Box at SF State User Guide

Box at SF State is a cloud-based, collaborative storage service used to share documents with employees, students and non-SF State individuals. Individual Box Accounts and Departmental Box Folders can be used to store documents that contain up to Level 2 data, while Secure departmental Box Folders can be used for documents that contain Level 1 (confidential) data.

 

About Box at SF State

What can Box at SF State be used for?

Box at SF State is the University's approved, secure cloud storage service for the storage and sharing of documents online. Box at SF State is for the storage of documents that support activities related to the mission and purpose of the university. Additional features include a 500GB quota for individuals, 2TB quota for departments, 15GB individual file size uploads, and file versioning (backups).

Individual accounts

SF State Individual Box accounts can be used by faculty, staff, students, and community members to store and share documents with each other, as well as with non-SF State individuals. It is important to note that while departmental files are retained, files associated with individual accounts are lost when an individual account is deleted.

Departmental Box Folders and Secure Departmental Box Folders

 Departmental Box Folder provide storage that is retained by the department and is not lost when an individual account is deleted.


What can’t Box at SF State be used for?

Box at SF State accounts should not be used to store documents that:

Why should I use Box at SF State?

General backup of local computers is not a service offered by SF State. Documents placed on a desktop, in a Documents folder, or at other locations on a local computer will be lost if the computer is damaged or stolen. Items placed in a Box at SF State are backed up and retrievable independently of the device. Individual Box Accounts should be used as a replacement for traditional home folders and personal network shares for documents that do not contain Level 1 data. (Documents used by multiple department members and documents that need to be retained if you separate from the University should be stored in your area's Departmental Shares or Departmental Box Folder. Level 1 confidential data should be stored in Secure Departmental Share or Secure Departmental Box Folders.)

Box at SF State provides an easy way to access data from anywhere or from any device, and provides the ability to collaborate and share documents with non SF State users.

Box at SF State is the University's approved, secure cloud storage service for the storage and sharing of documents online. Additional features include a 500GB quota for individuals, 2TB quota for departments, 15GB individual file size uploads, and file versioning (backups).

Box Apps

Box.com offers a number of apps that can be integrated with their service, to make it easier to use the service and provide additional functionality. These features or add-ons may not be available in Box at SF State. To ensure security and accessibility requirements are met, add-ons must be reviewed before being offered to the campus. Please submit a service request if there is an add-on you would like to have reviewed for Box at SF State inclusion.

 

Box at SF State Accounts

Account types: Individual & Departmental

There are two types of accounts available for use with Box at SF State:

  1. Individual Box Accounts
    • Provides students, faculty, and staff a personal file storage and sharing solution while affiliated with SF State
    • Includes 500 GB of storage per user account
  2. Departmental Box Folders and Secure Departmental Box Folders
    • Allows departments to permanently store and share department-level content across their teams
    • Includes 2 TB of storage per department account

How do I get an account?

A Box at SF State individual account is created for all current faculty, staff, students, and community members the first time they access the service via the Web using their SF State ID and password.

For managing departmental content, Departmental Box Folders or a Secure Departmental Box Folder can be requested by completing and submitting the Box at SF State Departmental Folders Request.


What happens to my individual account if I leave SF State?

When an employee or student is no longer affiliated, their individual account will be deleted.

Files should not be stored in a SF State Individual Box Account if they should be retained after a separation from the university. For files needing retention beyond an individual's affiliation with the University, Departmental or Secure Departmental Box Folder should be used. Since Departmental Box Folders are not linked directly to an individual, the content remains until either the folder or file is manually deleted.

Account quotas

Each individual account has 500GB of storage. For students, if the storage quota is exceeded, the system will not allow any additional files to be saved until the quota is reduced below 500GB. It may be necessary to permanently delete files from the trash folder to make space for new files. Note: it is not possible to recover files permanently deleted from the trash folder.

Departmental Box Folders have an initial quota of 2TB. Departments, faculty, and staff may request a quota increase by submitting a service request.

Backup and recovery

When files are deleted from a Box at SF State account they are moved to the trash folder of the account belonging to the individual who deletes it. Files remain in the trash folder for 60 days after which they are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. It is not possible to restore files that have been deleted from the Trash folder so care should be taken when deleting items in the trash folder (permanent delete).

