Using Box Drive Basics

In this article:

Working in Finder

Working in Explorer

Working with Other Applications

Box Drive Icons and File or Folder Status

Marking Content for Offline Use

Searching Box Drive

Logging Out of Box Drive

Manually Resetting Box Drive

Quitting Box Drive

Working in Finder

If you use a Mac, you can access Box Drive by opening Finder. In the sidebar, navigate to Devices > Favorites > Box. Open this folder to display all of the contents of your All Files page on Box.com. You can navigate through any folder and open every file you see just as if it were a local file.

For each file in the Box folder, Box Drive displays these standard properties:

File name

File size

File type

Date created (more information on Box timestamps)

Date modified (more information on Box timestamps)

The blue cloud icon beside a file or folder indicates the item is safely stored and up to date in Box. Add or update a file or folder in Box Drive, and the icon changes to an orange syncing icon. The icon also displays as syncing when Box Drive is uploading changes you made to files offline. When the sync completes the icon resets to the blue cloud.

Mac Finder Faded.png

Tip If you don't see the Box folder in Finder, Box Drive may not be running. In this case, if you're using Launchpad click the Box icon; if you're using Spotlight search for 'Box Drive'.

You can also right-click a file or folder to display additional Box functionality to copy or email shared links and to view the item on Box.com. In addition, you can lock or unlock files, create Box Notes, or mark files to be made available offline.

Working in Explorer

If you use Windows, you can access Box Drive by opening Explorer and navigating to the folder named Box. Open this folder to display all of the contents of your All Files page on Box.com. You can navigate through any folder and open every file you see just as if it were a local file.

For each file in the Box folder, Box Drive displays these standard properties:

File name

File size

File type

Date created (more information on Box timestamps)

Date modified (more information on Box timestamps)

Windows Explorer Faded.png

Tip If you don't see the Box folder in Finder or File Explorer, Box Drive may not be running. In this case, from your Start menu click the Box icon or search for 'Box Drive'.

You can also right-click a file or folder to display additional Box functionality to copy or email shared links and to view the item on Box.com. In addition, you can lock and unlock files, create Box Notes on folders, and mark select content to make it available offline.

Note If you are currently using Box Sync, it's important to uninstall Box Sync before you install Box Drive.

Working with Other Applications

Working with Box files in other applications such as Word or Excel is seamless. Open the file from Box Drive and work with it as you usually would. When you're done, save the file. The file automatically syncs back to Box. You can also use Save As to save the file to a new location, save the file with a new name, or create new folders to store your file. All of those changes save automatically in Box.

You can also use Save As to easily add new local files into Box Drive. To do this, select the Box location and browse to find the folder you want contain your file.

drive 3.png

Box Drive Icons and File or Folder Status

Box Drive icons tell you at a glance the status of your files and folders. Here's what they represent:

Online smaller still.jpg Item is up-to-date in Box.

problem.jpg Item is a problem item. More information on problem items and how to resolve them,

pending.jpg Item is in the process of being saved to Box.

lockedbyother.jpg Item has been locked.

MFO_check_icon.png Item is marked for offline access.

Note Any icons not included in this list are unrelated to Box Drive, and are provided by the file's parent application, not by Box Drive. An example of an icon unrelated to Box Drive is Excel Spreadsheet's macros icon.

Marking Content for Offline Use

You can also mark content in Box Drive to make it available offline. Drive downloads this content to your device's hard drive so you can work when you're not connected to the Internet. When you get back online, Drive automatically uploads the revised content, so you are always working with the most up-to-date versions of your files. More information about making content available offline.

Note You cannot make G Suite files (Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides) available to work offline. You also cannot make Box Notes available to work offline. These are all online-only formats.

Searching Box Drive

As with the Web, searching is the fastest way to locate your content.

Searching on a Mac

In your menu bar, click the Box icon.

Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Option + Cmd + Space.

Search.png

Type in your search term(s). Results display as you type.

To display a result, double-click on it.

