Files.com's integration with Box allows you to integrate with Box in several different ways.

Files.com's Remote Server Mount feature gives you the ability connect a specific folder on Files.com to the remote server in a real time manner.

That folder then becomes a client, or window, accessing the files stored in your remote server or cloud.

Once you configure a Mount, any operation you perform on or inside that folder will act directly on the remote in real time. Whether you are dropping a file into that folder, deleting a file, creating a subfolder, or performing any other file/folder operations your Files.com user has permissions for, those operations will "pass through" to the remote in real time.

This powerful feature enables a wide variety of use cases such as accessing files on a counterparty (client or vendor)'s cloud without provisioning individual access to individual users, reducing storage costs by leveraging on-premise or bulk storage solutions, enabling applications to access 3rd party clouds via Files.com API, FTP, SFTP, or Files.com Apps and many more.

Alternatively, Files.com's Remote Server Sync feature give you the ability to push or pull files to or from remote servers. This means that the files will exist in both places at the end of the sync process.

A remote sync can be a "push", where files from your Files.com site are transferred to the remote server, a "pull" where files are transferred from the remote server to your Files.com site, or a two-way "sync" where files that are new or changed in either location are pushed and pulled to maintain a synchronized state between the folder on your Files.com site and that on the remote server.

Add Box as a Remote Server

Type "Remote servers" in the search box at the top of every page, and then click on the matching result. Click the Add new remote server button and select Box.

Enter a descriptive name for the "Internal name for this connection" field, select your preferences for the Dedicated IPs and Data Regional Routing settings for this connection, and Save.

The options for specifying Dedicated IPs and Data Regional Routing will only appear if your site is configured to allow those options. Dedicated IPs are only available when a Custom Domain has been configured. Data Regional Routing is only available if your top-level, or root, folder is set to a non-USA geographic region.

Once your new Remote Server is saved, select the Connect button to connect and authenticate with Box.

A popup will display with the Box login form. By logging in, you are connecting your Files.com site with your Box account.

Once your Remote Server is connected, you can use it with Files.com as either a Remote Server Mount or Remote Server Sync.

Using Multiple Box Accounts

You can create as many Box Remote Servers as required. Repeat the above instructions and enter different credentials each time the Box login page is presented.

However, if you are using Single-Sign-On (SSO) with Box then your web browser will always try and log you in using your currently logged-in credentials. The popup Box login page will automatically log you in without giving you the option to enter different credentials. This is normal web SSO behavior. If you have this issue, you can try to circumvent the Single-Sign-On by logging out of Box within your web browser prior to connecting the new Remote Server, use an incognito web browser window or use a different computer and web browser that hasn't logged into Box yet.

Add Remote Server Mount

Remote Server Mounts are created by mounting them onto an empty folder in Files.com. This folder should ideally not be the Root of your site, although that is supported if you need it.

From the Files icon on the left, navigate to the location where you want the mounted folder to be and create a new folder. Navigate into the newly created folder and click the Folder Settings button on the top right.

Select Remote Server Mount from the list and click Add new remote server mount button. Select the remote server.

Choose the Remote folder, which is the portion of the remote file system that will be mounted into this folder on Files.com. You can either by leave the default " / " (i.e., the remote server's root directory) or click on Choose a different folder link and navigate to the remote folder you want to this folder to connect to.

Click the Save button. The folder will reload and immediately list the remote folders/files from the selected remote path.

Add Remote Server Sync

If you instead prefer to do a Sync with the remote, follow these directions.

From Files, navigate into the folder where you would like to add the remote server sync and click Folder settings > Sync to/from remote server.

Click the Add new remote server sync button to reveal the form.

Select the server you would like to transfer to or from by clicking on the Remote server menu.

Sync Direction

Next choose your Sync direction. You have three choices:

Push to the remote server: This option uploads files and folders from your designated folder in your Files.com site to the remote server.

Pull from the remote server: This option downloads files from the remote server and saves them in your designated folder in your Files.com site.

Two-way sync: this option checks for new files, deleted files, and changed modification dates on both servers and then pushes and pulls as needed to keep the folders synchronized on both servers.

Delete or Keep After Copying

You have the option to delete files on the source server after a push or pull. Use the After copying menu to select whether you would like files that are successfully transferred to be deleted from or kept on the source server.

Remote Path

Enter the remote path to or from which you would like files and folders transferred, starting after the folder/directory your remote user lands in upon authentication.

For example: if the remote server has a folder structure folderA/folderB/folderC, and the user credentials that you have configured your sync server to log in with automatically land that user inside folderA, then to properly configure your sync folder behavior to transfer files to or from folderC, you would enter the path as folderB/folderC.

Case Sensitivity

Be aware of case sensitivity differences when copying, moving, or syncing files and folders between Box and other storage locations. Box is a case insensitive system whereas other systems may be case sensitive. This can cause files to be overwritten, and folders to have their contents merged, if their case insensitive names are a match.

Reauthenticating

Certain remotes that use OAuth for authentication may require regular rotation of your credentials. When this is needed, you will see an alert in the top left of the web interface. You can click the link in that alert to re-authenticate and re-establish the connection to the remote.

What To Do When Your Remote Server Connection Is Disabled

Because Box uses the oAuth authorization protocol, there may be future errors with the authentication even after your remote server is configured and running smoothly for some time. When one of those errors happens, Files.com will disable your Box remote server connection and record the error in your External Events log.

When you've resolved the problem that caused the authentication error, you can re-enable your remote server by saving its configuration. Even if you don't make any changes to the configuration, saving the record will cause Files.com to re-enable the connection so that any associated mounts and syncs will begin working again.

Troubleshooting

Make sure that the permissions of the Box user account are correct. Files.com will only be able to perform actions that are allowed for the Box user. The Box user account being used should have "Editor" permissions, or higher.

There are some actions that are not allowed for "Viewer" permissions unless the user performs those actions on the Box platform itself. This means that some "Viewer" actions that succeed on the Box platform will not succeed for the same user when they access Box from another platform, such as Files.com.

Cannot Download File

When attempting to download a file from a Box Remote Mount folder, you may see errors such as Box errored while trying to Download: '403:' or Could not download {path} due to:.

These errors occur when the Box user only has "Viewer" permission and attempts to download a watermarked file. Box only allows watermarked files to be downloaded directly from their own platform via their online viewer app. Watermarked files are prohibited from being downloaded any other way by "Viewer" permission users of Box.

Change the Box user's permission to "Editor" to resolve this issue.