Using Box for Google Workspace Add-on is simple and fast. Box for Google Workspace Add-on brings your secure Box content repository directly into your Gmail 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. Additionally, it enables you to browse your Box files and folders from the GDrive home page, and copy Google files (Docs, Sheets, and Slides) in Google Drive to the Box folder of your choice.
Here's a quick overview:
Getting Box for Google Workspace Add-on
Box for Google Workspace Add-on is an add-on you can install and deploy like other Google Workspace Add-on add-ons. Your organization’s Google Workspace or Box administrator may already have made the Box for Google Workspace Add-on integration available to you via an enterprise-wide deployment. If that is the case, when you open Gmail or GDrive you should see a Box icon displayed in the third-party application sidebar on the right of your Gmail or GDrive interface, or within Google editors themselves (Docs, Sheets, Slides).
You do not see the Box icon if:
- your Box admin has left it up to you to decide to install Box for Google Workspace Add-on to your Google account. The admin still must have enabled the integration for you to install it on your own.
- you use a free Box account, and need to install the integration to add Box to your Google Workspace Add-on account.
In either case you can get it, yourself.
To install Box for Google Workspace Add-on and add Box to your Google Workspace account
- Open Gmail, GDrive, or Google Calendar. In the third-party application sidebar that displays on the right, at the bottom, click the + sign. The Google Workspace Marketplace displays.
- Search or scroll down to find Box for Google Workspace Add-on, and then click Install.
- Follow the prompts, until the Box icon displays in the third-party app sidebar.
Note
If you receive an error when you follow this procedure, your admin has disabled the Box for Google Workspace integration for your entire enterprise.
Using Box with Google Workspace Add-on for the first time
- Open Gmail and create or open a message as you normally do.
- Click the Box icon in the righthand sidebar. A Box pane opens on the right.
- At the prompt, click Authorize Access.
- At the next prompt, click your Gmail account.
- At the next prompt, click Allow. This allows the integration to access certain functionality, such as your location settings and your Gmail information about your Gmail account.
The Box pane refreshes. This is where you log into Box via Gmail.
- Click Log in.
- At the next prompt click Grant Access to Box.
The Box pane refreshes again. Now you can use Box from directly within Gmail to save attachments, save messages, or send links. From within the Box pane you can browse and view Box files and folders without leaving Gmail or even closing your current email message.
To save Gmail message attachments in Box
- In Gmail, select or open the message you want. The Box pane on the right displays with any attachments the Gmail message may have.
- Do one of the following:
- To save all of your attachments, click Save Attachments.
- To save only specific attachments, clear the checkbox of each attachment you do not wish to save. Then click Save Attachments.
- The Box pane displays a single-column list of all your Box folders in your All Files page. It also displays folders in your Recents and your Favorites pages. Scroll through the list until you find the folder you want. Click the folder to open it and access any sub-folders.
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- Folders are color-coded here just as they are in Box. Also, all Box file permissions apply.
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- Save the attachment to the folder you selected. To do this, click Save to [[Folder Name]].
- The Box pane displays a confirmation message. Click View to work with the file just as you would with other files in Box – that is, edit it, share it, invite collaborators, and so on.
- (Optional) To comment on the file you’ve saved, in Box Preview, in the Activity pane on the right, type in any message you want and click Post.
You can also open an attachment in its native application. To do this, in the Box pane, click the open file icon (
).
Note
If you do not select a mail message, the Box Pane still displays, but is empty.
To save the Gmail message itself in Box
- In Gmail, open the message you want. The Box pane on the right displays with any attachments the Gmail message may have.
- Click Save Email as .TXT File.
- The Box pane displays a single-column list of all your Box folders. Scroll through the list until you find the folder you want. Click the folder to open it and access any sub-folders.
- In the same way you saved the message attachment, locate the folder you want and click Save to This Folder. 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.
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- Typically you’ll save the email message body in the same folder as the attachment.
