UW-Madison Box - Additional Apps

This document provides information on various apps available for use with your Box account.

Available Apps

You can go beyond Box's basic features by utilizing some of the apps available for account access and integration. Some of these apps allow you to access your UW-Madison Box account on mobile devices, while others incorporate features that add or expand on existing options.

You can view all available Box apps by selecting the Apps tab from your UW-Madison Box account, or by clicking this link (this will still require you to log in to UW-Madison Box): Go to the Box App Center

You may notice that some applications appear to be "Blocked", these are integrations with other services that have not been approved for use with the UW-Madison Box service. These applications require additional configuration or have a higher level of access to UW-Madison files, folders or user accounts. A Cybersecurity Risk Assessment needs to be completed prior to approval.

It is important to note that the majority of available apps are not officially endorsed by Box. Please read on to the next section for more information on official vs. unofficial Box apps.

Available by Default Apps

Certain official Box application integrations have been added to all UW-Madison Box accounts by default which means that individual accounts do not need to search for and install the application in order for it to be available. The following integrations are available by default:

App Security

Just because an app is not officially endorsed by Box does not mean it is necessarily unsafe to use. All apps listed under the Apps tab have been reviewed by Box; a few unofficial apps are installed for your account by default to add features that would not otherwise be available, e.g., Adobe Acrobat for Box.

While these unofficial apps are legitimate, there is one major caveat—only official Box apps guarantee the same level of security and compliance covered in UW-Madison's license agreement with Box. While it is not in violation of the terms of service to use a third-party app, you must be aware of this distinction when working with sensitive data.

For example, if you are managing data that is subject to HIPAA regulations, it is your responsibility to work with your HIPAA Security Coordinator to ensure any unofficial apps you may use to access this data have individually guaranteed that they are also compliant.

Note: Individual Box accounts cannot be used to store HIPAA protected data, for more information please see: UW Madison Enterprise Box Service Terms of Use

Installing Apps

All Box apps are available for download and will typically be installed using the standard procedure for your Operating System or device. For Windows and Mac OS X, this will involve downloading and running the installer file. Installation instructions are often linked from the app's description page and/or included in the installer.

  • If you need additional assistance installing an official Box app for use with your UW-Madison Box account, please Contact the DoIT Help Desk.

  • For help with all other third party apps, please contact the developer using the support information included on the app's description page:

  • Example: If a user needs help with Adobe Acrobat for Box, they should contact adobebox@adobe.com 

    Page displaying the Adobe Acrobat for Box app with an arrow pointing to the email to contact for that service

App Passwords

For all Box apps that are configured to use Single Sign-On (SSO), you should be able to login using your NetID password, however, many apps will not have this option available.

If you plan to use an app that does not have SSO capabilities, you will need to create a special external password that will be tied to your account. For instructions on configuring an external password for your account, please see: UW-Madison Box - Creating an External Password for Use with Applications that Do Not Support NetID Login.

Review App Access

You can review which applications have been granted access to your account and see the date, time and location of that access from the Account Settings of your UW-Madison Box account.

In the upper right-hand corner of your home screen in the UW-Madison Box, click on the menu labeled with your account avatar (Note: this will be your initials if you have not uploaded an image). Then, select Account Settings from the drop-down menu and navigate to the Security tab. For more information about the contents of the Security tab please see Box Support documentation: Login Activity