PDF Crop Refresh saves PDF rectangles as images you can refresh

Name: PDF Crop Refresh
Author: theluckystrike

Save PDF crops as PNG files and refresh them.

MIT · no telemetry · core features free

A saved chart crop appears with its PDF path and rectangle coordinates. — Open larger

version: 1.1.0
released: 2026-10-21
downloads: 22
review: Passed
health: Excellent
license: MIT
listed for: Desktop, Mobile
obsidian: 1.13.4 or later

The README reports macOS app tests with simulated sponsorship responses. Phone, tablet, Linux, Windows, live GitHub sign-in and payments were not tested.

Directory facts fetched 2026-10-23 07:28 UTC from community.obsidian.md/users/theluckystrike.

About PDF Crop Refresh

You keep charts, diagrams or tables beside your notes and need to refresh them after a PDF changes.

Save a rectangle from a local PDF as a PNG, with a link back to its source page. PDF Crop Refresh remembers the coordinates so you can render it again at the same image path.

Refresh is manual. You'll need a PDF link with coordinates; this version has no rectangle drawing tool.

Save a PDF crop, inspect its source data and refresh the saved image

Free features

Read a local PDF rectangle

Select a complete wikilink, Markdown link or bare local path with page and rect parameters. Coordinates run left, bottom, right, top in PDF points. Remote PDF URLs are refused.

A research note contains a local PDF rectangle link. — Open larger

Save a checked rectangle as PNG

Run Save selected PDF rectangle as PNG to check the bounds and render the image. If your editor selection still matches, the command inserts an image embed and a source link. Rotated pages use transformed rectangle corners.

Keep a local source registry

Open Show crop registry to inspect your saved sources and PNG previews. The plugin keeps the paths, page, rectangle, scale, render time and source modification time and size in its local data.

The crop registry shows a chart preview and saved source fields. — Open larger

Refresh images in the active note

Run Refresh crops in active note to replace registered PNGs at their existing paths. Missing sources, duplicate output paths and render errors leave the previous image in place. Ordinary PNGs without a registry entry stay unchanged.

An active note refresh lists image results with a chart preview. — Open larger

Folder refresh and the changed source report need Pro.

Pro features

Pro costs $5 a month or $15 one time through GitHub Sponsors. One sponsorship turns on Pro in every plugin that has it.

Refresh a selected folder Pro

Choose a note folder to refresh registered crops in its notes and subfolders. Rendering runs one crop at a time.

Folder refresh results list crops from the sample research notes. — Open larger

Report changed source PDFs Pro

List crops whose source has a later modification time or a different file size. The report includes missing sources and output conflicts without rendering images.

The changed sources report identifies a crop whose source PDF changed. — Open larger

See how Pro works

Set up PDF Crop Refresh

needs

Obsidian 1.13.4 or later

steps

Put a PDF inside your vault and open a Markdown note.
Add a link such as [[Research.pdf#page=1&rect=40,75,560,315&scale=1]].
Select the complete link and run Save selected PDF rectangle as PNG.
Review the image and its source page link.
After the PDF changes, run Refresh crops in active note.

If the app can't find a new plugin yet, try again later. Obsidian says a plugin that passes the review shows in the app within 24 hours.

How to save and refresh PDF crops in Obsidian

Known limits of PDF Crop Refresh

Refresh is manual; the plugin does not watch source PDF edits.
You must supply rectangle coordinates; this version has no rectangle drawing tool.
Saved PDF and PNG paths do not track renames.
The changed source report compares modification time and size, so a same-size replacement with an older timestamp can escape it.
Render scale ranges from 0.25 to 4 pixels per PDF point.
A crop cannot exceed 8192 pixels per side or 16 million pixels in area.
Remote PDF URLs and rectangles outside the source page are refused.
A missing output image prevents refresh; create a new crop instead.
Changing the PNG folder setting does not move existing images or update their registry paths.
Phone, tablet, Linux and Windows app behavior was not tested in this build.
Password protected PDFs, damaged PDFs, unusual color profiles and large scanned documents were not tested.
Pro app tests use simulated sponsorship responses; live GitHub sign-in and a real payment were not tested.

Questions about PDF Crop Refresh

Will crops update when I edit the PDF?

No background watcher refreshes them. Run Refresh crops in active note after saving the changed PDF.

Can I move the source PDF or saved image?

Saved paths don't track renames. Keep the registered paths, or create a new crop using the new source link.

Does the report compare PDF content?

It compares modification time and size. A replacement with the same size and an older timestamp can escape the report.

How large can a crop be?

Render scale ranges from 0.25 to 4 pixels per PDF point. The canvas cannot exceed 8192 pixels per side or 16 million pixels in area.

Network use

Before you select Sign in with GitHub, the plugin makes no network requests. Sign-in sends its public client ID, device codes and read:user scope to github.com; later checks send an authenticated sponsorship query to api.github.com. Checks request your tier and total payment, reuse success for seven days, and send no note content, file names or vault data.

Read the full network disclosure