Crop Pages error - Page size may not be reduced

[thinkdolphinweb]

I am using Adobe Acrobat 8 to make changes to PDF files.

In Batch Processing -- Crop Pages it will not let me add a custom size. It says that the page size may not be reduced.

I tried it two ways:

1. With a document open that was 9.5in by 10.25in. Crop Page to 10in by 10.75in to create some space around the document. Did not work. Gave me page size errror.

2. No document open. Set size to 10 by 10.75 with same page size error.

I am able do the crop under Document -- Crop Pages. Works great, but I need a batch process for this.

We created a Crop Pages process on other files and it worked just fine.

Any ideas as to why it's not working now?

Thanks!

[winkler.dane]

Is this the error?

[thinkdolphinweb]

Yes!!

[Guest]

Acrobat X Pro, Win 7.

I have the same problem. Is it Acrobat error, or something is wrong with the document?

[Test Screen Name]

Nothing is wrong, but it is very confusing.

You CANNOT use the page size entry as shown in the screen shot to reduce the page size. So the message is perfectly true. Strangely, this function is only for increasing page size (it changes something called the "media box").

To reduce page sizes you have to crop - that is, use the "margin controls". The bottom part of the dialog has to be set to Fixed sizes -- none. (None means "don't change").

As you will observe, that means you cannot use this dialog in a batch to "fix" the page size on a particular value if it might have to reduce.

[thinkdolphinweb]

I tried just using the margin controls but it actually crops the page.

I want it to make it bigger by putting white space around the edges. It works when you do it under Document - Crop Pages.

[Bernd Alheit]

You can use a fixed page size.

[Halal_Vegan]

Can I use a fixed page size, if I am using Adobe to display a .PDF file on a Joomla 1.5 platform? I am trying to edit my website without the help of IT Staff. Is that universal advice?
See below:http://www.virgincigarette.com
Didn't mean to single you out, Bernd. If you're not familiar with how to apply to Joomla, I can try to start a new thread maybe. Up all night in SE Asia trying to sort out the content.

If anyone can point me in the direction of how to integrate adobe with Joomla....it would be much appreciated!

[thinkdolphinweb]

Bernd, the fixed page size DOES NOT work. That's what I've been saying. It keeps telling me that the page size cannot be reduced. Very, very frustrating!

[Bernd Alheit]

What version of Adobe Acrobat.

[thinkdolphinweb]

Acrobat X

[thinkdolphinweb]

What I really don't get is that it works without using Document Processing. If you just Crop and set the doc size manually to the size you want it works like a charm. Not very helpful when you've got multiple files to edit. It's so bizarre. I think there's an Adobe bug that they really need to fix!

[Bernd Alheit]

May be a bug in Acrobat X.

[Guest]

Well... I hoped to be able to scale the page. That's because the Acrobat text recognition can't run if the page is larger than 45in x 45in, and my page had 46in height, so I hoped to scale it a bit. Cropping is not an option. Guess I need to save pages as images and scale them in Photoshop, then combine to pdf again.

[The_Turtle_Is_Here]

True.

I ended up also going through Photoshop to crop the PDF file from 200x200 inches to a size D.

Unbelievable, but a workable solution.

Thanks

[Guest · Accepted solution]

I know this is an old thread, but in case anyone finds it with the same problem, this workaround should help.

I wanted to increase the margins around several documents so that they would print smaller on a given paper size. Whereas I could do this on a single document using the crop tool by entering new dimensions in the Change Paper Size Custom width and height boxes, when I tried to create a new action, the dreaded 'Page size may not be reduced' warning appeared, irrespective of any actual dimensions entered.

Here is the workaround.

1  Open any document, apply the crop tool, and enter the required new paper size in the 'Change Page Size' custom width and height boxes. Make sure that the Page Range is correct; it can’t be changed later. Click on OK. Keep the document open without saving.

2  Click on File>Action Wizard>Create New Action and choose Pages>Crop Pages. Click on the crop options and the settings should be as last set in 1 above. Click on Cancel, and then Save to create a new action with these settings.

This work with Acrobat X.

[astricii2013]

Thanks so much for this! I was going CRAZY.

[aschlot37]

Thanks to all who have posted their workarounds, unfortunately none are working for me (including re-frying to postscript and redistilling with page size set. Stubborn page size won't resize!

Adobe! This is an old problem that keeps occuring, I've been trying to get this to work so that I can batch this annoying task, and it still doesn't work. Fix it already!‌

[marvelmovieruiner]

I have a document that is roughly 69 x 48 inches and I am unable to scale it down to 15 x 10. How would I scale this down?

[Bernd Alheit]

Use the Preflight Tool for this.

[Bob Caused This]

yes, this has been one the most reetardid non-features of this version of acrobat software. i mean c'mon, how difficult would this have been to code, at the time, adobe? some may call using dead / archaic software with no tech support, ill-advisable. but i luv using vintage software. keep the legacy alive i say!

[JoeArgyle]

Absolutely ridiculous that this bug still exists. 7 years and counting guys....  I can't imagine this is difficult to fix, 3rd party PDF editors don't seem to have any trouble.

By the way the workaround posted in this thread isn't a long term solution. The next time you use the crop tool your settings will be modified.

[RafalJanicki]

Hi

Workaround still sort of works for Acrobat DC but I have an additional question.

I have a set of pdf documents edited in word to which I have to add "artificial" bleed. 

Documents have both vertical and horizontal pages. For printing I had to rotate the horizontal pages (no problems here) but when I apply "Change Page Size" tool it only works on pages which were originally vertical, it does not change the size of pages which WERE horizontal but had been rotated. Hope this makes sense.

Anyone knows of a workaround to resize all pages (without touching the content).

Thanks!

[cstoddard02]

thinkdolphinweb

Again, this is an old thread but I found another work around that might help until Adobe adds an easier option to fix the margins.  Going through the action wizard you can still select the Crop Page option and view the command options.  In the page options, rather than setting custom distances for the margins, I selected one of the "Fixed Options" and this did not give me the same error.

I use this to save my course PDF's and edit them by hand on my iPad, the ledger size has been perfect, giving me a little more elbow room to annotate lecutre notes.

Hope this helps you or someone else who was frustrated.

[beetleblaster]

This bug still hasn't been fixed!  None of the workarounds save any time over manually editing my documents.

1) Using Fixed sizes is not an option, as I am using 4x8" or 4x6" labels, which are not listed as options.

2) The other workaround requires first cropping the page and then running the macro, but this defeats the purpose, as I have to crop the document every time I open a shipping label after closing Acrobat. I'm not batching lots of labels, but rather running a number of steps on a single label at a time, which I want to automate.