Organizing Your Content

Introduction

A quick way to find what you're looking for in Box is to use the built-in search feature. For more information, see the user guide page on Searching.

However, as your list of files and folders gets longer, you may choose to use some of the following strategies to organize your content. These include:

  • Sorting content by date
  • Collections
  • Favorites
  • Bookmarks
  • Tags
  • Personalizing your dashboard
  • Desktop shortcuts
  • Moving/copying

Keep in mind that changes you make to a shared file/folder, including moving items and adding tags, can affect everyone that it is shared with.

Overview

Content on tufts.box.com can be organized by date. There are two ways to see your most recent items.

Viewing Most Recent Files/Folders

  • Click on Updated at the top of the All Files list to organize your content by the date on which each item was last updated. By default, folders are listed above files.
Updated column
  • Use the "Recent Files" carousel toward the top of the All Files page.Recents Carousel

     

  • Click on the Recents icon in the left-hand menu to see a list of your most recently updated items.Recents option in left-hand menu

     

 

Interested in seeing your most recent items every time you log in? See the section below on Personalizing Your Dashboard. 

Overview

With Collections, you can curate your own custom groups of Box files and folders however you want, even if they don’t belong to you! Adding and removing items only affects your Collections, no one else’s! (Note: Your Box “Favorites” are now located in your Collections!)

Adding something to a Collection simply generates a convenient link back to the original file/folder. The item itself doesn’t actually move. Similarly, removing something from a Collection just deletes this link. The original file/folder doesn’t get deleted.

Your Collections are accessible from more than one place on the Box website, including Box’s left-hand navigation menu. From there, you can expand/collapse each collection and click on a file or folder to go to it. You can access stuff from the “My Collections” page, which you can set up your Collections to be your Box home page! For more information, watch this video about Collections.

Accessing Collections

There are multiple ways to access and manage your Collections. The directions below provide just one example of how to perform basic tasks.

Creating a New Collection

  1. Log in to tufts.box.com with your Tufts username (e.g. jjumbo01) and password.
  2. Find the “My Collections” section in the left-hand menu and click the Create Collection icon.Add Collection button
  3. Give the new collection a name and click Create.Creating a new collection
  4. The new collection will appear in the left-hand menu.New collection shown in left-hand menu

Deleting or Renaming a Collection

  1. Log in to tufts.box.com with your Tufts username (e.g. jjumbo01) and password.
  2. Click on My Collections in the left-hand menu.My Collections button in left-hand menu
  3. Find the collection you want to manage.
  4. Click on the Options button and select Rename or Delete.Options to rename or delete a collection

Adding an Item to a Collection

  1. Log in to tufts.box.com with your Tufts username (e.g. jjumbo01) and password.
  2. Navigate to the file or folder.
  3. Click the Options button, select Collections, and select which of your Collections you want to add the item to. Multiple Collections can be selected. You can also create a new Collection from here.Adding something to a collection

 

Removing an Item from a Collection

To remove an item from a Collection, find it in the left-hand menu, hover your mouse over it, and click on the x button.

Removing an item from a collection

Making Your Collections Your Home Page

  1. Log in to tufts.box.com with your Tufts username (e.g. jjumbo01) and password.
  2. Click your profile icon in the top right corner and select Account Settings.Accessing account settings
  3. Under the Account tab and General Options, use the “Home Page” dropdown menu to select My Collections.Making the "My Collections" page your home page
  4. When you’re done, click Save Changes in the top right corner of the page.

 

Your Box “Favorites” are now located in your Collections! For more information, see the "Collections" section.

Overview

A bookmark is a link to something. Think of it like a bookmark in Firefox or Chrome. You can create bookmarks to files/folders in Box to give yourself another way to access them.

sample bookmark

Changes that you make to the linked file or folder follow the sharing rules of the file/folder (not the bookmark). For more information, watch this video about bookmarks.