Box at SF State stores the last 100 revisions of each document. To restore a file to a previous version:

  1. Log in to Box at SF State on the Web
  2. Locate and highlight the file to be restored
  3. In the right column, click the Saved Versions link
  4. Select Download to save a copy of the version
  5. Select Make Current to revert the document to that version

File types and sizes

The following file/folder types are currently not supported by Box:

  • Hidden files and folders
  • System files and folders
  • Temp files and folders (with extension .tmp)
  • Outlook Storage Files (.pst files)
  • Box Webdocs (.webdoc files)
  • Windows Shortcuts (.lnk files)
  • QuickBook files (.qbw, .qbw.nd & .qbw.tlg)
  • Bundled files such as an iPhoto folder
  • Folders or filenames containing the following characters: / \ * ? : < > |

The maximum size of a file that can be stored in Box at SF State is 15GB. Smaller file size limits are set for transferring files using the Mobile apps (200MB) and the drag and drop Web method (4GB). Files larger than 4GB must be loaded into Box using the Box Drive or Box Sync app on a computer. Files larger than 15GB will need to be split into smaller files or stored elsewhere.

Accessibility

For an accessible version of the Box.com website, please visit a.box.com. Box.com is working to improve the accessibility of the Box.com website and desktop application (Box Sync.) If you experience any difficulties using Box.com or Box Sync, please open a service request.

To login to the accessible version of the Box.com

  1. Visit https://a.box.com
  2. Select SSO
  3. Enter your SF State email and Password


How to use a Box at SF State account and a personal Box account on the same computer

It is not possible to use Box Drive or Box Sync to synchronize two different Box accounts simultaneously. To access files from two different Box accounts simultaneously:

  • Use Box Drive or Box Sync for one of them, and Box Web access for the other.
  • Use two different browsers to open separate Box Web access session for each separately.

 

Accessing Box at SF State

From the Website

Note:  If you are accessing a Secure Departmental Box folder, you will be required to log in with 2FA. 

  1. Navigate to https://sfsu.box.com
  2. Click Continue
  3. Enter your SF State e-mail address and password (if not already logged in)
  4. When finished, make sure to close your internet browser or you will not be logged out


From your computer

To access Box at SF State from your computer (without using the website)  the Box Drive or Box Sync application needs to be installed. Box Drive is the newer app recommended for use, where Box Sync is a legacy application that will be phased out at the future date. Box Sync is not compatible with Secure Departmental Box Folders. Box Drive and Box Sync cannot be installed on the same computer.

  1. Navigate to https://sfsu.box.com
  2. Click Continue
  3. Enter your SF State email address and password (if not already logged in)
  4. Select the Profile icon (a circle with your initial)
  5. Select Apps
  6. Select your Name
  7. Select Get Box Drive or Box Sync
  8. Click the download Box Sync button to download the installer
  9. Double click the downloaded installation file to begin the installation
  10. Follow the on-screen instructions to setup and login to the application
  11. The installation process will create a Box Sync folder (Windows: My Box Files, Mac: Box Documents). Place items in this folder to sync them to your Box at SF State account

Note: for computers with a pre-installed Box Drive or Box Sync app, your first login must be through the Web to complete your account setup.


From a mobile device

Box.com provides a mobile interface for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Mobile devices. Use the App store provided by your device manufacturer to download Box for Mobile and follow the on screen instructions to complete your login. Note: your first login must be through the Web to complete your account setup. You are prevented from accessing a Secure Departmental Folder from a mobile device, in order to protect Level 1 (confidential) data. 

 

Using the Box at SF State Website

Working with documents

Adding files on the Web

  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Select Files or Folder
  3. Select the file(s) or folder you wish to add
  4. Click Open/OK

Create a document on the Web

  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Click New
  3. Select Word Document, PowerPoint Document, Excel Spreadsheet
  4. Enter a Name for the document in the Name field and click Create
  5. The document will open in a new tab, ready for editing. Note: If Box Edit has been installed, the document will automatically open using the local copy of Word, PowerPoint, or Excel.

Edit a document on the Web

Note – when using Box with Office Online you can work on the same document with others in real time

  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Locate the file you wish to edit and click the file name to open a preview
  3. From the preview, click Open > Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint Online
  4. Edit the document
  5. When done, verify that the document has finished saving and close the tab (changes save automatically - the status, Saving or Saved to Box, is noted in the document header)

 

Working with folders

Creating folders on the Web

  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Click New
  3. Select Folder
  4. Enter a Folder Name in the Folder Name box
  5. Optional: Invite collaborators by entering their email address in the Invite People box and selecting a Permission level
  6. Click Create


Mark folders for synchronization

Box Drive shows all folders and files that you own or have been given access to. By default, files are not stored locally but are streamed on demand from Box. You can mark in Box Drive client those folders and files you would like to sync for offline use. There is a limit of 25Gb of data that Box Drive keeps offline, and if the limit is exceeded, older content will be removed.

Box Sync will only sync files to your computer/desktop application if they have been marked (they can still be accessed from the Web).

