Box Admin Best Practices: Everyday Collaboration

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1 Box Admin Best Practices: Everyday Collaboration Sharing documents securely is easy with Box. You can configure sharing and collaboration settings to fit the needs of every person in your team, company and client base. There are two main ways to share content in Box: inviting collaborators and sending shared links. This guide discusses the differences between the two methods, plus lets you know when and where to use them. Inviting Collaborators Box s collaboration system works at the folder level you ll invite contacts to join one or more of your folders, and can give them whatever access permissions you see fit. Not to worry: Your collaborators won t be able to see anything outside the folder(s) where they ve been invited. When inviting a collaborator, hover over the info icon to see a cheat sheet with the various access levels. Inviting collaborators is the best option for working long-term with an individual or group of people. When inviting collaborators, you can customize their access level based on the type of actions you want to allow on a file or in a folder. The chart below shows which roles do what: Here are some ideas that ll help you decide when to use each role type: Co-Owner: This user helps manage members, files, and security settings in this folder (team leads, co-authors, coadmins, group admins, project managers) Editor: This user is an active content creator, and will need to share files with others (active project contributors, marketing staff, project managers) Viewer Uploader: This user needs to see and share the files and will be adding content of their own (marketing staff, designers)

2 Previewer Uploader: This user needs to see and provide content, but should not be able to download the preexisting files (contractors) Viewer: This user needs to see and share content (managers, less active project team members, SMEs) Previewer: This person only needs to see content, but shouldn t download it (e.g. customers, managers, SMEs) If you do not want your collaborators to comment on a file, disable comments under Folder Properties. Uploader: This person will be providing content, but should not see the other content in this folder (e.g. contractors, bidders in Virtual Deal Rooms, designers) Using Shared Links Shared links allow you to quickly share files with folks who don t have Box accounts, and who don t really need to have consistent access to your folders. Shared links are URLs that take any recipient right to the folder or file they need, without giving access to any other part of your account. Difference is unlike collaboration contacts with a shared link get read-only access and won t be able to make changes to your files. If you receive a notification saying Someone has downloaded one of your files, it means they accessed it through a shared link. Here s how to generate one: 1. Mouse over the desired folder or file and click Share 2. In the space that appears below the item, you ll see a URL next to Get a secure link to this folder that s your shared link: 3. To share, just copy and paste the secure link into an /im/what have you, or click the envelope icon next to the shared link to have Box send an to your recipient(s). At the end of this document, we ll talk about customizing shared links for external collaboration. Best Practices for Internal Collaboration Box has several collaboration tools built right in, so use them as part of your daily workflow! Discussions Ever work on a project and feel yourself getting buried in all the back-and-forth? Box has you covered: Use the discussions feature to keep relevant conversations tidied up in one central location. Collaborators can contribute to discussions and are notified when updates are made. Using discussions, you and your team can brainstorm new ideas or establish quick consensus on a topic.

3 Comments Box s commenting feature serves the same purpose at the file level. Use comments to replace threads associated with an individual file. Tasks Here s another way you can use Box to tame the beast and get your inbox under control: assigning tasks. Example: Instead of shooting your coworker an asking for quick feedback on a file, consider creating a task for them to keep the whole process right in one centralized location. Use the Access Stats option on a file s dropdown menu to see who has viewed or downloaded the content. Plus, users see pending tasks right in the blue header bar: File Locking and Version Control You ve seen how Box makes it easy to share your content with anyone, but what happens when two or more of those folks try to edit a file at the same time? Don t fret: We ve developed one tool file locking to prevent this from happening, and another version control to correct it if it does. Locking Files You can lock a shared file before you download it for editing. A lock icon will appear next to the file, preventing collaborators from making changes until you are finished. To lock a file, click on the Options icon to the right of the file name, and select Lock File:

4 Version Control Use the Version History window to track the development of a file. If a file has multiple versions, you s see a V icon beneath the file name: Clicking the V icon launches the Version History window, where you ll see all past versions of the file. You can download them for review, or make a previous version the current one: Best Practices for External Collaboration When using Box to share files with people outside your company, there are a few things you should keep in mind: Access Levels When sharing externally, it s especially important to closely tailor access levels to the level of freedom you want external collaborators to have within files. You may want to choose an access level that prevents collaborators from downloading or sharing the content. These include: Previewer Previewer/Uploader Uploader If you plan on working very closely with an external colleague, consider asking your account administrator to add them as a managed user to your company s Box account.

5 Shared Links If you choose to use shared links with external contacts, consider these smart options they ll help you tailor the link to suit your Restricts the link to users with your company domain. (Please note that recipients will need to have a Box account to access the content.) Collaborators Only: Only collaborators on the folder where the link points can use the shared link. (Please note that recipients will need to have a Box account to access the content.) Set a Password: Locks the shared link and requires a password to view it; a good option for added security, without the requirement that the recipient have a Box account Customize Link: Plan on using this link frequently or want to make it easy for the recipient to remember? This option lets you choose the link name yourself. For example: box.com/yourlinkname Set Expiration: Disables the shared link on the date you set. This protects time-sensitive materials and limits external use.