The Basics of Box

In this handy guide, we’ll show you how to share, access, and manage your content – from anywhere. You’ll see the play-by-plays you need to get the Box basics under your belt, plus some tips and tricks that’ll make you a seasoned ninja in no time.

Logging in to Your Box Account

First thing's first. Here’s how to log in:

  1. Go to app.box.com/login
  2. Enter your email/username
  3. Enter your password
  4. Click Log In

Forgot your password? No worries: Just click the Reset Password link.

Creating a New Folder

The folder: It’s your Box account’s basic building block, where you’ll group similar files together.

Follow the steps below to create a new folder:

  1. Click New, and from the menu that displays click New Folder. The Create a New Folder dialog box displays.
  2. Enter the folder name.
  3. (Optional) To enable others to access this folder, enter the email addresses of each person to whom you want to grant access. Use a comma between each email address.
  4. To control others' level of access – for example, whether you want people to be able to make changes to folder contents or just to view files – click the Permission down arrow and select the appropriate role (co-owner, editor, viewer, and so on) for the level of access you want to assign.
  1. Need folders inside the first one? To create sub-folders, just click the top-level folder to open it, and repeat the steps above.

Navigating Your Account

Once your files are in Box it’s easy to access them wherever you are. Box’s familiar, intuitive design makes it simple to navigate your account, and you’ve also got three slick shortcuts at your disposal: the Search tool, Jump to Folder and the Updates view.

Search

If you’re looking for a certain file – or even a certain word or phrase within a file – jump right to it with the Search tool. Just pop your query into the search bar at the top of your page.

Box will search the titles of your files and folders as well as the body of your documents. Receive too many results? Simply apply some filters. You can sort by folder, file type, date, content type, and owner.

Folder Tree

If you want to get to a folder quickly, use the Folder Tree tool. Simply click the dropdown menu next to All Files to access your entire folder structure and be taken directly there.

Recents

On this page, you’ll see what files and folder have been recently updated in your Box account. To view recent updates click Recents in the left side bar.

Folder Properties

As a folder owner, you’ve got a suite of sophisticated settings available to you – these properties control how your collaborators view and manage the files in your folder. To access these properties:

  1. Mouse over the desired folder and click the . button.
  2. From the drop-down menu you can adjust the folder settings for shared links, user privileges, commenting and more.

Email Notifications

To keep you apprised of current events in your account, we’ve built an email notification system that lets you know when your collaborators access or edit your files. It’s up to you what actions you’ll be notified about, so here’s how to make your choices:

  1. In the top-right corner of your Box window, click the account icon.
  2. From the menu that displays, click Account Settings.
  3. Next, switch to the Notifications tab. From here, you can adjust the default email notification settings for your account. Once you’re finished, click Save Changes.

Tip Your default email notification settings can also be overridden at the folder level. Settings in the section pictured above apply by default to your entire account, but you can give certain folders a bit more granularity by setting notifications at that level. To do so, mouse over the desired folder and click the . button, then click Settings. From that page, locate Email and Notifications to make adjustments.