exporting what's in the working area only.. help please

[gamalmorisi]

Hello,
I'm a new in Illustrator and I have some AI files that I want to export to PNG. The problem I faced is when tried to export them, they won't export them as they are in the working area. I think you need to take a look at the pictures that I included to understand my problem

In this image I have the shapes going out of the working area but I don't know how cut them. I tried using the knife tool but I won't work too.

http://www.moregiga.com/photo/img/de93c20044bf174a16ba8ef9a0561353/1.gif

In this image you are going to see the file after I exported it to PNG, the area around I don't want to appear.

http://www.moregiga.com/photo/img/7e0121416cf34114404f5194a1e1cd80/2.gif

The third one shows you how exactly I want it to be...

http://www.moregiga.com/photo/img/7e0121416cf34114404f5194a1e1cd80/2.gif

So, is there anyway to crop the file or to cut the shapes.

 

[jmgalvin]

To make a crop area, draw a transparent rectangle, with no stroke over the area you want to preserve. Leave it selected and go to Object menu/Crop Area and choose Make.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[gamalmorisi]

Wow that's really great and so fast..

Thank you very much jmgalvin