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Category: Communication & Collaboration / Box.com
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2.0 - Last modified on 2024-08-01 Revised by Noah Chang

1.0 - Created on 2017-05-08 Authored by IET

Product information

Box for Office Integrations

Box strives to increase your productivity by leveraging our cloud content platform in the applications you work in every day. With this in mind, we have built Box for Office to help you create, edit, and share your documents more effectively.

Box for Office includes Box functionality for key Office products—Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—in a single app.

For Individuals

For Admins

Introducing Box for Office

We have integrated essential Box functions into the Backstage view of the most popular Office applications. Now, right from within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on desktop and mobile, you can:

In addition, from Outlook you can:

Installing the Box for Office Desktop Integration (Desktop)

Note: Integration with Office desktop applications is only available for computers running Windows.

For Individuals

Prerequisites

Note: The installation package requires admin rights to include an auto-updater service so Box for Office can seamlessly be upgraded in the background in the future.

Installation

  1. Download the setup package for individuals.
  2. Run the setup package, providing administrative rights as needed.
  3. Open Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and navigate to the full Open (May need to use the Open Other Documentslink from the initial screen.)
  4. Choose Box as a source to open files from, and sign in with your Box account credentials.
  5. Once logged in, you can log out from any of the Open/Save/Share pages as well.

Uninstallation

You can uninstall Box for Office via Programs & Features in Windows, or by running the installer again and choosing the Uninstall option. 

For Admins

We support pushing Box for Office as an unattended installation using an MSI.

  1. Ensure that prerequisites are installed separately, prior to running the MSI:
  2. Download the Box for Office MSI and deploy it in your environment. There are no configuration options for this installer.

Box also provides two different scripts for system administrators to remove Box for Office installations.

The following procedure can be used to uninstall Box for Office installations: 

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console.
  2. Expand Forest, Domains, and the domain. Right-click Group Policy Objects, and then click New.
  3. In the New GPO dialog, in the Script Name field, type Box for Office Uninstallation. Click OK.
  4. Right-click Box for Office Uninstallation under Group Policy Objects, and then click Edit.
  5. In the Group Policy Management Editorwindow, expand Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings, and click Scripts (Startup/Shutdown).
  6. In the right pane, right-click Startup, and then click Properties.
  7. In the Startup Propertieswindow, click Show Files...
  8. Download the uninstallation script, and save it to the folder that Show Files... opened. The script requires administrator privileges. To remove both new and old versions of Box for Office: https://app.box.com/s/9053q4mml05f43y7dwmd. To remove only old versions of Box for Office: https://app.box.com/s/4nxq3b94rd6beaag769p.
  9. Close Windows Explorer, and return to the Startup Properties Click Add...
  10. In the Add a Scriptdialog, in Script Name, click Browse..., and select the script you saved in the previous step. Click OK.
  11. In the Startup Properties window, click Apply, and then OK. Close the Group Policy Management Editor
  12. In the Group Policy Management Console, link the GPO to the domain or any organizational unit.  

Using Box with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 

Opening Files From Box

Office 2013

Office 2010

Once in the Open menu, you can open a file from Box in one of two ways:

  1. Click on a recently accessed file
  2. Choose a recently opened folder to navigate or open a file browser directly to pick a file.
  3. From the file picker, users have the following options:
    1. Navigate up and down the folder hierarchy
    2. Search for files anywhere in your Box account
    3. Open the file from Box (triggering a download)

Note: Microsoft Office files will lock automatically when you open them from Box for Office.  They automatically unlock once you close the file.   

Saving Files to Box

Office 2013

Office 2010

If you previously opened a file from Box or previously saved a file as a Box file, you can use Control-s, or the normal Save menu to save a new version of that file. 

If you opened a file from the local desktop or other non-Box source, you can always save it to Box by using the Save As menu, which provides options to browse to a Box folder and save your file.

Note: When you save a file to Box, future saves go straight to Box as new versions of that file. 

Generating Box Shared Links

Office 2013

Office 2010

The Share menu option is only available when there is an open and active file. When on this page, you have the following options:

Ribbon Options

Right from the ribbon at the top of your Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, you'll see the following additional options to Share your file using Box, Upload your file to Box, or View on Box. 

Box and Office Online

For Individuals

Box is seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Office Online. This integration lets you create Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files in Box, edit them using the Office Online web applications, then save them directly back to Box without downloading additional programs or applications. In addition, our Office Online integration supports concurrent editing, so you and your coworkers can collaborate on documents in real-time. 

Note: This integration only incorporates the Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel web applications. If you are an enterprise Box user, you must have a business Office 365 account to use this integration. If you are a free Box user, you can use the integration without a Microsoft Office Online account. 

