Prepare Your Box Connection (Beta)

To set up a Box content connection with Data Cloud, you need to provide some details. Gather this information before you get started. As you can store many different file types in your Box drive, only the supported file types are ingested into Data Cloud.

In order to fulfill authentication requirements, create a Box App for the Box API.
Skip this step, if you have created an app. Refer to Box’s instructions to create your first application, or follow these instructions.

  1. Open the Developer Console.
  2. From the Developer Console, go to My Apps and select Create New App.
  3. Select Custom App.
  4. For authentication, select User Authentication (OAuth 2.0). See Box's documentation for more information.
  5. Enter a name for the app. For example, My Box App.
  6. Proceed through the wizard providing all necessary information. You ‌are rerouted back to the Developer Console.
  7. Make sure your Box admin authorizes this app. Note: If the Box admin doesn't authorize the app you won't be able to ingest content to Salesforce.
  1. Open the Developer Console.
  2. Select your application you just created, or an existing application.
  3. In the settings window that appears, select Configuration.
  4. Confirm the settings are as described here. If they’re not, your connector may fail to work as expected.
  5. App Details
    • Purpose: Integration
    • Categories: All
    • Which external system are you integrating with: Salesforce.
  6. App Access Level:
    • App+Enterprise Access is selected.
  7. Application Scopes:
    • Read all files and folders stored in Box is selected.
    • Write all files and folders stored in Box is selected.
    • Manage Users is selected.
    • Manage Groups is selected.
    • Manage Enterprise Properties is selected.
  8. Advanced Features:
    • Generate user access tokens is selected.
  9. Select Save.

Prepare the authentication details for the Box application. These details are passed to Salesforce at runtime to authenticate with Box. If you’re not a Box admin, get assistance from your Box Drive admin. The admin needs to collect the following information:

  • Client ID
  • Client Secret
  • Box User ID
  1. Open the Developer Console.
  2. From the App Properties screen, select the General Settings tab.
  3. In the App Info section, locate your User ID and Enterprise ID (also called Box Subject ID). Copy and paste the User and Enterprise ID information in a safe location. You will need them later.
  4. From the App Properties screen, select the Configuration tab.
  5. Scroll down to the OAuth 2.0 Credentials section.
  6. Copy the Client ID and paste it in a safe location. You will need it later.
  7. Select Fetch Client Secret. Copy and paste the Client Secret in a safe location. You will need it later.

You can upload a folder from Box to Data Cloud, using the Folder ID. All supported content in the specified folder is ingested. If the folder contains another folder, its contents are ingested as well, and the resulting structure becomes flat. Subordinate folders aren't ingested, just the supported content.

  1. From the Box Home screen, select All Files.
  2. Select the folder you want to upload, and note its URL. The ID is the text that comes after /folder in the URL. For example: app.box.com/folder/301001112345. In this case, the ID is 301001112345.
  3. Repeat this for all the folders you want to ingest. Keep in mind you only need the parent folder. Any child folders or files located under the one you identify are ingested.
  4. Prepare a comma-separated list of all folder IDs. You will need this later.

If your Box Drive files are tagged, you can filter the ingestion by that tag. This allows you to include or exclude content based on the tag. To do this, make sure your content in Box is tagged.

This step is optional and only necessary if you want to filter the content ingested by tags. For example, your internal content is marked internal and you want to exclude this content.
  1. From the Home screen, select All Files.
  2. Locate the file you want to add tags to.
  3. In the list of files, select the More button (…) to open the reference menu.
  4. Select More Actions, and then select Add or Edit Tags.
  5. In the window that opens, add the tags. Each tag needs to be without spaces, but you can use dashes or underscores to separate words. If you want to add more than one tag, separate the tags with a comma without a space. Remember how you spell the tags and record them in a safe location because you will need this later.
  6. Select Save.

Set Up a Box Connection