Deploying Box for Microsoft Teams in your Enterprise

The Box for Microsoft Teams integration is available for deployment in Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, and Enterprise Advanced accounts.
The Box for Teams integration is not available in Business Starter accounts.

With the Box for Microsoft Teams integration, your organization can use the content stored in Box through the familiar interface of Microsoft Teams.  People can share and access content stored in Box directly from within Microsoft Teams – without flipping back and forth between programs.  This streamlines administration, saves workers time, and facilitates team collaboration. 

The Box for Microsoft Teams integration enables automatic creation of a Box folder for each Team and Channel.  All content shared via Teams resides in this Box folder.  In addition, content permissions are mapped between Box and Teams automatically.  This means people cannot access shared content unless they have permission to do so AND belong to the Channel in which it was shared.

You can enable Box for Microsoft  Teams for your entire organization via your Box Admin Console and you can pre-pin the Box app in Teams for your entire organization in the Microsoft Teams admin center. Also, when you install this integration, Box provides you with several security settings that control how Box for Microsoft  Teams behaves, which significantly reduces the amount of manual work required to get started. 

Broadly, there are four procedures to follow when you deploy the Box for Teams integration in your enterprise:

1. Give API Consent for Box and Microsoft to share data
2. Configure Microsoft 365 Permissions
3. Authorize Microsoft in the Box Admin Console
4. (a) Add the Box application to your Teams, and/or (b) Pre-pin the Box application in Teams

You must complete all 4 procedures.

Below we provide context for each procedure, and then break each down into its individual steps.

Step 1: Give API Consent for Box and Microsoft to share data

• What this is:  For Microsoft to give consent to Box to call the Microsoft Graph API.
• Who must do this:  Microsoft Azure Administrator.
• What this does:  Enables Box to receive and send API calls to Microsoft.  It enables features such as automatic folder creation and permission mapping.

To do this:

1. Log in to your Azure portal as an administrator.
2. Grant Box permissions to your Microsoft Tenant.  To do this by navigating to microsoft.com and clicking Accept.

Step 2: Configure Microsoft 365 Permissions

• What this is: Sets up permissions to allow Teams users to install third-party applications. (You may have to add Box for Teams to your allow list.)
• Who must do this: Microsoft 365 Administrator.
• What this does: Gives people access to Box for Teams as an option.

Manage policies for apps by logging into the Microsoft Teams admin center and navigating to Teams apps.  Ensure the Box app is allowed for all users or selected users.  Note: If access is granted to selected users only, please make sure to also include all Team owners.

Step 3: Authorize Microsoft in the Box Admin Console

• What this is: Authorizes your Microsoft Tenant with Box.
• Who must do this: Box Administrator.
• What this does: Enables communication between your specific Microsoft Teams Tenant and Box; allows for automatic folder creation and user permission mapping. 

To do this:

1. Go to Admin Console > Platform.
2. Click the Platform Apps tab. 
3. Click Add Platform App.
4. In the Client ID box, paste in the Microsoft Teams Application ID: nqq9pg38gpjntlvce1toixicuc91sxyw
5. Click Next.
6. Click Authorize.  Box for Microsoft Teams now appears in the list of apps.
7. In the sidebar, click Integrations.
8. Search for “Microsoft Teams”.
9. Verify the Teams status is Available. If it is disabled, under the Availability Status column, click the corresponding down arrow and then click Available.
10. Hover over the Box for Microsoft Teams row, and then click Configure. 
11. In the Microsoft 365 Tenant ID box, paste your unique Microsoft 365 Tenant ID. To retrieve this ID:
    • The Microsoft Tenant ID displays in the Directory ID box.
    • Verify you have completed Step Two, above.  If you have not yet done so, Box cannot process your Tenant ID. 
    1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure portal as a Global or User Management Admin.
    2. Navigate to Azure Active Directory.
    3. You should see your Tenant ID displayed under Basic information.

