the image below was created from a clipping mask; is there a way to trim what is outside of the mask? I want to keep the paths separate and preserve their individual stroke colours. I have tried using the crop pathfinder option but this deletes everything and if i try to expand the image it converts the paths to shapes. Any help would be amazing! Thanks
Try this:
Release the clipping mask. Let it have no fill, but insert a well visible stroke.
Select all.
Wipe the unwanted parts off with the Shape builder. Hold the Alt key continuously to keep "wipe off" active instead of building new closed areas. Click with the shape builder just the paths which you want to remove. Do it one by one, do not drag nor click empty area between the paths.
This may not work if the paths have effects or tricky multilevel groupings or nested masks. A single group doesn't harm.
In the next image the blue-red shapes are a single group of separate paths. The green rectangle is the released clipping mask;
The result after Alt+clicking with the shape builder every unwanted segment. The green rectangle is only moved aside. The group is released after wiping the unwanted parts only to show the remaining paths are free. The shortest one is selected:
Warning: If you happen to drag or Alt+click the areas between the paths you get easily unwanted extras which must be deleted separately or something can vanish totally. Work with a copy to avoid irreversible damages.
