Just as Amazon and Netflix recommend items you may want, Box automatically surfaces relevant 3rd-party applications you may want to use to take action on a file, directly from Box Preview. This saves time you might otherwise spend searching for an application and figuring out how it works with Box. It also makes it easier and faster to access a 3rd-party app's functionality. In Box, this is called Recommended Apps.
Recommended Apps is a list of curated 3rd-party applications. Preview a file in Box, and the Recommended Apps list displays as a vertical list of apps, immediately to the right of the body of the document. You never have to leave the Box interface, so there's no toggling back and forth between apps. Just click an icon to access the corresponding app. In this way the Recommended Apps feature distills the manual work across apps down to several clicks. Depending on the integrations you have in your enterprise, you can:
- Share a file to a Slack channel or a Facebook Workplace group
- Start or join a Zoom meeting
- Sign a file with DocuSign
- Send a file via Gmail or Outlook
- and so on
Recommended Apps display in the Preview sidebar for every Box account holder, without their intervention, unless an admin disables it.
What apps are included, and what makes them "recommended?"
An app is eligible to be recommended if:
- it is an existing and functional Box Web App integration.
- it is approved by the Box Admin for the organization.
- it meets a minimum relevance threshold for each person and file type.
See the installation guide for recommended apps for more details.
Which apps Box actually surfaces depends on a variety of factors. These include how often and how recently you have accessed:
- apps you personally use
- apps that are most popular in your organization
- apps that are most popular for all Box users globally
- apps that are most closely associated with the type of file you are previewing
Some of the recommended apps that may be available to you include:
- Share with Slack
- Send with Gmail
- Join a Zoom conference
- Send to DocuSign
- Send to Outlook
- Send with Facebook Workplace
For instructions on creating a recommended app, please see Box's developer documentation.
Installing an approved app
If you have not yet installed an approved integration in your Box account, you can do so, and immediately begin using it, without leaving the Box Preview UI. You do not need to navigate away from your document and install the app from the Box App Gallery.
To install a recommended app, when you preview a Box file, in the Recommended Apps sidebar, click the icon of the application you want to install. Then follow the prompts.
Using Recommended Apps
Using a recommended app is simple and straightforward.
To use a recommended app
- Click on a file in Box to preview it.
- In a vertical sidebar, Recommended Apps displays shortcuts to apps relevant to what you may be trying to do.
- Click the icon of the app you want. Box displays a dialog box that prompts you to confirm what you wish to do in that app. Click OK.
- Another window opens. From here you can perform your desired action.