How to Crop a PDF on Mac (2026 Free Methods)

Maybe you scanned a document and ended up with massive white margins. Or maybe someone sent you a PDF where the actual content sits in a tiny corner of each page. Whatever the reason, cropping a PDF on your Mac is surprisingly straightforward, and you probably already have everything you need installed.

Method 1: Using Preview (Built-In, Free)

Preview is the default PDF viewer on Mac, and it handles basic cropping without any extra software. Here is how to do it:

Open your PDF in Preview (double-click the file, or right-click and choose Open With > Preview).
Click the Markup Toolbar button (the pen icon near the top right) or press Shift+Command+A.
Click the Rectangular Selection tool in the toolbar.
Drag a rectangle around the area you want to keep. Everything outside this selection will be removed.
Go to Tools > Crop in the menu bar, or press Command+K.
Save your file with File > Save or Command+S.

A few things worth knowing about this method. First, it crops the current page you are viewing. If your PDF has 20 pages and you only selected a region on page 1, the other 19 pages stay untouched. Second, the crop is destructive once you save, meaning the cropped-out areas are gone. So make a copy of your original file if you think you might need it later.

Cropping All Pages at Once in Preview

Unfortunately, Preview does not have a batch crop feature. Each page needs to be cropped individually, which gets tedious fast if you are working with a long document. For batch cropping, skip ahead to the online tools or command line method.

Method 2: Online PDF Cropping Tools

If you need to crop multiple pages or want a visual interface that shows you the result before committing, online tools are hard to beat. Several free options work well:

PDF24 Tools

Go to tools.pdf24.org and search for "crop PDF."
Upload your PDF file.
Adjust the crop margins using the visual preview.
You can set different crop areas for each page or apply the same crop to all.
Click Apply changes and download the result.

PDF24 is completely free, has no watermarks, and processes files locally in your browser for smaller documents. For larger files it uses server processing, but files are deleted after a short time.

iLovePDF

Visit ilovepdf.com/crop-pdf.
Upload your PDF.
Drag the crop handles on each page to define the area you want.
Choose to apply the crop to all pages or individual pages.
Download the cropped PDF.

iLovePDF has a clean interface and handles batch cropping well. The free version works fine for most documents. You can also check out our guide on batch PDF processing tools for more options.

Method 3: Using the Command Line (Automated Batch Cropping)

If you are comfortable with Terminal and have a lot of PDFs to crop, this is the fastest method by far. You will need a free tool calledGhostscript and a helper called pdfcrop.

Install Ghostscript

brew install ghostscript

If you do not have Homebrew installed, get it from brew.sh first. Once Ghostscript is installed, you can use a simple command to crop margins:

Run gs -o cropped.pdf -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dFIXEDMEDIA -dDEVICEWIDTHPOINTS=612 -dDEVICEHEIGHTPOINTS=792 -f input.pdf to crop the PDF to the specified dimensions.

Adjust the width and height values (in points, where 72 points = 1 inch) to match your desired output size. This takes some experimentation, but once you nail the right dimensions, you can crop hundreds of files with a single command.

Method 4: Third-Party Mac Apps

For people who crop PDFs regularly, a dedicated app might be worth it.

PDF Expert (Readdle): Has a dedicated crop tool under Edit mode. Select pages, set the crop area, and apply. Free trial available, full version requires a subscription.
Sejda PDF Desktop: Free desktop app with a crop feature. Upload your PDF, set margins, and apply to all or selected pages. Handles up to 3 tasks per day on the free plan.
QPDF (command line): Free, open-source tool that can crop pages by setting the media box and crop box dimensions. Requires some Terminal knowledge but is extremely powerful for automation.

Cropping Specific Pages vs. All Pages

Not every page in a PDF needs the same crop. Here is when each approach makes sense:

Crop all pages identically: Best for scanned documents, printed pages with uniform margins, or PDFs exported from the same source.
Crop pages individually: Needed when pages have different layouts, mixed orientations, or inconsistent margins. Online tools like PDF24 and iLovePDF let you set per-page crops.
Crop selected pages: If only certain pages need cropping, most tools let you pick which pages to modify and which to leave alone.

Tips for Better Results

Always work on a copy. Cropping can be irreversible depending on the tool. Keep your original intact.
Check the output dimensions. After cropping, verify the page size matches what you expect. Open the file and check page properties.
Watch for content clipping. Zoom in on the cropped result and make sure nothing important got cut off. It is easy to misjudge by a few pixels.
Consider the print margins. If the cropped PDF will be printed, leave at least 0.25 inches of margin on each side. Most printers cannot print edge-to-edge.
Flatten before cropping forms. If your PDF has fillable form fields, flatten it first. See our guide on how to flatten a PDF on Mac for details.

Common Problems and Fixes

Preview crop is greyed out: Make sure you selected the Rectangular Selection tool and drew a selection on the page. The Crop option only activates when there is an active selection.

Cropped PDF looks the same: Some PDF viewers ignore the crop box and display the full media box instead. Try opening the file in a different viewer to verify the crop actually worked.

Crop changes page size unexpectedly: Preview sometimes adjusts the page dimensions when cropping. If you need precise page sizes, use an online tool that lets you specify exact dimensions.

Which Method Should You Pick?

For a quick one-time crop on a single page, use Preview. It is already on your Mac and takes about 10 seconds. For multi-page documents where you want to crop every page the same way, use an online tool like PDF24 or iLovePDF. And if you are processing dozens of PDFs on a regular basis, set up a Ghostscript or QPDF workflow and let the command line handle it.