Handing a file from Cut to Video by Zaweba

Some jobs start small and grow. You open a clip in Cut by Zaweba to trim the start, then realise you'd like to add a title, some music and a few other clips. That is no longer a job for a cutter, and File > Open in Video by Zaweba hands the file straight across to the editor that does it.

What the command does

File > Open in Video by Zaweba passes the file you have open in Cut to Video by Zaweba. You don't have to find the file again in Video or remember which folder it came from.

The menu item shows only when Video is found on your PC. If you don't have Video installed, the command simply isn't there, so the File menu doesn't offer something that can't work.

Two apps with different jobs

Cut and Video are both free Zaweba apps, and they are built for different kinds of work.

Cut is for video jobs that don't need a timeline editor. Step through a clip frame by frame, mark what you want, and save it with a lossless cut that copies the original untouched or a smart cut that lands on the exact frame. Join clips, apply simple filters such as crop, rotate, speed, fades and volume, save the sound or frames, and convert with presets chosen by purpose, such as For WhatsApp or For email (under 25 MB). It is small, fast and designed to run well on low-spec PCs.

Video by Zaweba is a multi-track video editor. Clips, music and pictures go on a timeline where you trim, split and ripple delete. It adds transitions, animated titles and a colour grade, lets music dip under speech by itself, makes captions from the dialogue on your PC, and has an Episode Builder that assembles episodes from a script and a folder of clips.

Knowing when to switch

Stay in Cut when the job is about one video, or a few clips joined end to end, and the changes are cuts, simple filters or a change of format. Trimming a phone clip for WhatsApp, cutting adverts out of a recording or shrinking a file for email are Cut jobs, and Cut does them faster with less to set up.

Switch to Video when you need layers or timing. Titles over the picture, music under speech, transitions between clips, captions, or arranging many pieces on a timeline are all things a cutter doesn't try to do.

A common pattern uses both. Use Cut first to tidy a long source file, cutting it down to the parts that matter and saving it losslessly so nothing is lost. Then open the result in Video and build the finished piece. Working on a shorter, tidier file makes the editor's job easier, especially on a modest PC.

Tips for moving between the two

Save in Cut before you hand over if you have made cuts you want to keep. The command passes the file, so make sure the file is the version you want to work on.

Do format fixing in Cut. If a clip is in an awkward format or sideways, Cut's convert and rotate tools sort it out quickly before it goes into a bigger project.

Use Cut for the final squeeze. Once Video has exported a finished piece, Cut's presets by purpose are a quick way to make versions for different places, such as one for email and one for WhatsApp.

Part of a set of tools

The handover reflects how the Zaweba apps are meant to be used: each does one kind of job well, and they pass work between them. Cut stays small and quick because it doesn't try to be an editor, and Video is there when the job needs one. With both installed, you choose the right tool for each stage without starting again.