PyCropPDF is a desktop PDF editor for cropping, rotating, and visually covering PDF pages.
The latest release provides
x86_64 builds for Windows (.exe) and Linux (.AppImage). Both include Auto deskew.
On Linux:
chmod +x PyCropPDF-*-x86_64.AppImage
./PyCropPDF-*-x86_64.AppImageAppImage normally uses FUSE 2. If FUSE is unavailable, run it without mounting:
APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1 ./PyCropPDF-*-x86_64.AppImagePyCropPDF requires Python 3.11 or later.
python -m pip install pycroppdfAuto deskew is optional because it adds NumPy and scikit-image:
python -m pip install "pycroppdf[deskew]"pycroppdf
pycroppdf --input /path/to/document.pdfOptional arguments:
--save-to DIRECTORYsaves to that directory instead of opening a Save dialog.--save-as NAME.pdfsets the output name when used with--save-to. Without it,--save-towrites<input>_modified.pdf.--manifest-out PATHsets the JSON provenance-manifest path. By default it is saved next to the PDF as<output>.pycroppdf.json.
- Open a PDF with File > Open PDF... or drag it into the window.
- Use View to choose one overlay for all pages or separate odd/even overlays.
- Click a thumbnail image to preview that page. Click it again or use Stack to return. Thumbnail checkboxes select pages for deletion;
Ctrl/Cmdtoggles andShiftselects a range. - Open Rotate, choose all, odd, even, or the previewed page, and enter an angle. Click Preview to inspect a fine rotation, Discard to clear it, or Apply to change the PDF. The 90-degree buttons apply immediately; Auto deskew detects and corrects small angles per page.
- Click Cover, choose All, Odd, or Even, then draw the cover. In a page preview, This page only overrides that scope. Cover works inside an active crop and before or after applied rotation. New covers are added without replacing existing ones and do not remove the underlying PDF content.
- Click Crop, draw a crop box, then click Apply Crop. Odd/even positions are independent and their sizes stay uniform. To override one page, preview it, enable This page only, draw its crop box, and apply the crop again.
- Use Undo or
Ctrl+Zto revert one edit. Use Reload to discard all edits and reopen the original PDF from disk. Click Save to export the result.
Crop applies to all pages. Cover uses its selected scope and remains additive. A per-page crop override replaces the stack crop only for that page.
Rotation, Auto deskew, and Cover remain available after cropping. Affected crop boxes follow the rotated pages; fine rotation expands their bounding boxes so cropped content is not cut at the corners. Apply or discard a rotation preview before drawing a cover. For pages with links, annotations, or form fields, the app warns before a fine-angle rotation because some appearances or destinations cannot be transformed exactly.
| Tool | Effect |
|---|---|
| Crop Box | Changes the PDF CropBox. The content outside the visible area remains in the file. |
| Cover | Adds a rectangle to all, odd, even, or only the previewed page. Existing covers and covered content remain in the file. |
| Rotation | Rotates page content without rasterizing it. Exact 90-degree turns use PDF rotation metadata. |
| Auto deskew | Detects a small text-line angle independently for each target page. Requires pycroppdf[deskew]. |
Crop boxes and covers change presentation; they do not securely remove content. Larger Auto deskew jobs use one fewer worker than the detected CPU count. Two-core systems use both cores. Small jobs stay in one process to avoid startup overhead.
Each save writes a JSON sidecar manifest unless a different path is supplied with --manifest-out. It records source and output SHA-256 hashes, page mapping and deletions, rotations, and crop and cover rectangles.
git clone https://github.com/lukaszliniewicz/PyCropPDF.git
cd PyCropPDF
python -m pip install -e ".[dev,deskew]"
pytest
ruff check .
ruff format --check .Build a standalone Windows executable with PyInstaller:
python -m pip install -e ".[build,deskew]"
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\build_windows.ps1Install pycroppdf[deskew] in the build environment to include Auto deskew. The build script supplies the PyInstaller hook needed by scikit-image's runtime package checks. Deskew roughly doubles the executable size.