the content was only hidden behind a narrower frame. If an office is asking for a particular size in megabytes, run the result through the compress PDF tool, which takes a limit and compresses the file until it fits.

How much should I trim from a scanned document?

Start at 3 or 5 percent, check the preview, then step it up one notch if the border is still showing. Large amounts cut into the text and the page numbers, especially in documents already printed with tight margins such as official forms and bank statements. A scanner edge is usually uneven, so it can survive on one side after disappearing from three, and straightening the page first helps there.

Can I undo a PDF crop?

In principle yes, because cropping deletes nothing from the page and only narrows the viewing frame, while the original sheet size stays recorded in the file. Any tool that resets the frame to the sheet size brings back what disappeared. There is no undo button here after you download, though, so the simple habit is to keep your original file and save the result under a different name.

Can I crop only certain pages of a PDF?

Yes. Tap the thumbnails of the pages you want cropped, or type their range in the field, for example 1-3,5. The field also accepts Arabic-Indic digits and the Arabic comma as an Arabic keyboard types them. Pages outside the range keep their full size, so the file ends up with pages of different sizes. Leave the field empty and the crop covers every page.

What is the difference between cropping and resizing PDF pages?

Cropping narrows the viewing frame and leaves the sheet size alone, so it hides an unwanted border without rebuilding the page. Resizing rewrites the sheet size itself so that every page becomes A4 or Letter, which is what some offices ask for before printing or for consistency. Use cropping to hide a scanner edge, and use resizing to fix the paper the document sits on.

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