Getting Started with Box.com
UVU has teamed up with Box.com, a cloud storage company, to provide it’s students 1TB of free storage. This is an awesome opportunity for students to be more organized (an essential skill if they plan on succeeding), keeping all of their files in one giant, mysterious, unexplained cloud (just kidding, the cloud is just a place on the internet where your files are kept so you can access them from anywhere on any device and you shouldn’t be intimidated by the term).
This demonstration is for UVU students, but the same steps can be applied for whoever is setting up their box.com account for the first time.
Logging in
- Once you see this page, click continue.
- Log into your UVU account.
- Profit! Your landing page should look something like this.
What now?
As you’ll soon find out, Box.com has many capabilities to keep your files organized. Let’s download some helpful Box.com Apps.
Navigate to the Box app store by clicking on your initials in the top right corner of the page, and then by clicking ‘Apps’.
First, lets get Box Sync (for whatever platform you’re using — I use Windows).
- Once you’ve located the Box Sync app (if it isn’t on the front page you can use the search bar), you’ll be on a page that looks something like this.
Unfortunately, the download link is difficult to find (Come on Box!) I’ve zoomed in on the link you’ll want to look for.
I also recommend downloading Box Notes and the Box app for your mobile device.
Tips and Tricks
Collaborate with other students through Box
You can share your folders and files with other students who use box and set their permissions. You can allow them to edit the folder and files just as you can, or only allow them to do a few things such as download the files.
Using this method allows you to easily work with a team you may be assigned to during your time at UVU.
You also have the option of sending a ‘Shared Link’ to someone.
This will create a URL for you that you can send via email and/or copy to your clipboard.
You can also create a custom URL and even set the link to expire in the settings.
Sync folders to your personal desktop
As you update files and folders in the cloud, you can have them be immediately and automatically synced to your personal computer.
Click on the folder you’d like to sync. Navigate to the right hand side of the page and click the ‘Details’ tab. Then, simply move the slider to activate ‘Sync to Desktop’. Opening up the Box Sync App you downloaded will show you where the newly synced folder is located on your personal computer.
Box Notes
Box Notes is a fantastic app to use when making personal notes or collaborating on notes with others. Create a box note in one of your folders by simply navigating to New -> Box Note
Box will then redirect your browser to the Box Notes web application. If the folder your Box Note is contained in is shared with others, they will have instant access to the Note.
Within the note, colored icons with initials represent each individual collaborator using the Note.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the capabilities of Box.com, but hopefully you are feeling more confident diving into your cloud storage. I encourage you to seek out other articles pertaining to Box.com and get to know all that it is capable of.
Ben Dixon is a student in the Web Design and Development program at Utah Valley University. The above article relates to the ‘Onboarding with Box.com’ project in the DGM 2271 class and is representative of the skills learned therein.
