Page Manipulation

Rotate pages, adjust page boxes (MediaBox, CropBox, BleedBox, TrimBox, ArtBox), and linearize documents for fast web viewing. These operations give you fine-grained control over how each page is displayed, printed, and trimmed.

Page Rotation

Set the rotation of any page to 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees. The rotation is stored in the page dictionary and applied by viewers when displaying the page — the actual content stream is not rewritten.

PdfEditor.Open("scanned-document.pdf")
    .SetPageRotation(pageIndex: 0, degrees: 90)    // rotate first page 90 degrees clockwise
    .Save("scanned-rotated.pdf");

Rotate Multiple Pages

using var inspector = PdfiumDocument.Load(File.ReadAllBytes("booklet.pdf"));
int pageCount = inspector.PageCount;
inspector.Dispose();

var editor = PdfEditor.Open("booklet.pdf");

// Rotate all even-numbered pages (0-indexed: pages 1, 3, 5, ...)
for (int i = 1; i < pageCount; i += 2)
    editor.SetPageRotation(i, 180);

editor.Save("booklet-corrected.pdf");

Valid Rotation Values

Page Boxes

Every PDF page can have up to five rectangular boundary boxes that control different aspects of display, printing, and production. FolioPDF can read all five and write the two most commonly needed ones (MediaBox and CropBox).

Box Hierarchy

The boxes form a containment hierarchy. Each box must fall within its parent:

MediaBox (outermost — total page area)
  └─ CropBox (visible area when displayed on screen)
       ├─ BleedBox (area for production bleed)
       ├─ TrimBox (final page size after trimming)
       └─ ArtBox (extent of meaningful content)

Setting the MediaBox

The MediaBox defines the total page area. Coordinates are (left, bottom, right, top) in PDF points:

PdfEditor.Open("document.pdf")
    .SetMediaBox(
        pageIndex: 0,
        left: 0,
        bottom: 0,
        right: 612,     // US Letter width
        top: 792)       // US Letter height
    .Save("document-resized.pdf");

Setting the CropBox

The CropBox controls what viewers display. Use it to visually trim a page without removing content:

// Crop 50 points from each side of an A4 page
PdfEditor.Open("report.pdf")
    .SetCropBox(
        pageIndex: 0,
        left: 50,
        bottom: 50,
        right: 545,      // 595 - 50
        top: 792)        // 842 - 50
    .Save("report-cropped.pdf");

Reading Page Boxes

Use the PdfiumDocument and PdfiumPage inspection API to read box values:

using var doc = PdfiumDocument.Load(File.ReadAllBytes("document.pdf"));
using var page = doc.GetPage(0);

// MediaBox is always present
var mediaBox = page.GetMediaBox();
Console.WriteLine($"MediaBox: {mediaBox.Left}, {mediaBox.Bottom}, " +
                  $"{mediaBox.Right}, {mediaBox.Top}");
Console.WriteLine($"Page size: {mediaBox.Width} x {mediaBox.Height} points");

// Optional boxes return null when not set
var cropBox = page.GetCropBox();
if (cropBox.HasValue)
    Console.WriteLine($"CropBox: {cropBox.Value.Left}, {cropBox.Value.Bottom}, " +
                      $"{cropBox.Value.Right}, {cropBox.Value.Top}");
else
    Console.WriteLine("CropBox: not set (defaults to MediaBox)");

var bleedBox = page.GetBleedBox();
var trimBox  = page.GetTrimBox();
var artBox   = page.GetArtBox();

Console.WriteLine($"BleedBox: {(bleedBox.HasValue ? bleedBox.ToString() : "not set")}");
Console.WriteLine($"TrimBox:  {(trimBox.HasValue  ? trimBox.ToString()  : "not set")}");
Console.WriteLine($"ArtBox:   {(artBox.HasValue   ? artBox.ToString()   : "not set")}");

Page Box Methods Summary

Practical Example: Add Print Bleed

Extend the MediaBox by 9 points (approximately 3mm) on each side to create a bleed area, and set the TrimBox to the original page size. This is a standard pre-press setup:

using var inspector = PdfiumDocument.Load(File.ReadAllBytes("brochure.pdf"));
using var page = inspector.GetPage(0);
var media = page.GetMediaBox();
float bleed = 9; // ~3mm

var editor = PdfEditor.Open("brochure.pdf");
editor.SetMediaBox(0,
    left:   media.Left   - bleed,
    bottom: media.Bottom - bleed,
    right:  media.Right  + bleed,
    top:    media.Top    + bleed);

// The original page dimensions become the TrimBox
// (TrimBox can be set via the PdfiumPage API directly)
editor.Save("brochure-with-bleed.pdf");

Linearization

Linearization (also called "fast web view") restructures the PDF so that a viewer can begin rendering the first page as soon as the first portion of the file has been received, without waiting for the entire download. This is critical for PDFs served over HTTP.

PdfEditor.Open("large-report.pdf")
    .Linearize()
    .Save("large-report-web.pdf");

When to Linearize

Generate, Compress, and Linearize

A common production pipeline: generate a PDF, compress it, then linearize for web delivery:

PdfEditor.Create(doc =>
{
    doc.Page(page =>
    {
        page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
        page.Margin(50);
        page.Content().Column(col =>
        {
            col.Item().Text("Product Catalogue").FontSize(28).Bold();
            // ... catalogue content ...
        });
    });
})
.SetTitle("Product Catalogue 2026")
.Compress(new CompressionOptions { ImageQuality = 70 })
.Linearize()
.Save("catalogue-web.pdf");

Combining Operations

Page manipulation, rotation, box adjustments, and linearization can all be combined in a single editor chain:

var editor = PdfEditor.Open("scan-batch.pdf");

// Fix the orientation of the first three scanned pages
editor.SetPageRotation(0, 90);
editor.SetPageRotation(1, 90);
editor.SetPageRotation(2, 90);

// Crop white borders from the cover page
editor.SetCropBox(0,
    left: 20, bottom: 20,
    right: 575, top: 822);

// Add metadata
editor.SetTitle("Scanned Documents - March 2026");

// Linearize for web viewing
editor.Linearize();

editor.Save("scan-batch-processed.pdf");

Inspecting Page Properties

Read rotation and dimensions for all pages in a document:

using var doc = PdfiumDocument.Load(File.ReadAllBytes("mixed-layout.pdf"));

for (int i = 0; i < doc.PageCount; i++)
{
    using var page = doc.GetPage(i);
    var media = page.GetMediaBox();

    Console.WriteLine($"Page {i + 1}:");
    Console.WriteLine($"  Size: {media.Width:F1} x {media.Height:F1} points " +
                      $"({media.Width / 72:F2} x {media.Height / 72:F2} inches)");
    Console.WriteLine($"  Orientation: {(media.Width > media.Height ? "Landscape" : "Portrait")}");

    var crop = page.GetCropBox();
    if (crop.HasValue)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"  CropBox: {crop.Value.Left:F1}, {crop.Value.Bottom:F1}, " +
                          $"{crop.Value.Right:F1}, {crop.Value.Top:F1}");
    }
}

Common Page Sizes Reference

Next Steps

• Drawing on Pages — draw text, lines, and shapes at precise coordinates
• Stamping & Watermarks — alignment-based stamps and watermarks
• Encryption — password-protect and restrict documents
• Compression — reduce file size for web and storage