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What is the quickest tool that can let me choose a rectangle (of a predefined size) within any picture file, and it should crop it to that. Something like the tool you get when uploading a Gravatar ... remember?

Typical image editing software like Paint.NET or Photoshop is too slow, you have to open the image file, select a rectangle manually, crop, save, close ....

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do you want to crop them always on the middle ? – Revolter Nov 30 '09 at 1:47
Anywhere at all, using a movable rectangle. – Jenko Nov 30 '09 at 2:01
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5 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

my tool of choice:

PhotoFiltre, dead fast, free and portable.

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Nice tool, though you have to keep drawing the selection box over and over again for each pic. – Jenko Nov 30 '09 at 2:05
This sounds nice. I'll try it out too. +1 – nik Nov 30 '09 at 2:10
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zees is a very nice tool. Draw box, right click, crop. And it is very fast! – bobobobo Nov 30 '09 at 2:16
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Consider suggesting your particular use-case to the developers of PhotoFiltre and maybe they'll add it to the next version - it sounds like a useful feature to have. – Jason R. Coombs Nov 30 '09 at 3:44
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up vote 2 down vote

ImageMagick has crop options.

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up vote 0 down vote

I use MSPaint for this, and it's pretty quick. It's almost a reflex.

The fact that it loads quickly and is available on any (windows) machine you use makes it particularly appropriate.

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up vote 0 down vote

It doesn't get any simpler than in Google's Picasa.

Draw the box, hit the button and you are done.

Be aware that Picasa does not make permanent changes to the image - it stores the edits and re-applies them when you view the image.

If you want to send the cropped image, or view it in another app, you would export a copy of the image.

http://picasa.google.com/#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=picasa

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I don't want to keep "drawing the box" .. I want to define my height, width once and have the program show me a fixed size draggable box. – Jenko Nov 30 '09 at 2:03
Apologies - I misunderstood your requirement – Kije Nov 30 '09 at 16:06
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up vote 0 down vote

There is JPEGCrop (jpegtran).

A new -crop option has been added to jpegtran for 'lossless' cropping of JPEG images:

    -crop WxH+X+Y  Crop to a rectangular subarea
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I think we are SuperUsers ... or was it SuperProgrammer turned User? hmm.... – Jenko Nov 30 '09 at 2:02
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