Carnegie Mellon University
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How to Use Box

Your CMU Box account offers 1TB storage for individuals and 2TB for organizations, mobile access and supported optional features.

Large Backups

Cloud storage services like Box or Google Drive are not designed to back up servers, network-attached storage (NAS), or other large quantities of data. 

Please contact the Computing Services Help Center at it-help@cmu.edu or 412-268-4357 (HELP) if you have questions or need assistance.

Log In To CMU Box

To log in:

  1. Visit CMU Box and log in with your Andrew userID and password.
  2. Use the sidebar to navigate between folders you own and have been invited to.

Upload Content

From within Box:

  1. Click the Upload button (upper right) and choose File or Folder.
  2. Browse for the content you would like to upload and click OK.

Edit Content

To edit a Microsoft Office file:

  1. Select the file.
  2. Click Open and choose to open on your desktop or online.
  3. Make your changes to the file and save. Box will automatically create a new version of the file.

Upload a New Version

To upload a new version of an existing file:
  1. Save the file with same name as the file currently stored in Box.
  2. Drag and drop the new file into Box.
  3. A new version will automatically be created.

Permissions

Understand Permissions

Box permissions follow a waterfall design. This means:

  • Individuals not only have access to folders they are invited into but any suborders beneath it.
  • You may invite people to individual files.
Visit Understanding Collaborator Permission Levels for more information on Box roles.

Grant Permissions

You can grant permissions to content in one of two ways:

  • Invite People - enter the email addresses or names of the individuals or groups you would like to grant permission to, then choose to invite them as editors or viewers.
  • Shared Links - Choose Share Link to generate a hyperlink to the file or folder.

Shared Links

  • People with a link- gives access to anyone inside or outside of CMU
  • People in your company - limits access everyone inside CMU
  • Invited people only - this link limits access to only people invited to the folder or file using the Invite People option above.
Visit Creating Shared Links for more information.

Best Practices

FAQ

To grant read-only access to course materials in Box:

  1. Organize content into folders.
  2. Hover over the top-level folder and click Share.
  3. Add the invitees email addresses into the the Invite People field.
  4. Click Preview from the Invite as drop-down, then click Send.
Yes, you can move files from your individual CMU Box account to a Box.org folder.
  1. Right-click the folder you want to move and select Move or Copy.
  2. Browse and select the Box.org folder you want to move the content to.
  3. Click Move. Depending on the size and number of items in the folder you are moving, the move may take a few seconds to a few hours. 

If you have been added to a folder as an individual, and not as part of a group, you can remove yourself as a collaborator.

  1. Open the folder or file in question.
  2. Click the ellipses and choose Collaborators.
  3. Under the Permissions column, click the role drop-down to the right of your name and select Remove.

Yes. You should transfer folder ownership when you are going to leave the university and you own work that will continue, or information that should remain available, after you leave.

To transfer a folder from one Box account to another:

  1. Hover over the top-level folder and click the ellipses.
  2. Click More Actions > Manage Collaborators.
  3. Under the Permissions column, click the drop-down to the right of the individual you would like to change permissions for.
    • Click Owner to add them as the owner.
    • Click Remove beside your own name to remove yourself as collaborator.

Yes. To view previous versions, hover over a file and click the ellipses. Then click Properties and Version History.

The past 100 versions of each file are available for you to examine or revert to. View Version History for more information.

Box has the following apps available for Mac and Windows.

You can save searches as bookmarks in Box.

  1. Open Box in your browser.
  2. Enter any relevant keywords into the search field.
  3. Click the magnifying glass.
  4. Copy the URL from the address bar.
  5. Open the Box folder where you’d like the bookmark to appear.
  6. Click New > New Bookmark.
  7. Paste the URL from your clipboard to the URL field.
  8. Click Create.
  1. Open Box in your browser.
  2. Click on your profile picture and click Account Settings.
  3. Under the Login and Email Addresses section click Add Email.
  4. Enter your alternative email address in the empty field.
  5. Click Save Changes.
  6. A confirmation email will be sent to the email address. Click Confirm to associate the address with your Box account.

To create a shared folder for uploading work:

  • Create one folder and give all invitees Uploader access, along with instructions on how to name their files.
  • Create a folder, and then create a Shared Link accessible by anyone in CMU.
  • Alternatively, provide an email link to the folder allow students to email their items.

To end collaboration on content you own:

  1. Open the folder or file in question.
  2. Click the ellipses and choose More Actions > End Collaboration.

Deleted files and folders are retained in the trash for 30 days and can be restored directly from Trash. 

View Manage Trash for more information.

You can print directly from Box without downloading the file if you are a Collaborator with at least Viewer permissions.

  1. Double-click the file to preview it in Box.
  2. Click the three dots menu (top right). 
  3. From the drop-down menu, select Print.

Note: You cannot print directly when viewing files from a shared link.