Managing Collaborators

If you are an editor, owner, or co-owner in a file or folder, you can modify the access levels of other collaborators.

To modify a collaborator's access level in a folder:

• Open the appropriate folder.
• You will see a list of collaborators in the right-hand sidebar.
• Click a collaborator's name to to view all the collaborators in this folder.
• Find the collaborator whose access level you would like to modify. You can search by name using the Filter Collaborators search box in the upper right.
• Under the Permissions column, click the user's access level to modify it. Select the appropriate access level from the dropdown that appears. If the access level is greyed out, you may not have the necessary permissions to modify that user's access level.

To modify a collaborator's access level in a single file:

• Locate the appropriate file
• Click the Collaboration Iconto the right of the file name.
• Alternatively, you can open More Options > More Actions and select Manage Collaborators.
• Find the collaborator whose access level you would like to modify. You can search by name using the Filter Collaborators search box in the upper right.
• Under the Permissions column, click the user's access level to modify it. Select the appropriate access level from the dropdown that appears. If the access level is greyed out, you may not have the necessary permissions to modify that user's access level. Note: Collaborators in single files can only be granted the Editor and Viewer access levels.

Transferring Folder Ownership

If you are the owner of a folder, you can transfer folder ownership to a collaborator at any time. Simply follow the instructions above, and select Owner from the access level dropdown (this option is only visible to folder owners). The collaborator you designate will be the new "Owner" of the folder and your access level will be downgraded to "Editor". The contents of the folder will no longer count against your account's storage allowance.

If you are transferring a private (yellow) folder, you will first need to invite the user to this folder before you can you transfer ownership. For larger transfers, we recommend doing this at the end of the day so users are not disrupted by the move. If you experience any issues, submit a support case so Box can assist with the transfer. If the new owner is in a different enterprise, then any Shared Link Custom URLs will be cleared.

If you move a folder you own into a folder someone else owns, the ownership of the moved folder also moves -- from the original owner (in this, case, you) to the person who owns the folder into which you moved your content. For example, if you own Folder A, and you move Folder A into Folder B, the person who owns Folder B becomes the new owner of Folder A. 

You will only be allowed to transfer ownership of a folder to another user if the user is collaborated directly on the folder. For example, if the user was invited to collaborate on Folder A and it contains Folder A-1, you will not be able to transfer ownership of Folder A-1 because the user inherited collaboration permissions to Folder A-1 via its parent folder, Folder A. You will only be able to transfer ownership of Folder A to the user since that is the folder the user was invited to collaborate on.

To transfer ownership of a folder to a Service Account, use the API.

Removing Collaborators

If you are an editor, owner, or co-owner in a folder, you can remove collaborators from the folder.

To remove a collaborator from a folder:

• Open the appropriate folder.
• You will see a list of collaborators in the right-hand sidebar.
• Click a collaborator's name to to view all the collaborators in this folder.
• Find the collaborator whose access level you would like to modify. You can search by name using the Filter Collaborators search box in the upper right.
• Under the Permissions column, click the user's access level to modify it. Select Remove. If the option is greyed out, you may not have the necessary permissions to remove that collaborator.

To remove a collaborator from a single file:

• Locate the appropriate file
• Click the Collaboration Icon () to the right of the file name.
• Alternatively, you can open More Options > More Actions and select Manage Collaborators.
• Find the collaborator whose access level you would like to modify. You can search by name using the Filter Collaborators search box in the upper right.
• Under the Permissions column, click the user's access level to modify it. Select Remove. If the option is greyed out, you may not have the necessary permissions to remove that collaborator.

Hiding Collaborators

Owners and Co-Owners of folders have the ability to "hide collaborators". With this enabled, collaborators with "Editor" access and below will not be able to see the names of the other collaborators in the folder (Co-Owners will be able to see all collaborators in the folder). When hidden, the word "Someone" will replace their name whenever necessary to maintain anonymity.

Note

• In order to ensure the identities of non-owner collaborators are not revealed, please disable Comments in the Folder Settings in addition to enabling the “Hide Collaborators” setting.
• This feature currently does not anonymize any names shown in the Version History. The names of any non-owner collaborators who upload a new version will be visible to other collaborators in the file's Version history. 
• With this settling enabled, collaborators are still able to utilize Tasks. 
• With this setting enabled, collaborators in the affected folder cannot use Microsoft Office Online to open Office files in the folder.

To hide collaborators:

1. Right-click the folder (or click the ellipsis (...)) to open the More Options menu.
2. Click Settings to open Folder Settings.
3. In the Privacy section, check the box next to Hide collaborators and their activity from non-owners.
   

Collaborator Auto-Expiration

Depending on your organization's Enterprise Settings, collaborators may find that their access to a folder is set to expire after a certain period of time. If a collaborator is set to auto-expire, a clock icon will appear beside their name in the right-hand sidebar (under the Sharing tab). You can hover over the icon to view a collaborator's expiration date.

Before a collaboration expires, Box sends emailed notifications to the owner and any co-owners of the corresponding folder, assuming this notification setting is turned on in your organization's Enterprise Settings. Box notifies only co-owners who are directly collaborating on the item with a pending expiration; Box does not notify co-owners who are collaborating via inherited permissions.

Extending Collaborator Auto-Expiration

Folder owners have the ability to extend the auto-expiration date for a collaborator.

To extend a collaborator's auto-expiration date:

• Click any name in the Collaborators side bar to enter the Collaborator Management screen. You can also navigate to this screen using the Folder Menu - Click the folder name in the folder tree list, then click More Options > More Actions and select Manage Collaborators.

• Click the clock icon beside the collaborator whose auto-expiration date you'd like to extend. If there are a large number of collaborators, you can use the search bar in the upper right to filter by a specific name or email.
• Click Extend Access