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- In the same way you viewed your attachment, click View. This opens the newly-created text file in Box Preview.
Tip
To see how the message would look in a browser, copy the permalink in the body of the text file and paste it into the address bar of a new browser tab or window.
Sending a shared link to a Box file via a Gmail message
You can use Gmail to send any of your Box files to anyone else, safely and securely. The permissions and privacy settings on the file 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. But you can’t send a shared link to a file you don’t have permission to share at all.
To send a shared link to a Box File in Gmail
- Open Gmail and click Compose.
- At the bottom of the new message window a toolbar displays, which includes most of the basic email functions (send, attach, emojis, and so on). The Box icon displays in this toolbar as well. Click the Box icon.
- A Box dialog box opens, displaying your Box folders in one long, scrollable list. 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. This is not an actual file attachment – it is a shared link. The file itself remains in Box. This gives you control over both access and versioning.
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- If the file is an image or video, you can scroll down to see a thumbnail.
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- (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:
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- People with the link
- People in the company
- People in this folder/file
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- Click Insert File.
- The message redisplays, and you see a shared link within the window.
- To open this file in Box, click the link. To view the permission level you just selected moments before, in Box Preview, click Share.
- Click Send. The recipient receives this email with your Box Shared Link. The recipient does not have to have either a Box account or a Gmail account to be able to view your file – just the access permission to do so.
Tip
The link displays as a discrete object within the body of the email, so you can move it around within the body of the email message.
Including a link to a Box file in a Calendar invitation
To further enhance your collaboration through Box, when creating a meeting invitation, Google Calendar enables you to include a link to a Box file.
To access Box's Google Calendar features, your business's admin must first enable the Box for Google Workspace add-on for you.
When you use Box's Google Calendar features for the first time, the Box for Google Workspace add-on prompts you to authorize new scopes before enabling you to use these features.
To include a link to a Box file in a Google Calendar invitation: click the paperclip icon, then select Box.
Clicking the paperclip icon in your Google Calendar invitation enables you to access your Box content. When you access Box through your Calendar invitation, you can
- Search for a file in Box and select it.
- Open your All Files window in Box, then navigate to a file and select it.
- Select a recently viewed file from your Box Recents.
- View the full contents of your Box Recents, then select a file.
- Select a recently viewed file from your Box Favorites.
- View the full contents of your Box Favorites, then select a file.
When you select a file in Box, Calendar adds to your invitation's description a link to that file.
When you add a link to a Box file, Box enables you to choose who has access to the shared link, and whether recipients can edit the file, view and download, or view only.
Creating a new Box Note linked in a Calendar invitation
To help you create and distribute meeting notes, the Google Workspace add-on enables you to create a new Box Note, and link it to a Google Calendar invitation.
IMPORTANT
This feature is not available for enterprises that use a closed folder structure.
To include a link to a new Box Note in a Calendar invitation:
- Click the paperclip icon, then select Box.
- Click Create Meeting Notes.
- Choose who will have access to the new Box Note, and what access to grant. Available access permissions are Edit, View and Download, or View Only.
- Click Insert File. Calendar adds to your invitation's description a link to the new Box Note.
When you create your first Box Note for a meeting, Box creates a new folder named "My Meeting Notes" and places this Box Note and all your subsequent meetings' Box Notes into this folder.
Box automatically gives the meeting's Box Note a title containing the year, month, day, and local time of the Box Note's creation, for example "Meeting Note 2023-12-31 12:34:56.boxnote."
Everyone you invite to your meeting has access to this new Box Note.
To change or remove a link in your invitation: open the invitation, click Edit, then remove the attachment from the description. To add a new link to a new Box Note, repeat the steps above.
If you remove the meeting's Box Note from the Calendar invitation, or delete the invitation, Box does not delete the meeting's Box Note.
Related Links
Saving Google Workspace Files to the Box Folder of Your Choice
About Box for Google Workspace Add-on
Implementing and Enabling Box for Google Workspace Add-on