1. Will think the best way for those links.
For trimming where exactly do you need that? Inside message text? Only for filename which is uploaded to host? Subject?
If it's inside message text I would need a bigger example what's around to target that.
For subject / filename, you can use this replacement (if it's for Filename the set "Apply to" as "Filename"). Add replacement under "REPLACEMENTS" -> "Subject" tab:
Search for:
Code:
(.+?).[0-9]{4}.[0-9]{2}.[0-9]{2}.+
Replace with:
Code:
$1
Enable regex search.
2. In "TEMPLATES" -> "Video" -> "Settings" -> disable option to "Always try to get cover from external source".
In "Settings" -> "Process" -> "Cover" -> "If using cover file prefer image which has name has text" -> by default it's set to "cover", so your image file must have word "cover" anywhere in filename. You can change that or leave it empty (if left empty = first image will be used).
In "Settings" -> "Process" -> "Upload" -> enable "Don't reduce size for GIF images".