Under edit PDF find the crop tool. Draw a box around your page, doesn't matter what size, and hit enter. In the dialog box that opens on the bottom left is Change Page Size. Select custom and change the page to the size you desire.
To use the crop tool, you need to use two steps: you have to enlarge the page first and the crop it down to the target size. The problem is that Letter is wider, but shorter than A4, the change page size only works if both new sided are at least the original size, in this case, one side would be smaller. In the first step, you size the pages to the height of an A4 page and the width of a letter page, and in the second step you crop the page to the target A4 size.
I'm never sure why Adobe never tells you how to do this since it's right in the application. Use the Print Production tool. Click that, then click Preflight. Under the Profiles tab, be sure you're toggled to Pages. Now here's the trick - you'll see 3 little icons next to the Show All tab. Click the Wrench!! Scroll down and you'll see "Scale pages to specified size (Scales all pages of the PDF proportionally to entered value (fit from the inside and add white space)." Click on the Edit flag. In the fixup category you should be on Pages, Type of Fixup is Scale pages. Choose the short edge and put in the new size you want. For example, if you're scaling from 34x22 down to 17x11, the short edge is 11, the long edge is 17. Apply to all pages. Or conversely, I was scaling UP 10x5.63 to 17x11. Short edge is 11, long edge is 17. For the adjustment I chose Fit from inside. It took my art and scaled it up from the center to fill the new 17" completely, on the short side it filled the top and bottom with white.
If I were scaling from the 34x22 to 17x11, I would adjust it to "Fit from outside (scale page edges proportionally). It would essentially scale the file at 50%. Once you find this and work with it, you'll never have to rebuild a file again (as long as you're ok with some white space on a side that can't fill proportionally.
To use the crop tool, you need to use two steps: you have to enlarge the page first and the crop it down to the target size. The problem is that Letter is wider, but shorter than A4, the change page size only works if both new sided are at least the original size, in this case, one side would be smaller. In the first step, you size the pages to the height of an A4 page and the width of a letter page, and in the second step you crop the page to the target A4 size.
I'm using Acrobat Pro XI in Win 10. I started with double pages in one PDF file. As I cropped them into single pages I saved them in separate files. Then I combined them into one file, figuring I would put the pages in their proper order in the thumbnail column. Everything looked fine in the thumbnail column but in the editing column some of the pages were much smaller than the others. I fooled around in the crop mode but nothing stayed the way it should. When I enlarged the page to 8.5"x11" the text stayed the same smaller size. I closed the file and reopened it later and all the pages were aligned in the same size, with the text filling the page they way it was originally. Don't know why but I'll take it. So I attached the file to an email and sent it. The recipient said the pages were all different sizes. I opened the file again and there was the same problem; pages of different sizes.
Thanks! The preflight is what works best. Please note that you may have to add the "Print Production" tool to your menu so follow the instructions Karl gives in the link. AA DC (at least via Mac) doesn't allow to Print to Acrobat PDF or any PDF via the Print function.
Which tells us there is a problem with the program, because it should only need one screen and one drop-down box. From memory, it used to be like this in version 8 or 9.
Ok, I work in AEC and this was always an issue. I finally found a good way to rescale large-format sheets (i.e. Arch D) to say, 11x17.
1. Open the subject file that you wish to reduce in size.
2. Go to 'Print' the page and select Adobe PDF.
3. Deselect "Choose paper source by PDF page asize"
4. Go to 'Page Setup' and select the size you wish to reduce the sheet to. For me it is usually always to 11x17 or 12x18. Select orientation as required.
5. Use the 'Fit' option in Page Sizing & Handling or other scaling means to get the size you want. I have to use custom scale often to maintain proportions of scaled plans, but that's just me.
6. Select Print, and oyu will be prompted to the save dialog box. Save your file and it should be at the new size you specified.
I'm never sure why Adobe never tells you how to do this since it's right in the application. Use the Print Production tool. Click that, then click Preflight. Under the Profiles tab, be sure you're toggled to Pages. Now here's the trick - you'll see 3 little icons next to the Show All tab. Click the Wrench!! Scroll down and you'll see "Scale pages to specified size (Scales all pages of the PDF proportionally to entered value (fit from the inside and add white space)." Click on the Edit flag. In the fixup category you should be on Pages, Type of Fixup is Scale pages. Choose the short edge and put in the new size you want. For example, if you're scaling from 34x22 down to 17x11, the short edge is 11, the long edge is 17. Apply to all pages. Or conversely, I was scaling UP 10x5.63 to 17x11. Short edge is 11, long edge is 17. For the adjustment I chose Fit from inside. It took my art and scaled it up from the center to fill the new 17" completely, on the short side it filled the top and bottom with white.
If I were scaling from the 34x22 to 17x11, I would adjust it to "Fit from outside (scale page edges proportionally). It would essentially scale the file at 50%. Once you find this and work with it, you'll never have to rebuild a file again (as long as you're ok with some white space on a side that can't fill proportionally.
You are most welcome! I'm always surprised this isn't used more. So much easier than rebuilding the file (in InDesign where it was made, for example) and scaling it all up manually, which is just ridiculous. Happy it worked for you.
YES! Now 2022 (heaven help us) and still valuable advice. IT WORKED on a PDF I had that was set on legal-size that I needed to convert to letter-size. One suggestion - create a new variable and save it using the name "Scale to Letter Size" and THEN make it a Favorite.....helps you find it. THANK YOU. Why Adobe doesn't make this a prominent feature (I had to add the Print Production tool to my tool list) is beyond me. THANK YOU again.
You are amazing! I have been struggling with this every quarter when I publish a newsletter and import pages from contributors. Thank you so much for finally giving directions that work and don't revert back to previous sizes when sending or reopending the pdf!
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