Month: August 2017

I guess the title says it all.  Box Notes is a light weight, real-time collaborative note taking and editing application native to Box.   Besides basic font settings you can create ordered, unordered, and check lists, set justification, insert images and create basic tables.  Box notes are great for meeting agendas, brain storming sessions, as a project management tool, and to-do lists.  To see examples of this watch this video.

Box Notes can be worked on or viewed collaboratively in real-time.  You can see who is working or viewing the note and changes made are immediately seen by all parties.

Box Notes were only accessible through the Box web UI until earlier this year when Box released Box Notes for desktops for both the Windows and Mac OS.  Now you don’t have to open Box in a browser to create and interact with your Box Notes.  With Box Notes for desktops you can create and edit your notes directly.  The desktop application makes finding and accessesing your note easy by showing you your recently opend and favorited Box notes.  If you don’t see a note in the list you can easily search Box for all your Box notes using the search tool.

So check out Box Notes.  To install visit the Box notes download page here or go to the Apps menu item in your Box profile, search for “Box Notes Desktop” and click on the “Add +” button once you find it.   If you use Box Drive you can you can open a Box Note simply by clicking on the note.

Need more information?  Take a look at Box Notes: Overview and FAQs.

 

Box Drive is the latest in Box’s client tools.  It was released in June of this year in a public beta.  Box drive supports both Windows and Mac OS’.   Since its initial release as Box for Desktop, users at OSU have been putting the application through its paces and have been quite satisfied with how it works. I would like to encourage you to try it out if you haven’t already done so.

One thing to note is that this is a beta product which is still being actively developed by Box so the full set of features are not currently available.  One key feature that has yet to be released is a sync function that will allow users to control syncing from the desktop client rather than having to open the web UI.

If you use Box and you don’t need to sync files to your desktop or you have limited space this is likely the tool you’ve been looking for.   For users it makes your Box account appear as if it is part of your local file system as shown in the following images.

To work with your files you don’t have to open the Box web UI.  You simply browse Box using file explorer in Windows or Finder in MaxOS.  Box drive also has a built-in search feature so you can search your Box account for files and folders.  Once you find what you want you simply click on the file and start working with it.

While Box Drive makes working with Box content easier there are some things you may need to do that will require opening the web UI.  Such things as creating or updating a folder collaboration, opening an Office or Google doc in an online collaborative space, creating a unique shared link name or expiring a shared link, and restoring a file from the trash just to name a few.

If you would like to know more about Box Drive or would like to start using it, here are some handy links to get you started.

• Download Box Drive (You can also install using the App menu in your user profile)
• Using Box drive on Windows or on MacOS.
• Box Drive vs Box Sync
• Installing and Using Box Drive
• Lots more Box Drive info…