How to Crop an Image in Illustrator

Ash (362)

Nov 19, 2020

2 minutes

Images are easy to crop in Illustrator—it even comes with a tool just for the job. Any version of Illustrator will work, but sometimes menus move between different editions. In most versions, you can open the image in Illustrator, select it, and use the Crop Image tool from the Object menu to crop the image.

If you're new to Illustrator, check out our guide on how to disable the start screen in Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator

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Open the image you want to crop in Illustrator. You can drag and drop the image file onto the Illustrator workspace or open it using the File > Open menu.

Select the image using the Selection Tool in the left tool tray. It looks like a black cursor with a white outline.

Using the Selection Tool, click on the image you want to crop. When it's highlighted, a box will appear around the edge.

To crop the image, use the Crop Tool. Go to Object > Crop Image. With the crop tool, you can adjust the image by dragging and dropping the edges.

When you've finished making adjustments, save the image or continue working with your Illustrator project.

You may also be interested in our guide on how to make a transparent background.

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Ash (362)

Nov 19, 2020

5 minutes

Embedding an image in Illustrator will store a copy of the image file within the AI project. This will make the project size bigger, as it now accommodates the whole image rather than linking to it.

How to Crop an Image in Illustrator

Open the image in Illustrator

Select the image

Use the Crop Image tool

Save the changes