How does crop pages work in Acrobat?

Question

Although I have "eliminated white space" from pdfs for email attachments, recently I tried cropping a pdf before placing it in an InDesign document (it was saved as a pdf from a crossword puzzle-creating application and sent to me). I seemed to be able to crop it, save the cropped version, and verify that it was cropped by opening the pdf in Acrobat, but when I place the pdf, it always displays the image uncropped. IT suggests that the problem might be that CS2 has difficulties with Vista, although when I try it on my Mac at home, I see the same thing. Is cropping only a function available for viewing pdfs in Acrobat?

Mac OS 10.4.11, CS3

PC Vista, CS2

lopesjl · Accepted Answer

I came in late on this one, but I think I can help. You shouldn't need to re-distill a new pdf file.

1) Crop and save the Acrobat file as you normally would.

2) In the inDesign document, instead of dragging the pdf onto the page, go to File > Place and a "Place File" window will open.

3) Click on the "Show import Options" button in the lower left corner of the screen and then choose the file you want to place. and the "Place PDF" window will open.

4) In the Options area the "Crop To" default is generally set to "Bounding Box". Change this to "Crop" and click OK.

5) Place the pdf file in the InDesign document.

From then on you should be able to drag cropped pdf files onto an InDesign page and the crop will hold.

You shouldn't have to use the File > Place option again as this setting should hold unless you change it as I have outlined above.

Please be aware that a program update may change the setting back to the "Bounding Box" default.

Hope this helps!

Phillip M Jones · Answer

lactarius wrote:Although I have "eliminated white space" from pdfs for email attachments, recently I tried cropping a pdf before placing it in an InDesign document (it was saved as a pdf from a crossword puzzle-creating application and sent to me). I seemed to be able to crop it, save the cropped version, and verify that it was cropped by opening the pdf in Acrobat, but when I place the pdf, it always displays the image uncropped. IT suggests that the problem might be that CS2 has difficulties with Vista, although when I try it on my Mac at home, I see the same thing. Is cropping only a function available for viewing pdfs in Acrobat?Mac OS 10.4.11, CS3PC Vista, CS2If you have never used acrobat:Go to Documents > Crop pages.when window opens you will see a preview window showing left, right, top, bottomeach up or down button moves in 1/8 " increments (if using inches). if you move the entire window around you can actually see the affect of the changes.Now to what it actually does. Crop in Acrobat is actually a misnomer. Technically its actually hides the area or mask the area. It performs what is called a non-distructive Crop.However you can make it a permanent crop (or disctructive) by Re-Frying the PDF. (saving the cropped PDF as a new PDF).IT a non-distructive crop is that way because you might want to change your mind and back off a little this way, or that way and allows you to do so.However, when you view the PDF it appears cropped; But, all the information contained in the original uncropped PDF is still there.I have no idea how crop works in Illustrator, InDesign, or any other Adobe Product, as the only other applications I own are Studio 8 which were originally MacroMedia Products (DreamWeaver, Flash Pro, Fireworks, Contribute).

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