Reducing page size to trim box

[Janus Bahs Jacquet]

This is something I need to do fairly frequently, and it boggles my mind that I cannot find any way to do it on the Internet…

Is there a way in Acrobat to reduce the page size of a PDF file to the trim box (or crop box or bleed box, for that matter)?

There is a “Change Page Size” option in Set Page Boxes which supposedly sets the media box – but its name is misleading precisely because it only allows you to increase the page size, not reduce it.

I have found lots of people asking about this, and then being told to set the crop box to the desired size, but that is not what I’m looking for. Setting the crop box does not change the page size (= media box?) of the PDF or remove content outside the crop box (though the latter can be done with a preflight fix in a separate step); but more importantly, any application or process reading the file is free to respect or ignore the crop box, and different systems/processes do in fact do this inconsistently. If the file passes through various systems and processes before reaching the end user and the visible page size is set only with the crop box, you have no way of knowing whether it will end up being seen (in whatever format or context it ends up) with the intended, cropped page size or the original media box size.

So what I’m looking for is a way to change a PDF file so that the crop/trim/bleed box area becomes the page size, and all content (not only objects, but even any box sizes) outside this area is completely and irrevocably deleted from the file forever and ever. Preferably without having to re-print or distill the PDF file to a new file, though if that is the only way, I guess I’ll have to accept that (though I can’t even figure out how to do that anymore in recent versions of Acrobat – the Print dialog no longer contains an Acrobat PDF printer, for some reason…).

Is this possible?

[shaktikeshri]

Hi @Janus Bahs Jacquet 

For the query below:

(though I can’t even figure out how to do that anymore in recent versions of Acrobat – the Print dialog no longer contains an Acrobat PDF printer, for some reason…).

Can you please let me know your OS version and Acrobat version details. Also, since when you are not able to see Adobe PDF Printer? 

Thanks,

Shakti K

[Janus Bahs Jacquet]

This is on macOS (Sonoma). I haven’t had the need to use the print dialog to make a PDF file for years and years, so it could have disappeared at any time since perhaps 2019 or so.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

There is a “Change Page Size” option in Set Page Boxes which supposedly sets the media box – but its name is misleading precisely because it only allows you to increase the page size, not reduce it.

Do you wish to scale content and page size smaller, such as from A4 to A5, or was this just a side comment?

So what I’m looking for is a way to change a PDF file so that the crop/trim/bleed box area becomes the page size, and all content (not only objects, but even any box sizes) outside this area is completely and irrevocably deleted from the file forever and ever.

By @Janus Bahs Jacquet

I would usually advise pre-press users with serious PDF editing needs to have Enfocus PitStop Pro at hand. The Adobe Acrobat Preflight tools that are a subset of features licensed from Callas pdfToolbox are powerful, but may not allow for as many possibilities as PitStop Pro. I don't know the full version of pdfToolbox and whether that has the additional features required over what is licensed and rebranded in Acrobat Pro.

[Janus Bahs Jacquet]

Do you wish to scale content and page size smaller, such as from A4 to A5, or was this just a side comment?

I never mentioned anything about scaling, and I do not wish to scale anything. I thought the question was rather clear that I wish to alter the boundaries of the page, permanently removing any content that ends up outside the target page size, but leaving all other content intact completely as is. Basically I want a way in Acrobat to do with a PDF file exactly what the Crop tool in Photoshop does with an image file when you have ‘Delete Cropped Pixels’ enabled.

I would usually advise pre-press users with serious PDF editing needs to have Enfocus PitStop Pro at hand. The Adobe Acrobat Preflight tools that are a subset of features licensed from Callas pdfToolbox are powerful, but may not allow for as many possibilities as PitStop Pro. I don't know the full version of pdfToolbox and whether that has the additional features required over what is licensed and rebranded in Acrobat Pro.

Unfortunately, though I would love to have PitStop installed, I can’t justify the expense. Adding about 50% to my entirely Creative Cloud subscription for a single-app plugin is not an option.