Find out in this Article,
- which Page Boxes are present in a PDF,
- which meaning is assigned to each Page Box,
- how Page Boxes should be arranged in a PDF and
- how you can edit the Page Boxes.
1. Introduction
A PDF file can contain up to five Page Boxes, whereby one Page Box - the MediaBox - must always be present in a PDF. All other Page Boxes are optional.
In the PDF Editor, it is possible to display, add or remove Page Boxes as well as to edit their positioning. A distinction is made between the following five Page Boxes, which should be nested in the following order:
- TrimBox - represents the final size of the printed and trimmed document. A document that is designed for printing requires a Trim Box. The size of this box must be smaller or the same size as the Bleed Box, Crop Box and Media Box.
- BleedBox – represents an extended area around the Trim Box in which printable content is to be located. Although this printed content is ultimately cut away, it serves as a safety area so that no "bleed" (white paper) is created at the edge when it is cut away. This box should always be larger than the Trim Box, but smaller than or equal to the Crop Box and Media Box.
- ArtBox – describes a Box that surrounds all printable objects and is therefore used to place the page content. In many applications, however, this Box is also used as a description for the trimmed area (Trim Box), which sometimes leads to confusion during further processing. For this reason, the ISO standard PDF/X-15930 specifies that either the Trim Box or the Art Box may be present in a PDF/X file - both are prohibited. In practice, it has become common practice that the final size of the file is described with the Trim Box.
- CropBox – is created by cropping the page with a suitable tool. The Crop Box is used as standard for display in PDF display programs as well as for placing PDF files in layout programs. This Box should always be larger than or equal to the Bleed Box but smaller than or equal to the Media Box.
- MediaBox – represents the physical size of the media and normally corresponds to the selected paper size used for printing.
2. Show Page Boxes
The View and Analyze [1] tab contains the Page Box [2] settings area. This shows you all existing Page Boxes for the current page, including their size.
Figure 1: The settings area Page Boxes in the View and Analyze tab
You can determine which Page Boxes are to be displayed by clicking on the circle symbol [3] in front of the name of the Page Box. The respective Page Box is displayed as a dashed line in the color of the circle symbol.
- MediaBox [4] - Pink dashed line
- CropBox [5] - Dashed black
- ArtBox [6] - Dashed red
- BleedBox [7] - Dashed blue
- TrimBox [8] - Dashed green
Figure 2: Example file with correctly embedded Page Boxes
3. Edit Page Boxes
At various points in the PDF Editor it is possible to edit the Page Boxes and furthermore to select the Edit Page Box dialog. Page Boxes can be edited in the following places:
- In the settings menu of the Page Box settings area in the View and Analyze tab.
- When using the Crop Tool
C - Via various menu items in the Page menu , which can also be found in some context menu items
3.1. Via "View and Analyze" tab
The View and Analyze [9] tab contains the Page Box [10] settings area. All existing Page Boxes for the current page, including their size, are displayed here. To edit the Page Boxes for the current page, proceed as follows:
- In the View and Analyze [9] tab, go to the Page Box [10] settings area.
- Click on the settings menu [11].
- Open the Set Page Box dialog by clicking on the Set Page Boxes for selected Pages command....
Figure 3: The settings area Page Boxes in the View and Analyze tab
In the Set Page Box dialog, you can make all changes to the Page Boxes and view the Current Dimensions [21] for each individual Page Box. Proceed as follows to edit specific Page Boxes:
- First select which Page Box you want to edit. There are three options available.
- Apply [18] - the selected values are applied to the selected Page Box
- Delete [19] - the selected Page Boxes are deleted
- Unchanged [20] - the selected Page Boxes are excluded from editing.
- Select a Page Box in Copy Values from [12] so that the current values for the selected Page Box are applied in the input fields below.
- X [13] - the horizontal start position of the Page Box starting from the left edge.
- Y [14] - the vertical start position of the Page Box starting from the top edge.
- Width [15] - the current width of the Page Box.
- Height [16] - the current height of the Page Box.
Figure 4: The Set Page Box dialog with which the BleedBox, CropBox and MediaBox can be moved 3mm from the TrimBox
- Then either enter the desired position and size for the Page Boxes set to Apply [18] or, by activating the Add Offset [22] option, determine the offset from the selected Page Box [12] with which the Page Boxes set to Apply [18] should be moved.
- The new position of the Page Box that is set to Apply [18] is displayed live by an orange dashed frame [23].
- If the MediaBox is also changed by the process, the Set MediaBox to Origin [17] option is automatically activated. You can optionally deactivate the checkbox, but in practice this makes no sense.
Figure 5: The changes in the Set Page Box are displayed live
Only for current page
All edits made via the Set Page Box dialog only apply to the Page Box of the current page. The Page Boxes of all other pages remain unchanged.
The application to all pages will be added in a later version.
3.2. Via menus for editing Page Boxes in the "Page" menu
In the Page menu of the PDF Editor, users can influence the Page Box of the current page at any time. There are three menu items available:
- Set MediaBox to Origin... [24] - sets the MediaBox to the origin coordinates 0/0 of the top left corner and moves all other Page Boxes accordingly. This menu command is only accessible if the MediaBox of the current page is not in the origin.
- Set Page Box to selected objects... [25] - sets the TrimBox to the currently selected objects. Selecting this function opens the Set Page Box dialog, in which the dimensions of the selected objects are entered in the dialog for X, Y, width and height (Figure 4) by default. Please note that these dimensions are applied to all Page Boxes by default. If other Page Boxes are not to be changed, set them to Unchanged [20] (Figure 4)
- Set Page Boxes for selected pages... [26] - opens the Set Page Boxes dialog, where you can then carry out the desired changes for the selected Page Boxes.
Figure 6: The Pages menu
Also available in the context menu
The three menu items described above are also available to the user in the context menu at various points in the PDF Editor, if they make any sense at all in the current context.
3.3. Via the "Crop Tool"
If the current page of the PDF file should be cropped, the Crop Tool is available for this purpose in the PDF Editor. To crop the current page, proceed as follows:
- Select the Crop Tool [27] in the toolbar or via the
Ckeyboard shortcut. - Use it to draw the desired section on the current page.
- After releasing the mouse button, the Set Page Box dialog (Figure 4) opens, in which the current dimension of the cropping process is entered in X, Y, Width and Height (Figure 4).
- Now carry out the desired precise adjustment and confirm the dialog by pressing OK.
Figure 7: The toolbar with the Crop Tool
Crop Tool cannot be selected
Please note that it is only possible to edit Page Boxes with the Crop Tool if the current page has a CropBox. As a rule, print data always has a CropBox, which is why this situation will only occur very rarely.
Article update: PDF-Editor 1.10 – 10/2024