12. Decide whether you want Teams to display a thumbnail image of the file being shared.  
    • If you want thumbnail images to display, to the right of Enable Document Thumbnails, click the slider to move it to the right.
    • If you preserve the default setting of Off, Teams displays generic file type icons instead of thumbnail images

13. Decide whether to permit all channel members to view file information.
    • When someone shares a file or folder in a Channel or direct message, members view either a content card displaying information about the shared file, or a generic link icon.  Whether they view a content card or a generic icon depends on this configuration.  To display information about the file only to channel or message members who ALSO have permission to view the actual content, next to Enable permission check before showing file/folder name and file type, click the slider to move it to the right.  In other words, you can view the content card information only if:
      • you are logged into Box
      • you have access to the file
      • the Box permission check is on

• Channel/message members who do not have permission to access the file see only a generic link icon.
• If you preserve the default setting of Off, everyone in the Channel can view the full content card. However, they still cannot access the content, itself, unless they have permission in Box to do so.

14. Click Save.

Step 4(a): Add the Box Application to your Teams

• What this is: Deploys the Box for Teams integration to a Team and associated channels.  People can now add the Box application to their Teams and begin using it.
• Who must do this: Microsoft Teams admin or Team owner in Microsoft Teams.
• What this does: Allows all channels and users within the Team to access the Box for Teams integration functionality.

Once you have finished all of the configuration steps, users in your organization can add the integration manually, following the steps in Logging in to Box for Teams for the First Time.

Another option is to install the integration automatically for all teams/chats in your organization:

Adding Teams automatically:

If you're installing Box for Teams for a large organization, you can auto-install across the following:

• All existing teams/channels
• Any new team/channel that gets created
• Any new chat conversation that gets created

As a result, users see the Box files tab in their channels/chats automatically. They would still need to sign in with a valid Box account to use the integration.

To enable automatic installation:

1. Sign into your Office 365 admin account and visit this link, approving additional required permissions.
   • For more details on each permission and specifically which ones are new, reference Org-wide Install - Admin Permissions (box.com).
2. Submit the tenant ID for the respective Teams tenant via this registration form
3. We will notify you once the process is complete on our side. 

Step 4(b): Pre-pin the Box application in Teams

• What this is: The automatic deployment and easy availability of the Box app within all of your users' Teams application.
• Who must do this: Microsoft Teams admin.
• What this does: Pins the Box app to the left side of the Teams desktop, allowing all users in your organization easy access to Box for Teams.

Microsoft's app setup policies allow admins to pre-pin the Box app for users in their tenant. Teams users will automatically see the Box app pinned to the app bar, which is the bar on the left side of the Teams desktop client and at the bottom of the Teams mobile clients (iOS and Android).

Pre-pinning the Box app in Teams:

1. Login to Microsoft Teams admin center as an O365 Admin.
2. Go to Teams apps > Setup policies.
3. Either:
   • Create a new app setup policy and add the Box app to the new policy,
     or
   • Edit an existing app set policy, one that applies to all users in your tenant, adding the Box app to the policy and enabling the User pinning setting in the policy.
4. If you created a new app setup policy, assign it to all the users in your tenant.

After you edit or assign a policy, it can take a few hours for changes to take effect.

Your users will still need to authenticate into the Box integration to be able to use it.

Note - if you don't enable pre-pinning

People can pin the app to the app bar for easier access. (Instructions for pinning the app are in Using the Box for Teams integration.)  When one member of a Channel does this, the Box Files tab becomes available for all Channel members.

Enabling drag-and-drop

The Box for Microsoft Teams integration allows your enterprise's users to drag-and-drop files from their desktop into Box while in a chat or public channel in Teams, adding up to ten files at a time.  When the message is sent, Box automatically uploads the attached files to the Box folder dedicated to that channel or chat folder.

If you want to enable drag-and-drop of files to Box for your organization, see this article.

What do people in your organization see?

If you have fully installed the Box for Teams integration, individuals in your organization receive the following:

• a welcome message explaining basic functionality.
• a Box icon in their message extension tray for uploading / sharing of files.
• a Box Files tab for access to all content associated with the specific Team Channel to which it belongs.

If you have not fully installed the integration directly to your Teams and Channel, then people must click the ellipsis (…) to view the application tray icons, and then click Box.

Then, when they click Box, Box prompts them to sign in.

Related Links

Introducing Box for Microsoft Teams

Using Box for Teams

Assigning a Default Box Folder to a Teams Channel

Logging in to Box for Teams for the First Time

Understanding how Content and Thumbnail Permissions Control Display

Box for Teams FAQ