How to Crop a PDF Page Precisely: Handles, Zoom and Several Crops per Page

TL;DR

In Crop mode drag corners and edges of the box. Tap Add Rect for extra rectangles; every rectangle exports as a separate page. Pinch to zoom while cropping, and use the page strip to move between pages.

The problem

Fingers are bigger than margins. A box that is a few points too wide leaves a grey edge; one too tight cuts a letter. And sometimes you want only one figure or one column out of a busy page.

Steps

  1. Open a page in the editor and choose Crop.
  2. Drag a corner to resize in two directions, an edge for one direction, or the inside of the box to move it.
  3. Pinch to zoom to the edge you’re setting, then adjust. Zooming doesn’t lose your place.
  4. Need another area from the same page? Tap Add Rect, then place the new rectangle. Tap a rectangle to select it.
  5. Use Undo / Redo (the arrows) or Clear to start over on that page.
  6. Move on with the thumbnail strip.

Several crops from one page

Each rectangle becomes a separate output page. That’s handy for pulling two columns out of a landscape scan, saving the figures from a poster, or splitting a double-spread into two phone-friendly pages. Rectangles are exported in the order you made them.

Tips

  • Zoom to 200% or more for the final nudge on each edge.
  • Select a rectangle before dragging, to avoid moving the wrong one.
  • If the crop moves when you rotate the page, that is intended: it stays attached to the same part of the page.

Limits

The crop box is free-form. There are no fixed aspect-ratio presets, so for a set size apply the same box to every page with Apply to All Pages.

FAQ

Can I zoom while cropping? Yes. Pinch to zoom and drag with two fingers; the overlay keeps working while you zoom.

What does Add Rect do? It adds another crop rectangle on the same page. Each rectangle becomes its own page in the exported PDF, in order.

What does Clear do? It removes the crop (or split) marks on the current page.

Can I rotate while cropping? Yes. Rotate the current page left or right; the crop box stays attached to the page.

The app PDFCrop →