For anyone who prepares the show on a Mac and hands it to someone who runs it on Windows, or the other way round.
Short answer
In ZasCue, Save already does the “save and collect” job. In Chrome on the Mac, choose File → Save as… and pick an empty folder: ZasCue writes the show into it together with a copy of every audio file. Zip that folder and send it. On Windows, unzip it and choose File → Open project (folder)… to open it. It works exactly the same in the other direction.
A user asked us recently how to work on the web version and send the show, with all its audio, to a director who uses the Windows version — a “save and collect”. It’s a very common setup: the sound designer works at home on a Mac and the show runs on the theatre’s Windows PC. That’s exactly what ZasCue’s project folders are for.
A ZasCue show is a folder
When you save, ZasCue doesn’t produce a single file. It fills a project folder with everything the show needs:
show.json — the cue list: cues, groups, fades, levels, timings and settings.
audio — a copy of every sound file the show uses.
images — the images for projection cues, if the show has any.
Your original files stay where they were. Because everything is inside that one folder, it’s the only thing you need to send.
File names won’t get in the way. The copies in audio get plain names — letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, plus a short code so two files never clash. For example, Opening Scene – Rain.wav is saved as something like Opening_Scene_Rain__3f9a1c2b.wav. Accents, spaces and symbols that can cause trouble between a Mac and a PC are gone, so the folder opens the same on both. Your cue names don’t change.
Build the show as usual: drag in your audio, add fades, groups and projections.
Choose File → Save as… (ZasCue’s own File menu inside the page, not Chrome’s menu bar) and create a new, empty folder for the show, for example inside Documents. If Chrome asks whether ZasCue may use that folder, allow it.
ZasCue copies everything in and confirms it with a message like Saved to «My Show» · 24 audio file(s). From now on, File → Save (Cmd+S) updates that same folder. Next time you open ZasCue, start with File → Reopen last so it keeps saving there.
Before sending, open View → Show warnings. Any cue whose audio isn’t loaded is listed there, and a sound that isn’t loaded can’t be copied into the folder.
Send it
In Finder, right-click the show folder → Compress. A .zip file appears next to it.
Send the .zip however you usually send big files: email if it’s small, a file-transfer service or a cloud drive if it isn’t.
A shared folder in Dropbox or Google Drive also works, without zipping — as long as the files are actually downloaded to each computer, not just “available online”. ZasCue doesn’t reload by itself: to see what the other person saved, open the project again (File → Reopen last). If Chrome on the Mac won’t let you choose that folder, use the .zip instead.
On Windows: open the show
Get ZasCue for Windows. It’s free: one portable file, nothing to install.
Unzip the folder first: right-click the .zip → Extract All… → Extract. Opening the show while it’s still inside the .zip doesn’t work.
Open ZasCue and choose File → Open project (folder)… (or the Open project card on the start screen).
Pick the folder that has show.json directly inside it. ZasCue loads the cue list and the audio and tells you Project «My Show» opened · 24 audio file(s). It should match the number the Mac reported.
Choose your outputs in Tools → Audio outputs, then do a full run-through before the real performance.
“That folder has no ZasCue show.json”? You’ve picked one level too high. Windows’ Extract All often creates a folder with the same name around the show folder: go into it and choose the inner one. You may also see a folder called __MACOSX; it’s left over from the Mac and can be ignored.
And back again: Windows to Mac
On Windows, File → Save (Ctrl+S) saves the changes into the same project folder.
Zip it: right-click the folder → Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder. On Windows 11, if you don’t see Send to, click Show more options first.
On the Mac, double-click the .zip to unzip it.
Open zascue.com/app.html in Chrome, choose File → Open project (folder)… and pick the unzipped folder.
Things to know
Chrome or Edge, not Safari or Firefox. Choosing a folder only works in Chromium browsers (Chrome, Edge) and in the Windows app. In Safari or Firefox, Save can only export the show as a .json file without the audio, and ZasCue tells you so. Open it with File → Open a copy (.json)…: ZasCue says how many files are missing (View → Show warnings lists them by name). Drag the audio files in, with their original names, and each one is re-linked by its file name.
Audio outputs belong to each computer. They aren’t saved in the project. Whoever runs the show chooses their outputs once in Tools → Audio outputs and ZasCue remembers them on that computer. Your Mac’s setup never overwrites the director’s, or the other way round.
One person edits at a time. ZasCue doesn’t merge changes. If two people edit the same show at once, the version saved last is the one that stays and the other person’s changes are lost. Take turns: edit, save, send it back, and only then let the other person carry on.
Next time, start with File → Reopen last. Once you close ZasCue or reload the page, Save no longer knows which folder the show lives in and asks for one again, which makes it easy to end up with two copies. Reopen last (or Open project (folder)…) opens the project and links it to its folder again.
Always work on the latest version. When a new .zip arrives, open that folder, not the one from last time. Putting the date in the .zip’s name helps.
Always unzip before opening. Windows lets you look inside a .zip as if it were a folder, but ZasCue can’t open a project from there.
One folder per show. Save each show in its own folder, not straight onto the Desktop or into Documents itself.
In short: use Save as… with an empty folder, zip it and send it; on the other computer, unzip it and use Open project (folder)… to open it. The cue list and every sound travel together.
Yes: that’s what Save does (in Chrome, Edge or the Windows app). File → Save as… writes the show into a project folder with show.json, an audio folder holding a copy of every sound the show uses, and an images folder for projection images. That folder is all anyone else needs.
Is there a Mac version of ZasCue?
The download is for Windows. On a Mac, use the browser version in Chrome or Edge at zascue.com/app.html. It’s the same app and opens and saves the same project folders, so a show moves between the two without changes.
Will the show play through the right speakers on the other computer?
Audio outputs are stored on each computer, not in the project. Whoever runs the show chooses their outputs once in Tools → Audio outputs, and ZasCue remembers them on that computer. Opening a show from someone else doesn’t change them.
Can two people edit the same show at the same time?
No. ZasCue doesn’t merge changes: if two people edit the same show at once, the version saved last is the one that stays. Take turns and send the folder back when you’ve finished.
Can I use Safari or Firefox?
Not for this. Choosing a folder only works in Chrome, Edge and the Windows app. In Safari or Firefox, Save can only export the show as a .json file without the audio, and ZasCue tells you so. Open it with File → Open a copy (.json)…: ZasCue says how many files are missing (View → Show warnings lists them by name). Drag the audio files in, with their original names, and each one is re-linked by its file name.
Is ZasCue free?
Yes — completely free, no account, no ads, both the Windows app and the browser version.