Box drive vs Box sync

Tags Box

Issue/Question

  • What is the difference between Box drive and Box sync?
  • Should we get Box sync or Box drive?

Environment

  • Oregon State University
  • Employee
  • Student
  • Box

Cause/Explanation

Box Sync and Box drive are two different desktop applications used to access Box content from any desktop environment. Having both programs Box Drive and Box Sync can cause issues. The latest Box drive has all the capabilities of Box sync. The latest box drive package comes with a box sync uninstaller already. Box sync is not being updated any more.

Functionality Box Drive Box Sync
Search and view all the content in your Box account (including read-only) X  
Upload content to any Box folder/ Open files from any Box folder X  
Lock content for editing X X
Mark content for offline access X X
Create and retrieve a Shared link X X
Manage collaborators X  
Change the mount location of the Box folder on your computer (enables shared links) X X
Change the cache location of Box files and data   X

Resolution

Method 1

  1. Go to https://www.box.com/resources/downloads
  2. Download the Box drive for your operating system.
  3. Install Box drive on your system.
  4. Sign in with your username@oregonstate.edu and authenticate it with the OSU login page.
  5. Once you have logged in successfully, it will mount a box disk on file explorer/Finder and you will be able to access all files and sync them.

For assistance, contact the Service Desk.

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