Difference in behavior with Acrobat when trying to unify crop boxes when only some pages have different crop boxes

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

The sample file consists of 20 pages and the Media Box size for all pages is 100 pt x 100 pt. In addition, a 50 pt x 50 pt green rectangle comment is placed in the center of every page. With the exception of page 11, the Crop Box will be centered at 50% of the Media Box size. That is, it will be set to match the green rectangle comment box on each page.

• figure1.png

• Page 01: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 02: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 03: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 04: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 05: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 06: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 07: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 08: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 09: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 10: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 11: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 0 0 100 100
  Page 12: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 13: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 14: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 15: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 16: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 17: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 18: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 19: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  Page 20: Media Box: 0 0 100 100, Crop Box: 25 25 75 75
  The four numbers represent the Lower Left X coordinate, Lower Left Y coordinate, Upper Right X coordinate, and Upper Right Y coordinate, respectively.

• sample.pdf

Now suppose you want to set the Crop Box so that the page size after cropping is the same 50% on all pages. But suppose that you do not know that only page 11 is different from the others, then, you have no choice but to apply the Crop Box to all pages. In Acrobat, such an operation can be done without any problem, but in PDF-XChange Editor, the OK button is grayed out and does not accept the operation.

• figure2.png

Also, if you set the preview page in the crop dialog box to page 11, you can press the OK button, but when you press it, an error dialog box appears and no processing takes place.

• figure3.png
  
  
  figure4.png

In such a case, you need to check all pages, investigate that the page to which the crop should be applied is page 11, and then perform the crop again targeting only page 11.

Of course, if you reset the crop margins for all pages to zero once and then set the Crop Box again, you can perform the crop without having to investigate those pages, even if the Crop Boxes are different. However, if the operation were also accepted in the manner first described in this post, there would be no need to consider such a workaround and it would be more user-friendly.

• figure5.png

It seems to me that the behavior of Acrobat, which allows for a crop operation without specifically knowing that only page 11 has a different crop box than the other pages, would be preferable.

For your reference, the following verification video shows the series of operations described above.

• Animation.gif

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor PRO Version: 10.5.2 build 395
- OS Version: Windows 11 Pro / Home 24H2 Build 26100.3775
- PC Model: GMKtec Nucbox M7 Pro with HUION Kamvas Pro 19 / Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

I am not so certain this is a "difference" in behaviour.
Acrobat does not seem to offer an option to do so, but it does appear they apply normalization (and/or adjust the page size) when performing these actions. If you enable our options to normalize pages, this function works identical to Acrobat, and the Ok button works on any page, without your error message:

image.png

It is somewhat odd that the ok button lights up when page 11 is selected, but as far as I can tell, The statement that no changes were made is appropriate based on the configuration of the crop dlg, as you have not defined any actual changes should be made. Until you adjust the display area, the settings you showed are inherited default values. If anything, the OK button being accessible in this state while looking at page 11 is the most likely item to be considered an "issue" here.

I will pass this along to the Dev team for review, and we will see what they think. In the meantime, do enable the normalize pages option to get around this.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hello Daniel, thank you for taking the time to look into this.

For reference, I compared the results of enabling the normalization option in PDF-XCE that you mentions with the results in Acrobat. I also show the results of resetting everything to zero and then applying the crop again, which I mentioned as a workaround.

The following is an excerpt from the output of the Coherent PDF command line tool (cpdf.exe).

• C:\Users\user\Downloads>"c:\Program Files\cpdf\cpdf.exe" -page-info sample.pdf 11
  MediaBox: 0.000000 0.000000 100.000000 100.000000
  CropBox: 0.000000 0.000000 100.000000 100.000000
  
  C:\Users\user\Downloads>"c:\Program Files\cpdf\cpdf.exe" -page-info acrobat.pdf 11
  MediaBox: 0.000000 0.000000 100.000000 100.000000
  CropBox: 25.000000 25.000000 75.000000 75.000000
  
  C:\Users\user\Downloads>"c:\Program Files\cpdf\cpdf.exe" -page-info daniel.pdf 11
  MediaBox: 0.000000 0.000000 50.000000 50.000000
  CropBox: 0.000000 0.000000 50.000000 50.000000
  
  C:\Users\user\Downloads>"c:\Program Files\cpdf\cpdf.exe" -page-info workaround.pdf 11
  MediaBox: 0.000000 0.000000 100.000000 100.000000
  CropBox: 25.000000 25.000000 75.000000 75.000000

• Coherent PDF Command Line Tools
  https://community.coherentpdf.com/

• Animation.gif

• VerificationResultFiles.zip

Acrobat does not seem to offer an option to do so, but it does appear they apply normalization (and/or adjust the page size) when performing these actions. If you enable our options to normalize pages, this function works identical to Acrobat, and the Ok button works on any page, without your error message

The Acrobat I have is a vintage Acrobat X, about 15 years old, so I can't say for sure that it works the same as the latest Acrobat, but it seems to me that the results are different in Acrobat than in PDF-XCE with the normalization option enabled. Of course, the results at a quick glance are the same in both cases, but I would think a developer would be interested in this difference.

Please give my best regards to developers.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

As you say, the Dev team is certainly interested in investigating further, I was simply reporting my findings. We have a ticket to dig into it further, and will see what else we can find.

Kind regards,