Box Utility provides quick access to Box directly from the Salesforce utility bar, allowing you to work with Box content without leaving Salesforce.
The Utility automatically detects the Salesforce record you're viewing, making it easy to access content that's relevant to your current work. Box Utility is organized into tabs, one for each capability:
- Box Notes - create, edit, organize, and collaborate on Box Notes directly from Salesforce.
- File Uploads -upload new files from your computer into a record's Box folder, or migrate Salesforce Files that are already attached to a record into that same folder.
As additional capabilities are introduced, they will become available through the same Box Utility experience.
Whether you're documenting a customer meeting, capturing case updates, drafting an account plan, or gathering the files that belong to a deal, Box Utility helps keep your content connected to the appropriate Salesforce records while taking advantage of Box collaboration and permissions.
Work with Box Notes
Create Notes for Salesforce Records
When you open Box Utility while viewing a Salesforce record, any new note you create is automatically stored in the Box folder associated with that record.
Record-level notes are ideal for:
- Customer meeting notes
- Opportunity planning
- Case investigation details
- Account research
- Internal collaboration
If the record doesn't already have a Box folder, Box for Salesforce automatically creates one before saving the note.
Record-level notes:
- Are available to users who have access to the record's Box folder.
- Are displayed in order of most recently modified.
- Can be edited or deleted directly from Box Utility.
- Remain associated with the Salesforce record where they were created.
Create Personal Notes outside of the record
You can also use Box Utility outside of a Salesforce record, such as from the Home page, a list view, or the Box app. Notes created in these locations are stored in your personal My Salesforce Box Notes folder. These notes are private to you unless you choose to share them through Box.
Personal notes are useful for capturing ideas, preparing meeting notes before selecting a customer, or organizing information that you'll associate with a Salesforce record later. When you open Box Utility from a record page, your personal notes appear under Other Box Notes, making them easy to reference or organize.
Associate a Personal Note with a Record
If you've created a personal note and later decide it belongs with a Salesforce record, you can associate it with that record.
- From Other Box Notes or non-record experience, open the More Actions (⋮) menu for the note and select Associate. Search for the Salesforce record, select it, and confirm.
The note is moved from your personal Box Notes folder into the selected record's Box folder, where it becomes a record-level note and is available to users who have access to that folder.
Edit and Delete Notes
You can edit or delete both personal and record-level notes directly from Box Utility. Because every note is stored as a standard .boxnote file in Box, your notes automatically benefit from Box collaboration features, version history, and Box permissions while remaining accessible from Salesforce.
Notes:
- Record-level notes always remain with their associated Salesforce record.
- Personal notes remain private until they are associated with a Salesforce record or shared through Box.
- All Box Notes inherit Box permissions, collaboration capabilities, and version history because they are stored as standard Box files.
Work with Box File Uploads
Upload Files to a Salesforce Record
Select the File Uploads tab in Box Utility to add files to the Box folder associated with a Salesforce record.
You can:
- upload new files directly from your computer, or
- migrate Salesforce Files that are already attached to the record.
Either way, the files are saved to the same Box folder that is already linked to the Salesforce record, so they are available to everyone who has access to that folder. If the record does not yet have a Box folder, Box for Salesforce can create one for you.
Migrating a Salesforce File copies it into Box. The original file stays attached to the Salesforce record — it is not moved or deleted.
The File Uploads tab appears automatically wherever Box Utility is enabled. If you don't see Box Utility in your app's utility bar, ask your Salesforce administrator to add it — see Setting up Box Utility in Salesforce.
Where You Open File Uploads Matters
On a record page — for an Account, Opportunity, Case, or any custom object record, File Uploads automatically uses the record you're currently viewing.
- If the record has Salesforce Files attached, you see a list of those files and can choose which ones to migrate to Box.
- When there are no Salesforce Files left to migrate — or the record never had any — the tab displays the Box Content Uploader so you can upload new files from your computer.
On the Home page, a list view, or any other non-record page — there is no current record, so File Uploads asks you to choose one under Upload to record folder. You can then upload new files from your computer to that record's Box folder.
Which records appear in search?
The record picker does not search every object in the org. It only returns records from objects that have an entry in the Folder Name Configuration custom setting — the same table Box for Salesforce uses to decide which objects may have Box folders, and the same table Box Notes uses when associating a personal note to a record.
- If the org has entries for Account, Opportunity, and Case, the search returns matching Accounts, Opportunities, and Cases.
- If there are no Folder Name Configuration entries, search returns no results and users cannot pick a target until an admin adds at least one entry.
- If an entry exists but the running user cannot read that object, that object is skipped for that user.
This keeps files from being uploaded into objects that are not enabled for Box folders, and lets admins control the picker from one custom-setting table.
Note: Migrating Salesforce Files is available only when you open File Uploads from the record the files are attached to. It is not available when you select a record from the Home page or a list view.
Migrate Salesforce Files to Box
Use these steps when you're already viewing the Salesforce record that owns the files.
- Open a record that has Salesforce Files attached.
- Open Box Utility and select the File Uploads tab.
- If the record does not yet have a Box folder, select Yes, create folder.
- Review the list under Salesforce files on this record.
- Select up to 10 files. Files larger than 25 MB and files that are already in Box cannot be selected.
- Click Migrate to Box.
After a successful migration, each file is marked Already in Box and cannot be migrated again. The original file remains attached to the Salesforce record, and anyone with access to the record's Box folder can see the copy in Box.
Notes:
- Migration does not create file versions. Each file is added to Box as a new file. If a file with the same name already exists in the folder, Box for Salesforce saves the copy under a new name — for example, file_1.pdf — instead of adding a version to the existing file.
- Migration via Box Utility requires the Box for Salesforce connected app to be installed in the org, and the running user must have access to it. Without that connected app (or without permission to use it), users can still upload new files from their computer, but they cannot migrate Salesforce Files already attached to the record.
Learn more on how to configure and set up the Box Utility in Salesforce here: Setting up Box Utility in Salesforce .