  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Locate the folder you wish to sync and click once to see more options
  3. Click the More Options icon (three dots)
  4. Select More Actions
  5. Click the Sync to mark the folder for syncing – the sync process will begin automatically

Sharing and collaboration

Share a folder/file on the Web

  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Locate the folder/file you wish to share and click once to see more options
  3. Click the Share button
  4. Select sharing type: Collaboration or Link
  5. For collaboration:
    1. Enter the email address(es) of collaborators in the Invite box
    2. Select the Permission level
    3. Enter an invite message (or use the default)
    4. Click Send Invites
  6. For link:
    1. Set the link permission using the People in this folder dropdown
    2. Copy the link and share, or
    3. Enter email address(es) in the Email Address field to share immediately
    4. Click Close

 

Collaborate on a folder/file on the Web

Box.com uses collaboration folders to provide multi-account access to files. Changes made by one account will be mirrored to all other accounts that have access.

  1. Use the steps above to create a folder and add the document(s) you wish to share
  2. Click once on the folder to see additional options
  3. Click Share > Invite Collaborators
  4. Enter the email address(es) of collaborators in the Invite box
  5. Select the Permission level
  6. Enter an invite message (or use the default)
  7. Click Send Invites
  8. To see all collaborators for a folder, select the folder. A list of the collaborators will appear on the right

 

Change collaborator permissions

  1. To see all collaborators for a folder, select the folder. A list of the collaborators will appear on the right
  2. Click once on the folder to see additional options
  3. Click the More Options (three dots) button
  4. Select Share > Manage Access
  5. Use the dropdowns in the Permissions column to edit each collaborators access level


Box Edit

Box Edit is a browser add-on feature that allows you to edit or create files directly on Box at SF State. Box Edit uses the default application installed on your computer to edit a document but saves the item directly to your Box.com account.


Install Box Edit

Note: Box Edit only works with 32-bit browsers.

  1. Navigate to: https://cloud.box.com/download-box-edit/
  2. Click the Get Box Edit button and download the Box Edit installer
  3. Run the Box Edit installer and follow instructions to install or update Box Edit on your computer
  4. After the install is complete, you must restart your browser to activate the new Box Edit version. Once you restart your browser, the latest version of Box Edit is activated and will automatically receive all future updates


Use Box Edit

Create new Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents
  1. Log in to Box at SF State
  2. Click New
  3. Select the document type
  4. Create your document
  5. Save your document, it will be automatically saved to your Box at SF State account

 

Using the Box.com Desktop Applications

Box Drive

Access all your Box files directly from your desktop, without taking up much hard drive space. Box Drive is natively integrated into Mac Finder and Windows Explorer, making it easy to share and collaborate on files.

https://support.box.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043697354

Download Box Drive for Mac
Download Box Drive for Windows (64 bit)
Download Box Drive for Windows (32 bit)

Box does not support having both Box Sync and Box Drive installed on your machine, and there are known issues with this configuration. Box Drive v2.4 includes a Sync uninstaller; for this version (and later versions) you can just install Box Drive and follow any prompts. There is no need first to uninstall Sync separately

Box Sync

Box Sync is a legacy tool that will be phased out at a future date. Box Drive is recommended for use instead.

To install Box Sync, please see Accessing Box at SF State from your Computer.

Adding files

  1. Create a new file and save it to your Box folder -or-
  2. Drag and drop an existing file into the Box folder
  3. For files placed at the root of the Box folder, Box will create a default sync folder
  4. All files added to the Box folder will sync automatically


Creating folders

  1. Create a new folder in your Box folder -or-
  2. Drag and drop and existing folder into your Box folder
  3. All folders added to the Box folder will sync automatically


Box Tools

Create and edit any file type, including Office, PDF, and Photoshop, directly from your web browser. Use the default application installed on your computer, knowing your files are automatically saved to Box.

  1. Download Box Tools for Mac
  2. Download Box Tools for Windows
  3. Launch install file to begin installation
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation
  5. Log in to Box at SF State
  6. Locate a document you want to open and click on “…” (three dots)
  7. At the top of the pop-up menu, clock on “Open with …”

Other Box.com Documentation

Box.com provides detailed instructions for many of their services. How-to and troubleshooting information can both be found at: https://support.box.com/home

Box.com Resources for IT Staff

Software Download

Box Drive

Download Box Drive for Mac
Download Box Drive for Windows (64 bit)
Download Box Drive for Windows (32 bit)

Box Sync

32 and 64-bit MSIs are available: https://support.box.com/entries/20364983-Box-Sync-3-x-Installation

Box Tools

Download Box Tools for Mac

Download Box Tools for Windows

At-rest encryption

Information on Box.com's encryption can be found at https://support.box.com/entries/23686428-Is-my-data-encrypted-