Category: Product changes

In its December Product Newsletter Box highlighted a number of updates that have been released recently.

The first is their Box Notes app.  As you can see in the following image they made several changes.

1. They now have an “Inbox” that will show you notes that have been updated.  Updated notes will appear at the top of your list of notes will be bolded with a blue dot indicator.
2. There is now a presence indicator at the top of the note page indicating who is currently in your note or who has recently accessed it, whether it was just for a quick review or to add content to your note.
3. If someone made an update to your note it will highlight that update in purple the first time that you access that note.

In Box Drive update 1.3 they changed the drag and drop experience for Windows users.  Previously dragging and dropping a file into your Box folder would move the file into Box from its original location.  Now, it copies the file rather than moves it. This is the same behavior that Mac users see when they drag and drop a file into a Box folder.

They updated the login process to optimize the flow for better support for SSO users.  Previously, a users would have to select the “Sign In with SSO” link that appeared under email address and password fields.  Now, they just enter their email address and they will be taken to their organizations SSO login page rather than being asked for a Box password.

Last but not least, Box has introduced a new navigation design for their Box for Android app.  This makes it easier to access your most critical content.  They also make it possible to monitor your file upload and download progress in the tool bar.

While it is still in beta, Box is doing some exciting work with machine learning as applied to image recognition.  Behind the scenes they are leveraging Google Cloud Vision’s state-of-the-art machine learning models.   Some of the the planned features for this technology is:

• Automatic identification of objects in images
• Text detection of hand-written and typed text (OCR)
• Indexing of metadata for improved search and discovery of images and faster image-centric workflows

For more news on this including lot of Box helps and knowledge base articles, check out the Box Community pages.

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…

Box support on Internet Explorer (IE) Browser Versions 9 and 10

Box ended browser support of IE versions 9 and 10 and they do not support compatibility mode for any of the unsupported browsers.  It is Box policy to support only the two latest browser versions and with Microsoft pulling support for IE 9 and 10 as of 1/12/2016 on the Windows operating systems that Box supports – Windows 7, Windows 8 (64-bit only) and Windows 10, Box will no longer support these older versions.

Users who try to access Box, including Box Notes, on either of these unsupported browsers (including on the associated compatibility modes for these browsers and/or if IE11 is manually set to run as IE9 or IE10) will be blocked entirely from Box until they have upgraded to a supported browser. This will happen in early May 2017

Total Previews and Downloads in End User File Access Stats

In summer 2017, Box will launch the ability for end-users to export up to seven years of file-level access stats.  When exporting seven years of file-level access stats launches, Box will simultaneously change the visible total file preview and download calculations to only include the last 100 events in the last year.  Find out more about file access stats.

Folder Invitation Links

Folder Invitation links (see screenshot below) which can be found under folder settings will stop being supported in early May 2017. At that time, the folder invitation link will disappear from the folder settings page and existing folder invitation links will stop working.

Users will be able to achieve similar functionality with shared links. Shared links can be used as invitation links by enabling the setting “Allow anyone who can access this folder from a shared link to join as a collaborator” on the folder settings page (see screenshot below). Users that have shared folder invitation links outside of OSU’s Box, they should replace them with shared links with this setting enabled before early May 2017.

Box made several improvements in their Box Note applications.  For those that are not familiar with Box Notes, Box Notes is an easy-to-use document creation tool with basic formatting capabilities that functions natively in Box.  Box notes can be worked on collaboratively in real time which makes them great for things like meeting minutes, brain storming sessions, or working on team or group content.

What has changed?

• New experience in the browser with a sidebar that enables creating new notes on the fly without having to go back into the file UI and create another Box note.  The sidebar can be collapsed out of the way while you don’t need it.  The sidebar also shows you the most recent notes you worked on.
• A new menu item allows you to delete a note from within the note without having to go back into the file UI.
• A new desktop application for PCs and Macs.  The new application enables users to create and work on Box Notes without having to go into the web UI.

For more information on the changes to Box Notes and a link to download the new Box Note Desk application, please visit the Box Note product page.