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Box FAQs

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Frequently asked questions

Who is eligible to use UCSF Box?

  • All UCSF learners, staff, affiliates, and faculty members with a MyAccess account are eligible. 

How much space do I get?

All UCSF Box accounts have unlimited storage.

What operating systems and web browsers are supported?

The Box web application currently supports: 

  • Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit)
  • Windows 11 (32-bit and 64-bit) 
  • The latest two versions of Mac OS X and iOS  
  • Any version of Android released within the last three years 
  • The latest two versions of Safari 
  • The latest two versions of Chrome  
  • The latest two ESR versions of Firefox. 

What is Box NOT good for?

  • Box does NOT have traditional backups.
  • Box has disaster recovery services, but users cannot request snapshot backups or data recovery at the file level. However, Box provides file versioning and a trash folder, so you can revert to previous versions of a file or recover a file from trash.
  • Box is not good for transactional applications. If you need to work with a database or other file type that requires high levels of read/write, please download the file to work on it locally. 

When I looked in the Access Stats of one of my files, it showed that I had accessed my file on a day when I wasn't in the office. What happened? 

  • A number of actions made by services, such as Box Drive, Box Tools and CipherCloud, are displayed as being performed by the user. 
  • There is a way to check to see if a file has been accessed by a user or a service. You can open a ticket and ask us to check if a person or a service has accessed your file. 

Is Box Drive appropriate/approved for PHI? 

  • Yes. CipherCloud will continue to encrypt UCSF PHI if it is in a user’s [email protected] folder.

Is there a maximum amount of data that I can mark for offline use? 

  • Box Drive uses a cache to stream files from the cloud as opposed to downloading all the files to your machine. This cache is set to 25GB or 50% of your hard drive space, if your machine has less than 50GB of free space.
    NOTE: This cache size is not related to marking folders for offline.
  • Marking folders for offline access downloads the folder and all subfolders and files to your hard drive. You may mark as many folders for offline access as you choose up until your workstation has only 2GB of free space left. When you reach this limit, you will receive an error message saying there is not enough disk space left for you to continue. 

Are you able to designate a folder and all its content to be available offline, or is it file by file? 

  • You can only mark folders for offline use. This lets you make a folder and all its content available, when you're not connected to the internet, by downloading it.
  • If you need to make a single file available for offline use, put it in its own folder.
  • NOTE: You may mark as many folders for offline access as you choose up until your workstation has only 2GB of free space left. When you reach this limit, you will receive an error message saying there is not enough disk space left for you to continue. 

Do we still access Box via MyAccess or is there something on the desktop now? 

  • Users can still access Box on web browsers via MyAccess and can use the Box Drive application locally on their workstation. Once logged into Drive with MyAccess credentials, the user will not have to log in again. 

Will Box Drive continue to work on mobile devices using iOS or Android? 

  • Box Drive is not a mobile application, so this change will not affect mobile devices. 

Can one use Spotlight, Finder, Windows Explorer or CoPilot to search files in Box? 

  • No. Files and folders are being streamed from Box directly and unfortunately cannot be indexed by these applications. 

Will Box Drive allow users to organize folders that are shared with them? That is, can I put all shared folders from one person in another folder? 

  • No. You cannot move folders shared with you as this causes changes for any collaborators as well. You can favorite the folders for easy access to the files that they will utilize on a day-to-day basis.

Are tip sheets available to end-users? 

Do I have to submit a ticket if I want to download Box Drive, if I do not have admin rights? 

  • Yes. Contact the IT Service Desk by dialing 415-514-4100 or submit a ticket here and they can install Box Drive for you. Additionally, users can simply wait for Box Drive to be offered through BigFix. 

Why did we ever consider leaving Box?

  • In 2018 Box ended unlimited data for higher education customers and told UCSF that if we didn’t drastically reduce our storage, they would quadruple our costs. This clearly was not sustainable for UCSF.

I already moved all my data to OneDrive. Do I need to move it back?

  • No, you can keep your data on OneDrive. We are working on a collaborative storage strategy, including cloud storage and network shares, and will provide more guidance in the coming months.

We started using Teams. Can I store my Teams files on Box?

  • Yes, you can link to Box folders from Teams today. We will be enabling tighter integrations between Teams and Box which will allow you to automatically store all files from a Team on Box.

Will Box storage be limited?

  • Box is designed to be a collaborative storage platform, not a network file share or a backup solution. To avoid misusing Box storage we will be reintroducing storage quotas in the months ahead. Future enhancements will include automated reports to help you better manage your Box content, guidance on the best storage solutions for each use case, and tools to help you transfer and archive content to the best service for your needs. There will be extensive conversations with Box users before any quotas are set or implemented. 

Will Box support opening Office files in the desktop apps?

  • Yes, with the tighter integration you will be able to open your Box files directly in the Office desktop or web apps.

Does this decision change anything about working with PHI in Box or Office 365?

  • No, both Box and Office 365 are still approved for use with UCSF PHI and other restricted data. CipherCloud will continue to encrypt data as .ccsecure files when UCSF PHI is detected or when files are placed in a Secure folder.

Will I be able to edit secure files on Box?

  • We are working on enhancements to both Box and Office 365 security to stop encrypting files with restricted data in place, and we will only encrypt files if they are downloaded to a computer that doesn’t meet UCSF’s minimum security standards. This means that in the future you will be able to collaboratively edit Office files containing UCSF PHI.