Use this tool to crop and rotate a whole picture document, including all of its layers.
To crop a picture in the Editor, use the Crop tool [C]. To activate this tool, click its button in the toolbar in the Side Panel. Click in the picture with this tool and then drag to draw out a cropping frame. Everything within this frame will remain after the crop.
You can force the cropping frame to have a fixed ratio of sides, or even an entirely fixed size. The fixed ratios of sides are, above all, an easy way to crop to classical printed-photo sizes. Fixed sizes are good for things like desktop wallpapers. Several frequently useful ratios and sizes are automatically provided in the drop-down list for this tool. To define your own custom crops, click the gear icon.
Use the Free ratio item to crop freely with no restrictions to the cropping frame. Current aspect matches the cropping frame’s ratio to the picture’s existing ratio of sides. Use Fixed aspect to set a fixed ratio of your choice. As always with fixed ratios, in practice this means that as you draw out one side of the rectangle, the other changes to match. Use Fixed size to enter your own choice of fixed size.
Click Swap values (the button between the two size or ratio boxes) or press [X] to easily swap the values for the ratio of sides, to switch between a landscape crop and a portrait crop.
Press [Ctrl+A] to stretch out the cropping frame to the largest size supported by your choice of fixed aspect, even if it needs to swap the ratio of sides to reach that size.
Use the Rotation control to rotate a picture to a precise angle. Alternatively, rotate the cropping frame by clicking outside of the frame and then dragging. Click the button next to the slider to start working with the picture’s horizon [H]. Then drag out a line within the picture to make ZPS rotate the picture so that your line lies straight on the horizontal (or the vertical if appropriate).
Click an item in the Crop Marks list to display crop marks.
Turn on the Delete cropped pixels option to make the program delete any image data that lies outside the cropping frame on all bitmap layers. With this option turned off, cropping only sets the document’s canvas.
Every cropping operation you perform is stored in the undo history separately. Use Undo [Ctrl+Z] to go back in the history by one step, or use Redo [Ctrl+Y] to go one step forward.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Arrow Keys | Move cropping frame |
| Ctrl+Arrow Keys | Quick-move cropping frame |
| Shift+Arrow Keys | Resize cropping frame |
| Ctrl+A | Select the largest area in the picture that fits the picture’s orientation and the cropping ratio set |
| X | Flip the cropping ratio |
| H | Align Horizon |
| Esc | Cancel the crop |
| Enter | Apply the crop |
More Information
Learn How to Make Circular (and Other) Photo Crops Using Layers
Photo Cropping: The Simple Trick for Better Composition and Easier Printing
Better Composition Through Cropping: 4 Ways to Improve a Photo With a Crop