Using Box for Outlook

Using Box for Microsoft Outlook is simple and fast. Box for Outlook brings your secure Box content repository directly into your Outlook interface, enabling you to store email attachments and messages directly into the Box folder of your choice. It also enables you to insert shared links to your Box files anywhere within the body of your email message, so you can share your Box content with anyone you wish while fully retaining any security policies that exist around the actual files.

Getting Box for Outlook

Box for Outlook is a Microsoft add-in you install and deploy like other Outlook add-ins. You can install it yourself, if it's not blocked by your organization's Microsoft Office administrator. Or your admin could make the Box for Outlook integration available via an enterprise-wide deployment. If that is the case, when you open Outlook and create a new email message you see the Box icon below the body of the message on the right, in the third-party application bar. 

When you open a new message, the Box icon displays in the top-right toolbar.

However, the location of the Box icon varies, depending on the platform you use. If you use the new Outlook Web app, the Box icon displays within a drop-down menu from the lower toolbar (creating a new message) or the top-right toolbar (opening a message):  

You do not see the Box icon if:

• your Box admin has left it up to you to decide to install Box for Outlook and add Box to your Outlook account.
• you use a free Box account, and so must install Box for Outlook yourself.

To install Box for Outlook yourself and add Box to your Outlook account

1. Go to the Microsoft site to get an Office Add-in from Microsoft. (Use the search function to locate the Box add-in.)
2. Install the add-in as per the instructions from Microsoft.

Using Box with Outlook for the first time

1. Open Outlook and create or open a message as you normally do.
2. In the third-party application bar below the message body, click the Box icon. A Box window opens.
3. At the prompt, click Authorize Access.
4. At the next prompt, click your Outlook account.
5. At the next prompt, click Allow.

• The Box pane refreshes. This is where you log into Box via Outlook. 

6. Click Log in
7. At the next prompt click Grant Access to Box.

The Box pane refreshes again. Now you can use Box from directly within Outlook to save attachments, save messages, or send links. From within the Box pane you can browse and view Box files and folders without leaving Outlook or even closing your current email message.

You need only grant access once per client. After that, the add-in works in every application in which you use Outlook.

Saving Email messages and attachments directly to Box

To save Outlook message attachments to Box

1. In Outlook, open the message you want. The Box icon displays to the right of the message header.
2. Click Box. A separate pane opens, displaying the file names of the attachments, with adjacent check boxes.
   • By default, the check boxes are checked, meaning all attachments are selected. If you don’t want to save all of the attachments, clear the check boxes next to the files you do not wish to save to Box.
3. Click Save Attachments. The pane refreshes. Now it displays a single-column list of all your Box folders.
4. Select a destination folder for the attachments. To do this, check the box next to the folder you want.
   • If you do not see the folder you want, move your pointer to the Box search field and type in the full or partial name of the folder you want.
5. At the bottom of the screen, below the list of folders, click the check mark.
6. If you change your mind, click X and select your destination folder again.
7. The pane redisplays. Now you have the option of moving either or both of the saved files to a different destination folder. To do this, click Move to Another Folder, and repeat steps 4 and 5, above.

To save the body of the Outlook message in Box

1. In Outlook, open the message you want. The Box icon displays to the right of the message header.
2. Click Box. A separate pane opens, displaying the file names of the attachments, with adjacent check boxes.
3. Towards the bottom of the Box pane, click Save Email as .eml file.
   • The Box pane displays a single-column list of all your Box folders.
4. Select a destination folder for the attachments. To do this, check the box next to the folder you want.
   • If you do not see the folder you want, in the Box search field type in the full or partial name of the folder you want.
5. At the bottom of the screen, below the list of folders, click the check mark. This saves the body of the email message (plus basic message information such as Sent From and Time) as a new file within the Box folder you selected.
   • Typically you’ll save the email message body in the same folder as the attachment.
   • If you change your mind, click X and select your destination folder again.
6. The pane refreshes and displays a confirmation, listing the folder into which you’ve just saved the body of the email message.
   • There’s also a link to save any attachments, if you haven’t saved them, already.

Sending Shared Links to Your Box Files via Email

You can use Outlook to send any of your Box files to anyone else, safely and securely. Existing folder permissions and privacy settings persist, so no one can access the file who isn’t authorized to do so. Before you click Send, Box prompts you to assign access permission to the recipient (if you have the permission to do that). You cannot send a shared link to a file you don’t have permission to share at all.

To send a shared link to your Box File in Outlook

1. Open Outlook and click Compose.
2. In the third-party application bar at the bottom of the new message window click Box.
3. A Box dialog box opens, displaying your Box folders in one long list. Scroll down until you locate the folder you want. Click the folder to open it, then click the file you want.

• The dialog box displays file information, such as who owns the file, when it was last modified, its size, and so on. The file itself remains in Box.
• By default, the shared link permissions are set to your enterprise default settings.
• (Optional) You can adjust which permission you want the shared link to send as. To do this, click the Share Link Permissions down arrow and then click the permissions you want to assign with the file attachment:

• • People with the link
  • People in the company
  • People in this folder/file

4. Click Insert File.
5. The message redisplays, and you see a shared link within the window.
6. Click Send. The recipient receives this email with your Box shared link.

• The recipient does not need either a Box account or an Outlook account to be able to view your file – just the access permission to do so.

Related Links

Introducing Box for Outlook

Understanding Box and Outlook Integration Options

Installing, Enabling, and Disabling Box for Outlook

Box for Outlook FAQ

Box for Outlook Troubleshooting