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Add margins to a PDF, without the upload.

Add room round the pages of a PDF for binding, notes or a hole punch. The page grows, or its content shrinks to make space. Contracts, payslips and ID scans stay on your device.

  • Free, no sign-up
  • Each side in millimetres
  • Binding side on even pages

Drop a PDF to add margins

or choose from your computer paste with Ctrl V

Ready · PDF files · several at once0 bytes uploaded, ever

How to add margins to a PDF

  1. Add your PDF

    Drop it above or choose it.

  2. Type the margins

    Set the room in millimetres for each side, and whether the pages grow or the content shrinks.

  3. Download the new file

    Press Add margins and save the result. Your original stays as it was.

What stays and what doesn't

Pages keep their content as it is. These are the things that need a note:

A digital signature is removed, only after you say so: any change to a signed file breaks the signature, so the file is held back until you choose to continue.

Print, copy and edit restrictions are removed, only after you say so: the file is held back until you choose to continue.

When it won't run

Five things stop a run before it writes anything, and each is said on the file's row. A PDF that needs a password asks for it there, and a wrong password is refused with a sentence that says so. A digitally signed PDF is held back until you choose to continue, because adding margins would break the signature. A file that cannot be read is reported as damaged. A job too large for this device says so, and in every case nothing is changed and your original stays as it was.

  • The PDF opens, but its owner has switched off printing, copying or editing. Adding margins would remove those restrictions.Remove the restrictions and continue
  • A whole number of pixels from 1 to 16383.
  • "five" isn't a page or a range. Try 1-3, 5.
  • "20" matches no page of this PDF.
  • Every margin is 0, so there is nothing to add. Your file is unchanged.

Adding margins: what to expect

By default the page grows: the content stays where it was and the new room is added round it. The other choice keeps the page size and scales the content down to fit inside the margins. A page is never stretched.

For a book printed on both sides the binding switches sides. With the swap on, the left and right margins trade places on every even page, so the room for the binding is always on the inside.

Margins are measured on the page as you see it, also when the page is turned. Anything that a crop had hidden stays hidden: the new room is empty. Links, comments and form fields move with the page.

Questions

Are my PDFs uploaded?

No. Your PDFs are processed inside your browser, on your own phone or computer, and saved straight from this page. The reading at the top of the page counts every byte sent, and it stays at 0 B.

Does the page get bigger?

By default, yes: it grows by the margins. You can keep the page size instead and shrink the content.

How do I leave room for binding?

Put the room on the left and turn on the swap, so the binding side alternates on even pages.

Is this the opposite of Crop PDF?

Yes. Crop PDF hides the edges of a page. This adds room round it.

Can I add margins to some pages only?

Yes. Type the page numbers you want. The even and odd count still follows the page number.

Will text stay text?

Yes. Nothing is turned into a picture.

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