CroPDF-MacOS

This repository is the native macOS version of CroPDF, rebuilt as a SwiftUI/AppKit desktop app while keeping the same core goal: fast, lossless PDF figure cropping.

Lightweight PDF cropper that keeps vector quality. Extract figures from textbooks for Typst, LaTeX, or any other document.

Why I Made This

I write my math notes in Typst and often want to include figures from textbooks (which I have as PDFs). To preserve the best possible quality (sharp text, scalable diagrams, no compression artifacts) I need to crop the original PDF and keep it in PDF format.

Yes, some PDF viewers can do this. But I wanted something:

• Lightweight — no bloated software, just a simple tool
• Fast — open, crop, save, done
• Lossless — true vector output, not a rasterized screenshot

So I built CroPDF-MacOS: a macOS-native rebuild of CroPDF in Swift, using PDFKit and Quartz, focused on doing one thing well.

Features

• 📄 Vector-quality output — crops PDFs without rasterization
• 🖱️ Visual selection — draw a rectangle to define the crop area
• ⌨️ Pixel-perfect adjustment — fine-tune with arrow keys
• 📖 Page navigation — browse multi-page PDFs easily
• 🧭 Outline + thumbnail sidebar — jump through long PDFs faster
• 🍎 Native macOS app — SwiftUI/AppKit UI with PDFKit rendering
• 🪶 Minimal footprint — no Python runtime or third-party app framework

Installation

Quick Install (recommended)

Download the latest DMG from GitHub Releases, open it, and move CroPDF.app into your Applications folder.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/ericceg/CroPDF-MacOS.git
cd CroPDF-MacOS
swift build

You can open the package directly in Xcode and run it as a native macOS app.

Build a DMG

make dmg

This creates dist/CroPDF.dmg.

Note: Node.js and npm are required for the DMG step because the build uses create-dmg via npx.

Usage

1. Launch the app
2. Navigate to the page with the figure you want
3. Click and drag to draw a crop rectangle
4. Fine-tune the selection:
   • Arrow keys — move the rectangle (1pt)
   • Shift + Arrow — resize the rectangle
   • Space + Arrow — move/resize by 25pt
5. Click Crop and Save → choose output location

The output is a proper PDF — scalable, searchable, perfect for embedding.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
⌘O	Open PDF file
⌘S	Crop and save
⌘G	Go to page
← →	Navigate pages (when no selection)
Arrow keys	Move selection (1pt)
Shift + Arrow	Resize selection
Space + Arrow	Move/resize by 25pt
Escape	Deselect area

Use Cases

• 📚 Extract figures from textbooks for your notes
• 📝 Include diagrams in Typst/LaTeX documents
• 🎓 Crop theorems or examples for presentations
• 📊 Pull charts from papers for slides

Requirements

• macOS 14+
• Swift 6.2+ (for building from source)

If you use the packaged app from Releases, no separate runtime is required.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.