Collaborating and Sharing Your Files
Now that you know how to access and set up new files and folders, using Box, today’s goal is to learn
about sharing and collaborating your files and folders. In this lesson you will notice the terms workspace
(sharing of files and folders) and content (information within files and folders) are used interchangeably
when collaborating with others.
Box gives you the opportunity to share a common file or folder (aka “workspace”) based on Waterfall
Permissions. These are restrictions that allow access and viewing by others you choose, referred to in
Box as “collaborators”. Waterfall Permissions will be discussed further down in this handout, but first
you will need to know how to create a new folder using the NEW tab.
Choose new folder and add folder name. You can click on Keep Private until you add your content (files
or folders). Yellow folders are your personal folders and blue folders are your shared/collaborative
folders.
You can add content by uploading a file or by using the bulk upload option for multiple files. You may
drag and drop files and folders using the bulk upload option. Box will open your file or folder then
upload and encrypt the file/folder all at once instead one at a time.
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You will receive notification from Box letting you know your files and folders were uploaded
successfully.
If you receive a lot of emails you may want to use the Email to Folder tool. When checking this box you
will get a custom email address. When you check this option, Box creates a custom email address that is
used to automatically upon your files.
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You can also drag and drop files and folders from your desktop into Box. If you need to move or copy a
file or folder, go to Folder Options, choose Drop Down Menu and select Move or Copy. When you
choose move you will asked where you want to move the file to. When you copy something the
content becomes a completely new distinct document in that location. This document will not take on
any changes you make to the original file, folder, or content.
You can now change the type (private or shared) of your file, folder, or content from Box. Your
workspace is now ready for sharing with collaborators.
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Inviting collaborators allows you to shares files and folders. Enter names or an email address if it
someone who is not already part of your current Box account. You can then include a custom message
to introduce what this file, folder or workspace is, and most importantly, decide what access (waterfall
permission) each collaborator will have.
Text Box
Waterfall Permissions
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Access Levels (for Collaborators)
Box allows you to choose from seven different access levels. You can hover over each access type for a
description of what functionality is available. You can also hover over the i and pull up that same
information in an easy to read chart. You can see below the Co-owner and Editor access have the
flexibility to do quite a bit of work and are normally those collaborators who edit lots of changes to
content and have a lot of accountability. There are also limited roles such as View and Previewer.
The access level can be changed at any time by the Owner or Co-owner.
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An important concept in Box is the Waterfall Permission System. If a collaborator is invited to a folder
as, for instance, “Previewer”, they automatically will have same “Previewer” access level to every sub
folder.
In the example below, on the right hand side under Sharing, you see Bethany White, Juliana DeWitt and
Marco Gerza listed. Each person has access to Project A files at the same access level they have for
Team Workspace.
You can invite and restrict other collaborators to access a specific file or folder within a folder as a
viewer only.
Takeawys:
1. Creating project workspaces
You are creating a workspace, not just a file or a folder, where you are going to put content. This is the
location where all of your team comes to get their job done and where all of your communication is
going to happen as well.
2. Adding Content into Box
There are several different methods you can use to upload your content in Box. The method you chose
will depend upon the amount of files you are working from and where they are coming from.
3. Accessing up-to-date Content
When you create a collaborative workspace it becomes the location where all collaborators can get all of
the most recent versions of every document in the system. Box automatically syncs your content.
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