How do I grant access to non-box users to upload

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11 comments

  • scottdodds

    Hi 

     

    Thanks for your post and question!

     

     

    It looks like you've already tried to reference a few articles, and that what you saw did not match them - can you post a screenshot of what you see that is different, as well as the two articles you've already tried? That could make it easier for the other members of the community to help.

     

    Alternatively, you can contact Box directly via the available Box support options on this page.

     

    Thanks again, and welcome to the Box Community!

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  • sno7603
    1.   locate the file or folder that you want to share.
    2. Old View: Right click > Sharing > Share Link
    • Under the Link Access drop-down, be sure to choose People with the Link. This is the step you probably missed. 

     

    1.   locate the file or folder that you want to share.
    2. NeW View: Share > Get Shared link
    • Under the Link Access drop-down, be sure to choose People with the Link. This is the step you probably missed. 

     

     

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  • careyg

    Did this solution work?  I am still struggling to figure out who non-box users can easily UPLOAD (not just access) a Folder I create.

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  • Howard

    Hi ,

     

    In general, the best method is to have users sign up for a free account and have access to collaborate in a folder.

     

    For other options without using Box, You can try setting up an upload widget or having users email content to your Box folder.

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  • annamforsberg

    But if you add someone as a collaborator, aren't they then added to your external users count which must be paid for?

    If so, then is the email to upload option + the shared link the best practice  to allow someone outside of your managed users to upload documents and without having them counted as an external user? 

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  • katrinaa

    Hi ,

     

    Thanks for your post!

     

    If you have a Business Plus or an Enterprise Account, you have an unlimited collaborators. However, that collaborator should have an existing Box account specially when that email address has the same as your domain so it will not count on your seats.

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  • BobFlynn-IU

    ,

     

    Say a little more about your use case. Will your external colleagues only be uploading documents or will they need to edit existing documents? If it is an ongoing collaboration, you will want them to be invited collaborators or else there will be unnecessary overhead to your process. If, however, you are just collecting and distributing documents then the combination of either email-to-folder or an upload widget, coupled with sharing links or Box Embed, will give you what you need.

     

    Bob

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  • billl

    The reply marked as the answer in this thread does not appear to provide upload access to non-box users, it only provides view/download access.

    The only way I have been able to provide upload access to non-box users is through the email mechanism or the "embed upload script" mechanism, which are problematic for us for the following reasons:

    - Asking someone to email a document to our box folder means sending something that we might want to keep private over (insecure) email (not to mention probably also leaving a copy in the sender's "sent" box).  For example, you probably don't want your tax preparer emailing your (unencrypted) tax returns to you, and it might be futile to ask your tax preparer to "please encrypt my tax returns with my public key before emailing them to me".  We would instead like the file to upload directly to a secure folder in box, rather than any mechanism utilizing email.

    - The "embed upload script" mechanism requires us to host a web page that we have edited to host the script, and we don't want to have to do this.  One can get around this by copying the box preview URL, but that certainly seems like a hack that I doubt is supported by box.

    To utilize the "embed upload script" mechanism, the user's browser must allow running javascript, which might be turned off for security reasons.

    - While a shared link (that we can only download from) can be "removed" or expired, and thereby no longer used, there is no way to "remove" or expire a copied upload script such that it cannot be used any more.  I could just create a temporary uploads folder each time, move the file after uploading and delete the temporary folder, but then I'd have to edit the web page that hosts the script each time, in order to match the new folderId.

    - Finally, I'd like to be able to set a password that non-box users are required to provide, in order to utilize a link for either uploading or downloading files.  I realize that if I can convince people to become box users (and then I think I'd need to incorporate them into my permissions structure), then I can probably get the behavior I want, but I really, really don't want to use a service that requires other people that I interact with to have to create an account with a service they don't already have, just so that we can securely exchange a file.

    Please let me know if I have overlooked something, or if there are near-term changes being made to box that will help us.

    thanks!

    Bill

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  • jcahill1

    Bill - Did you get any response or solutions to this? Would be really curious to know!

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  • barbaragnelson

    I am also looking to see if there is a suitable way for non-box users to upload files without logging in to Box.

     

    The embed Box widget works well on our website for them to view or download files (not collaborate which is great), but we also need a staging folder for them to upload files that we will then put into the appropriate folders based on what the files are. The private members of our website are not highly web-savvy and will not have accounts with Box.

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  • Howard

    Hi   and all,

     

    Thanks for the great conversation and ideas.

    Right now, we're currently developing this product idea as a file request link here: 

     

    https://community.box.com/t5/Box-Product-Updates/File-Request-Links/idi-p/69356

     

    Our PM has provided some information on what to expect, but if you have any questions feel free to comment and follow the product update thread at the link above!

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