To get more information about a result, left-click on it.

drive search mac 2.png

Note If you recently added a new file or folder to Box, it may take a few minutes to see the item in your results after the upload finishes.

Searching on Windows

To open the search menu, go to your system tray and click the Box icon.

Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B.

Using Box Drive - Windows - 1.png

2. Type in your search term(s). Results display as you type.

To display a result, double-click on it.

To get more information about a result, left-click on it.

Note If you recently added a new file or folder to Box, it may take a few minutes to see the item in your results after the upload finishes.

Logging Out of Box Drive

Logging out completely removes all traces of your Drive usage from your machine and enables you to log in again as a new user. Also, when you log out, your Box Drive session ends and the login screen displays. In addition, logging out of Box Drive deletes all of the downloaded content you had marked for offline availability. This of course clears up hard disk space on your device. It also returns to an online-only state all of the content you have marked for offline availability. You will have to repeat the process of marking folders for offline availability.

To log out on a Mac:

Navigate to the search menu by going to the menu bar and clicking the Box icon.

Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Option + Cmd + space.

Click the gear icon, and from the list that displays click Log Out.

Box Drive prompts you with an alert about the following types of files:

Open Files - You can save and close these files to prevent the loss of any work.

Items Uploading - You can wait for these to upload to Box. Box Drive cancels any uploads that do not complete before you log out.

Problem Items - These are local files or folders that cannot be synced back to Box. Logging out deletes these items. To view these items, navigate to the Search Menu, click the gear icon, and from the list that displays click Error Updating an Item....

To log out on Windows

Navigate to the search menu by going to the system tray and clicking the Box icon.

Alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B.

Click the gear icon, and from the list that displays click Log Out.

Box Drive prompts you with an alert about the following types of files:

Open Files - You can save and close these files to prevent the loss of any work.

Items Uploading - You can wait for these to upload to Box. Box Drive cancels any uploads that do not complete before you log out.

Manually Resetting Box Drive

In rare instances Box Drive fails to launch. When this happens follow these steps:

To reset Box Drive on Windows:

Exit Box Drive (if it is running). If necessary, use Task Manager to end the Box.exe process.

Ascertain whether any files exist in C:\users\\AppData\Local\Box\Box\unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been uploaded to Box. If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of C:\users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Box\Box\ (such as your desktop). Proceeding with the steps below deletes these files.

You may need to show hidden folders to see \AppData.

Delete this folder: C:\users\\AppData\Local\Box\Box.

From RegEdit, delete the registry entries under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Box/Box to clear Box preferences.

Launch the Box Drive application, and follow the prompt to log back in.

If you are still having trouble, please open a support ticket.

To reset Box Drive on a Mac:

Quit Box Drive if it is running. If necessary, use Activity Monitor to force quit the Box process.

Navigate to your ~/Library folder. From Finder, click Go. Then press and hold the Alt (Option) key and, from the Home menu, click Library.

Ascertain whether any files exist in ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box/unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been uploaded to Box. If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box/unsyncedFiles (such as your desktop). Proceeding with the steps below will delete these files.

Delete this folder: ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box.

From Terminal, run the following command to clear Box preferences: defaults delete com.box.desktop

Launch the Box Drive application, and follow the prompt to log back in.

If you are still having trouble, please open a support ticket.

Quitting Box Drive

Exiting Box Drive does not remove any locally stored Box Files from your computer and it does not log you out. If when you exit there are changes in the midst of being saved, the next time you open Box Drive it picks up right where it left off and finishes saving these changes.

To Quit Box Drive on a Mac

Navigate to the search menu by going to the menu bar and clicking the Box icon.

Alternatively, you could use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Option + Cmd + space.

Click the gear icon, and from the list that displays click Quit.

Follow the prompts to close any open files and confirm that you are quitting.

To Quit Box Drive on Windows

Navigate to the search menu by going to your system tray and clicking the Box icon.

Alternatively, you could use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B.

Click the gear icon, and from the list that displays click Exit.

Follow the prompts to close any open files and confirm your exit.