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PDF page geometry: boxes and rotation

Understand how PDF page boxes and the rotation entry affect display, print, and layout tools.

Continue with PDF Page Geometry Inspector, PDF Merger, PDF Splitter · Reference

The page boxes

MediaBox defines the page extent. CropBox defines the region displayed or printed by default. BleedBox, TrimBox, and ArtBox provide production and content boundaries when a document uses them.

A page can have different boxes, and optional boxes may inherit or fall back according to the PDF page tree. Inspecting every page reveals where a document is inconsistent.

Rotation is separate

  • Rotate is a page instruction in degrees, normally a multiple of 90.
  • Rotation changes presentation orientation without changing the stored box coordinates.
  • Always inspect both rotation and boxes when a page looks sideways or has unexpected print margins.

References

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