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Files Not Showing Up in Box Drive

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7 comments

  • Rona

    Hi Kareem, 

    Welcome to Box Community and I'm here to help! 

    I would suggest to manually reset your Box Drive: 

    To reset Box Drive on Windows

    1. Exit Box Drive (if it is running). If necessary, use Task Manager to end the Box.exe process.
    2. Ascertain whether any files exist in C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box\unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been uploaded to Box. If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box\ (such as your desktop). Proceeding with the steps below deletes these files.
    • You may need to show hidden folders to see \AppData.
    • Delete this folder: C:\users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Box\Box.
    • From RegEdit, delete the registry entries under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Box/Box to clear Box preferences.
    • Restart the Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    To manually reset Box Drive on a Mac (File Provider Extension mode)

    1. Quit Box Drive if it's currently running.
    2. Open a Terminal window and run the following command:
      fileproviderctl domain remove -A com.box.desktop.boxfileprovider; defaults delete com.box.desktop; rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Box/Box

      This command will:

      • Archive all files that are not synced (not uploaded to Box) from "~/Library/CloudStorage/Box-Box" and move it to a new folder at "~/Box-Box (Archive)

        Note

        If you already have a "~/Box-Box (Archive)" folder from a previous manual reset, the folder will be named "~/Box-Box (Archive) 2", or if that name is already taken, "~/Box-Box (Archive) 3", and so on.

      • Exclude from the above archive files that are “up-to-date” or synced on Box
      • Re-create the parent hierarchy of the archived files
    3. Restart Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    To manually reset Box Drive on a Mac (kernel-based mode)

    1. Quit Box Drive if it's currently running.
    2. Navigate to your ~/Library folder: In Finder, click the Go menu, press and hold the Alt (Option) key, and then click Library.
    3. See if any files exist in ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box/unsyncedFiles. These are files that have not been synced (not uploaded to Box). If these files do exist, and if you want to keep them, copy them to any location outside of ~/Library/Application Support/Box/Box/unsyncedFiles (such as your desktop) before proceeding with the steps below, which will delete these files.
    4. Open a Terminal window and run the following command:
      defaults delete com.box.desktop; rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Box/Box

      This command will delete Box Drive preferences and application data

    5. Restart Box Drive and follow the prompt to log back in.

    Once you restart Box Drive, you can review any archived unsynced files (File Provider Extension mode) or unsynced files you moved elsewhere (kernel-based mode) and either upload them manually or delete them to free up hard drive space.

    Restart your machine and log in to Box Drive again. 

    Hope it works! 

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  • Jeffrey Luci

    Hi Rona:

    I'm having this same problem. I have uploaded files using the web interface, but I can't see them using Box Drive on my desktop computer. I am using Box Drive on Windows 11, and I followed your instructions to manually reset Box Dive. I even did it twice, deleting and reinstalling Box Drive after the second regedit key deletion (and subsequent reboot).

    This is happening only on one directory tree, and this was working a few weeks ago. I thought perhaps the path length was too long because it is a highly nested structure, but as I understand it, the pathname can be up to 256 characters, and any folder name can be up to 100 characters. I'm well below those limits, even with the nesting. Is there a limit to the degree of nesting? I couldn't find one. In case you'd like to see the path I'm using, a sample one is:

    C:\Users\{12 characters}\Box\CAHBIR Records\Technical\Data\QA\QA - 20240102\DICOM\24010214\41530000\67665291

    Including the delimiting backslashes, I count that as 105 characters, well short of the 256 character limit for pathname. Is there something else I should check?

    Thank you!

     

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  • Jeffrey Luci

    Rona, I'm just checking to see if you've had a chance to review my request for help above. This is a serious issue for us, and I'd really like to figure out why this simple feature does not work correctly.

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  • Laura Kernan

    I am also having similar issues with not being able to see one sub folder on Windows. The above instructions don't appear to work for me. I have also tried unsyncing/resyncing.

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  • Jeffrey Luci

    Laura Kernan: No thanks to Box support, I was able to track down my problem. Perhaps it is related to yours as well.

    It turns out, Box does not support files named with 8 hexadecimal characters without an extension. Along with many other banned files, they simply ignore them without notice. They will not show up in Box Drive. It would be nice if the web interface would give some kind of notification that one or more of these banned files was uploaded. But no. They'd rather us spend weeks searching for an answer while they ignore us and cash our checks.

    I have tens of thousands of files *specifically* named (by NEMA standard) with 8 hexadecimal characters and no extension. So, I'm pretty much out of luck. Their lack of attention to this request for help as well as ignorance of global standards in medical imaging is emblematic of their thoughtless deployment and unprofessional interactions. They go their money, so I guess they're happy.

    There are other unsupported file types, too. Check this list to see if yours fall into one of the BROAD buckets they have banned:

    https://support.box.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044195433-File-Types-Ignored-or-Blocked-by-Box-Sync-and-Box-Drive

     

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  • Laura Kernan

    Thank you Jeffrey for the reply. I don't think what you've outline is my issue. My file types aren't on the list you forwarded. It's frustrating because they used to sync. And now I've wasted my morning trying to problem solve and am no closer to a solution. Hey, but I learned something from your reply at least.

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  • Jeffrey Luci

    That's a bummer. I wish I could help. It took me three weeks to figure out what my problem was, despite multiple requests from Box support across multiple lines of communication. As you see here, they just ignore anything that doesn't amount to "unplug it and plug it back in." What an awful organization!

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