Admin's Guide to Box Backup

1. Native Options for Retention

Box Governance

• Step 1: Go to your Box account. Then go to the admin console and "Governance."

• Step 2: Select “Retention.” Click “Create Retention Policy.”

• Step 3: Specify retention details, which include things like “Policy Name,” “Policy Description,” “Retention Type,” the data the retention policy affects, and the time period of the policy, etc. Hit "Next."

• Step 4: If the policy is to affect specific folders or specific metadata, choose “Select Folders” or “Select Metadata,” respectively. Select the folders or metadata you want to protect with the retention policy.

• Step 5: Review the retention policy. In the warning box, fill the necessary check boxes and select “Start Policy.” This will finally apply the retention policy.

Box Governance Retention Policy Limitations

• Retention policies only affect files within a selected folder, not subfolders.

• When a retention policy is activated, it will only stop once the time period is up. It cannot be edited or stopped while in effect.

• Only available to Enterprise Plus Plan users or as a paid add-on.

Legal Hold

• Step 1: To start a Legal Hold, enter your Box account, go to the admin console, go to the “Governance” section, then select “Legal Holds.”

• Step 2: Hit “Create” to start the legal hold process.

Legal Hold for Custodians

• Step 1: You must enter a “Legal Hold Name,” but a “Description” is not necessary.

• Step 2: Select the “Users (Custodians)” button.

• Step 3: Choose a date range for how long the files should be retained.

• Step 4: Select “Next” after finalizing these details.

• Step 5: Select “Add Custodians.” It is time to select who will be involved in the files.

• Step 6: Go to the “Users” box, then type the names of all the people you want as custodians. Click the “Add” button to make them custodians.

• Step 7: Hit the “Next” button and review the legal hold details.

• Step 8: To officially apply the legal hold, press “Start Policy.”

Legal Hold for Folders

• Step 1: Enter the name for the legal hold, as well as a description, just like with the custodian legal hold.

• Step 2: Click the “Policy Criteria” button, then the “Folders” option in the drop down.

• Step 3: Select “Next” in the top right.

• Step 4: Then hit the “Select Folders” option.

• Step 5: Using the “Select Folders” box, find the folder you want with the search bar. You can also filter for the file by user.

• Step 6: Once the system gives you the search results, select the folders you want to be under the legal hold.

• Step 7: Review the legal hold and select “Next.”

• Step 8: Turn on legal hold by clicking on “Start Policy.”

Legal Hold Limitations

• When setting up a legal hold on data owned by users you select as custodians, its start and end dates cannot be changed once selected.

• Only data between the selected start and end dates become part of the legal hold if you select an end date.

• Only users already in your account can be designated as custodians.

• As a part of Box Governance, the legal hold is only available to Enterprise Plus Plan users, or those who have it as a paid add-on to another Business Plan.

• A legal hold can be applied to folders too but goes so far as to affect subfolders as well. Based on your needs or preferences, this much reach may not be desirable.

2. Native Options for Box Backup

Download Single File/Folder at a Time

• Step 1: Login to your Box account and select the file/folder you want to download. You will know it’s selected when the box is highlighted.

• Step 2: Click the “Download” icon in the upper right. You should find the downloaded file/folder in your "Downloads" folder.

Download Multiple Files/Folders at a Time:

• If everything you want to download is in a list, hold “shift” on your keyboard and select the first and last files/folders you want to download. This will also select any data in between them, then all this data will be downloaded to your device.

• If the data you want to download to your device is not perfectly in sequence in a list, hold the “Control” key (“Command” on Mac), then select the files you want.

Downloading Data Limitations

• You are only downloading data onto your device. If something goes wrong with it, like a virus infection, your files may be corrupted or lost. This is not as safe/effective as backing up your files outside of your device.

3. Back up Box with Third-Party Services

Backup Box to Google Drive

• Step 1: First, login to your Box account and download the files you want from Box to your device. Right click on a file and select “Download” from the pop-up menu.

• Step 2: Enter your Google Drive account and press the “New” button in the “My Drive” section.

• Step 3: Click the “File upload" button to select and upload your downloaded file(s) to your Google Drive.

Google Drive Limitations

• While this process is relatively easy, it should be noted that it can be tedious if you have a lot of files you want to back up.

• You can back up entire folders worth of files by selecting a folder and hitting the “Folder upload” option instead of “File upload,” but this process can also be tedious if you have multiple folders to upload/save.

Backup Box to Dropbox

• Step 1: Login to your Box account and download your desired Box files onto your device. Do this by right clicking on the file/folder you want to backup, then select the “Download” option from the pop-up menu.

• Step 2: Enter your Dropbox account and click the “Upload” button on the homepage. Select whether you want to upload a file or folder.

• Step 3: Select what folder you want to upload the data to, then hit the “Upload” button at the bottom of the box.

DropBox Limitations

• Similar to Google Drive’s limitations, the process of downloading and uploading files/folders can become tedious if you have lots of data you want to transfer.

• Large amounts of data can slow down the application.

Backup Box Using SysCloud

• Automate backup processes and manage errors efficiently.

• Recover data from any point-in-time backup, preserving all sharing permissions and the original folder structure.

• Restore data to any Box account, maintaining sharing permissions and folder organization.

• Export individual files, folders, or an entire Box account.

4. Frequently Asked Questions on Box Backup

• How secure is Box?

• How long do files and folders stay in Box’s Trash folder after being deleted?

• Can files and folders be recovered after being deleted from the Trash folder?

• Can collaborators delete files and folders in Box?

• Can Box be accessed offline, too?