UW-Madison Box - File Management

This document provides instructions on managing files in your UW-Madison Box account. Note: Some of the links below will open on the external Box Support website.

Uploading Files and Folders

Box offers several different options for uploading individual files, multiple files, and entire folders to your account. For information on using each of these options, see the below resources:

Upload Troubleshooting

If you experience issues with uploading files or folders, there are a number of possible factors that may be the cause. Box offers a troubleshooting guide that can help you resolve most common problems: Troubleshooting Uploads to Box

File and Folder Actions

Once you have uploaded files to your Box account or have editing permissions for files shared with you, there are a number of actions you can perform on these files and folders. For information on creating folders, as well as moving, renaming, deleting, and searching for both files and folders, please see: Managing Files and Folders

Organize Files and Folders

Over time, your Box directory can grow quite large, particularly if you often collaborate with others in Box. This can make it more difficult to navigate to the items you have access to. There are several things you can do to stay organized.

  • For content you own, it is always a good practice to regularly review your main directory to see if anything can be deleted, please see: How to Delete a File or Folder
  • If you were added as a collaborator to items that you no longer need to access, you can remove them from your directory by ending the collaboration, please see: How To End A Folder Collaboration
  • Another way to view only the content you access regularly is to organize them into collections, please see: Using Collections 
Note: Only Owners or collaborators with Co-Owner or Editor permissions may delete a shared file or folder. If you would instead like to remove a shared folder from your Box directory without deleting it, please see: How To End A Folder Collaboration.

Locking a File

If you are working on files with collaborators it is a good idea to lock the file while you are making edits. This will also prevent other users from accidentally moving, renaming, or deleting the file. For more information please see: Locking & Unlocking Files

Note: Depending on the permission level other collaborators can remove the file lock. See: Understanding Collaborator Permission Levels

How to Delete a File or Folder

Below are instructions on how to delete a folder/file:

  1. Right-click (or click the ellipsis (...)) on a file/folder and then click Trash.
  2. Alternatively, you can click next to the file/folder name to select it, then in the upper-right click the trash icon.

Note: For more information on how to delete files and folders, go to: Delete Files or Folders

Recovering Deleted Items

When you delete a file or folder, it is first moved to the Trash of your account, where it resides for a period of time until it is purged automatically, or until you opt to permanently delete the file or empty your Trash. As long as an item still exists in your Trash, you can easily restore it to your active Files and Folders. For instructions on restoring items from your Trash, see: Managing Trash

Note: The article linked above states the standard time frame before items are purged from the Trash as 30 days from deletion. While this is true for personal accounts, this time has been extended for UW-Madison users to 90 days.

Version History

Anytime you make a change to a file stored in your Box account, a version of the file will be saved, which you can later access and restore from if need be. Box Enterprise accounts maintain up to 100 versions of modified files. For information on viewing a file's version history and restoring from a specific version, please see: Accessing Version History