With the Box for Microsoft Teams integration, you can use the content you have in Box through the familiar interface of Microsoft Teams. Share and access content stored in Box directly from within Microsoft Teams – without flipping back and forth between programs. This saves you time, streamlines administration, and facilitates team collaboration. Perhaps more importantly, it also enables Box to be your common content layer in Teams, as it gives you the option to use Box as a content layer across all Teams, Channels, and Chats.
Finally, content doesn’t have to originate in Box to be shared via this integration. For example, files on your local machine are automatically uploaded into a secure Box folder when you share them via Teams. They are not sent to native content stores such as OneDrive and SharePoint.
Adding the integration to your account
There are two scenarios when you first log onto your Teams account after your Box admin enables the integration.
1. Box for Teams is already installed
If a Team member has already installed the Box for Teams integration, you receive the following:
- a welcome message explaining basic functionality
- a Box icon in your message extension tray for upload / sharing of files
- a Box Files tab for access to all content associated with the specific Team Channel to which you belong.
2. Box for Teams needs to be installed
- From your Teams application, click Apps in the navigation.
- Search for Box.
- Click either:
- Add to a Team
- Add to a Chat
- Locate the Team or Chat to which you want to add the app. Then click Set up.
- When the app is installed, Team members have access to the Box integration.
When Box displays in your Apps search, do not click Open. Instead, click the adjacent down arrow and then Add Box to a Team.
If you enable Box for Teams for your organization this way, it installs on a team-by-team basis. You only need one member of a team to install the integration – it can be any team member – at which point the integration becomes available for every member of that team.
Also, when you use the integration for the first time – either through the Box Files tab or by using Teams to share or upload content – the system prompts you to sign into Box and grant Microsoft access to your account.
After you sign in and grant access:
- you can access content that has already been shared in this channel
- Box automatically creates two new folders you can view in the Box Web app:
- Microsoft Teams Chat Files
- Microsoft Teams Folder
These Teams folders persist in your Box Web app, regardless of whether you’re signed in.
To remove your account from the Box integration, right-click the Box Files tab and click Settings → Sign out.
This action unlinks the Box account associated with Teams from the integration.
Related Links
Introducing Box for Microsoft Teams
Deploying Box for Teams in your Enterprise
Understanding how Content and Thumbnail Permissions Control Display
Assigning a Default Box Folder to a Channel