Creating Microsoft Files through Box and Office Online

To create a new Microsoft file in Box using Office Online:

  1. Navigate to the Box folder you want to contain the new file.
  2. ClickNew from the Box menu and select the type of Microsoft file you want to create.
  3. When prompted, name your file. 
  4. If you do not have Box Edit installed, Box will create your file and automatically open it in Microsoft Office Online. If you do have Box Edit, your file will open in your default desktop application. 

Note: Office Online auto-saves any changes you make in your documents so you don't need to manually save anything. 

Editing Microsoft Files through Box and Office Online

There are two ways you can edit Microsoft files in Box using the Office Online editor: through a file's context menu or through a file's preview page.

Note: Office Online supports editing for .xlsx, .pptx, and .docx files. Any 97 - 2003 files (.xls, .ppt, .doc) cannot be edited with Office Online. Additionally, the following file size limits apply when editing files with Box and Office Online 

To edit a Microsoft file through its preview page: 

  1. Navigate to the folder containing the Microsoft file you wish to edit.
  2. Click on your Microsoft file to open its preview page.
  3. Click on the Openbutton and select the option to open the file with Office Online editor.

Any edits you make will automatically be saved back to Box.   

To edit a Microsoft file through its context menu:

  1. Navigate to the folder containing the Microsoft file you wish to edit.
  2. Hover over your Microsoft file and click the More Options drop-down menu in the file's right-hand icon list or right-click on the file.
  3. Select Open with...followed by PowerPoint Online, Word Online or Excel Online, depending on the type of file you are editing.

Real-Time Co-Authoring

Box for Office Online now supports real-time co-authoring. Multiple people can edit a single document simultaneously, and all changes will be automatically saved back to Box. When multiple people are editing a document, their names will appear in the upper right corner. Your collaborator's text cursor will appear in a unique color, and their name will be displayed next to it.

For Admins

The Microsoft Office Online integration is enabled by default. You can disable it, or add your Office 365 Tenant ID, in the Apps tab of Enterprise Settings. Entering an eligible Office 365 Tenant ID will allow your users to use the Box for Office Online integration without needing to enter their Office 365 credentials. To find the integration settings, follow these instructions:

  1. In the Admin Console, click on the Settings
  2. Select Enterprise Settings from the Settings drop-down menu.
  3. In the top banner, click on the Apps
  4. Navigate to the Productivity Integrations

Note: This application is considered a published application. If Disable apps by default is turned on in Application Settings, then Box for Office Online will not be enabled by default. 

Using Box with Microsoft Outlook 

Upload to Box and Attach to Your Email in One Step

If you're working on a local Microsoft Office file and want to share it with others, you can use Microsoft Outlook to simultaneously upload the file to Box and email it out to collaborators.

To upload and attach your files:

  1. Click Upload and Attach from the Outlook Box ribbon menu. This will open a file picker.
  2. Use the file picker to select which file you want to upload to Box as well as email to others and click Open.
  3. Once you've selected a file, use the Upload to folder pop-up to select where you want the file to live in Box.
  4. Choose an access level for this file from the Access drop-down menu and click Upload.
  5. Once the file is in Box, a shared link will appear in your email draft.

Send Links to Files on Box

When you are composing an email, you can insert shared links to files or folders stored in Box, and you can customize the link access levels.

To send a shared link:

  1. Click Attach from Box from the Outlook Box ribbon menu.
  2. Use the Attach from Box pop-up to select the file you want to share.
  3. Choose an access level for this file from the Access drop-down menu and click Insert.
  4. The chosen file will appear as a shared link in your email draft. 

Note: With the Box for Office integration, when you try to attach a file that is not in Box, you will be given the option of uploading the file to Box and sending as a shared link. You can simply dismiss the pop-up prompt and proceed with your local attachment if you don't want to upload that file to Box. Admins can now disable this prompt by pushing a configuration change.

To disable the prompt:

  1. Open Registry Edit by going to the Start menu and searching for regedit.
  2. In the left pane, navigate to HKLM\Software\Box\Box for Office\
  3. In the right menu, right-click and select New > String Value. Name this new value OutlookPromptDisabled.
  4. Right-click the newly created OutlookPromptDisabled value, select Modify, and set the Value data to 1.

Fox x86 Office on X86 machines, replace the path in Step 2 with HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Box\Box for Office\


Save Incoming Attachments to Box

When you receive an email (or multiple emails) with attachments, you can save the attachments directly to Box.

To save an email attachment to Box:

  1. Open the email either in the Outlook preview pane or in an individual email window.
  2. Click Save Attachments from the Outlook Box ribbon menu.
  3. In the Save to folder pop-up, choose where you want to save the attachments from your selected email. Please note, you cannot save individual attachments to different locations, they all need to be saved to the same location.
  4. Click Save to save all the attachments to your selected location in Box.

Note: To save attachments from multiple emails, multi-select the emails you wish to download attachments from and follow the steps above using the Outlook preview pane.

Revised by Noah Chang
Last modified 2024-08-01 10:58:05 AM