How to Create a Bookmark

1. Find the item that you would like to create a bookmark for.

2. Copy the URL from your browser’s address bar.

3. Navigate to the Box folder where you’d like to leave the bookmark.

4. Click on the New button near the top of the screen.

Selecting "Bookmark" from the "New" menu

5. Select Bookmark. A popup window will appear.

6. URL - Paste the URL for the item that you are bookmarking.

7. Name (optional) – Provide a name for your bookmark. This will be used to label the bookmark within the folder.

8. Description (optional) – Provide a description of the item that the link will bring users to.

9. Click Create.

setting up new bookmark

10. A bookmark will be created in the desired location. 

Overview

Tags are labels that you can attach to files/folders. They can be used as descriptors, warnings about sensitive information that shouldn’t be shared with other people, etc. For more information, watch this video about tags.

Some things to keep in mind:

  • Collaborators on files/folders will be able to see your tags.

  • Tags must be unique across Tufts University.

  • Create unique tags that are specific to you. You may want to use your last name at the beginning of the tag.
sample tags

Adding/Editing Tags

1. Find the file/folder that you’d like to tag on the tufts.box.com website.

2. Click on the More Options button for the item.

3. Move your mouse over the More Actions button. A menu will appear.

4. Select Add or Edit Tags.

Option to add and edit tags in file options menu

5. To add a tag, type it in and hit Enter. Do this for each tag.

6. To remove a tag, click on the × button next to it.

7. When you are done, click Save.

managing tags

 

Overview

Box gives you the ability to personalize what your home page looks like every time you log in. To learn more, watch this video about personalizing your home page.

How to Personalize your Dashboard

1. Click on your profile icon at the top right of the page.

2. Select Account Settings.

account settings option

3. Go to Account > General Options.

4. Choose your settings.

  • Home page - Choose if the default view is All Files, Favorites, Recents, or My Collections.
  • Files and Folders Per Page - 20, 50, 75, or 100.
  • Display Item Tags - Select if you want tags to be shown under file/folder names.

5. Click on Save Changes when you are done.

General options

 

Overview

If you have Box Drive installed, you can create desktop shortcuts to files and folders in Box. The items that you create shortcuts for will still be saved in the cloud, so changes that you make will be synced to your Box account.

When creating these desktop shortcuts, do NOT simply drag and drop items from Box Drive to your desktop. That will create local copies of items that are no longer linked to Box. To learn more, watch this video a out desktop shortcuts.

Instructions for Mac

1. Open Finder.

2. Select Box from the left-hand menu.

3. Navigate to your desired file/folder.

4. While holding Option and Command, drag the file/folder to your desktop.

Instructions for Windows PC

1. Open Explorer.

2. Select Box from the left-hand menu.

3. Navigate to your desired file/folder.

4. Right-click on the file/folder.

5. Select Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).

Overview

Use caution. Moved/copied items lose the sharing settings of the old location and adopt the sharing settings of the new location!

  • Moving an item changes the location of that item. Changes to the file/folder will affect EVERYONE who has access to it.
  • Copying an item creates a duplicate of that item. Changes you make to a COPY do not show up in the original. Copied items inherit the permissions of the folder they are copied into.

For a demonstration, watch the video on Moving and Copying in Box.

How to Move or Copy an Item

1. Find the file/folder you’d like to move or copy.

2. Move your mouse over the file/folder so that the option buttons appear.

3. Click on the More Options button. A dropdown menu will appear.

Selecting move or copy option

4. Select Move or Copy. A popup window will appear.

5. Search for the folder you would like to move/copy your selected item to, or you can find it yourself in the folder list.

6. Select the destination folder by clicking in the circle next to the folder’s name.

selecting a destination

7. Click either the Move or Copy button, depending on what you want to do.

8. The item or copy will now be located in the destination that you selected.

How to Move or Copy an Item from Box Drive

Items stored to your Box account can also be moved or copied using your computer’s file manager if you have Box Drive installed. Just open your computer’s file manager (Finder on a Mac or Explorer on a PC) and copy or move files like you normally would. The changes that you make will be synced with Box.