Box - Moving Files and Folders Out of Box


There are several methods that can be used to move files and folders from Box to other locations. The best method for most users to move their files is using a browser from Box.byu.edu. If you have a lot of small files Box Drive is very slow to move/copy the data because it does a copy and paste from the OS and requests one file at a time sequentially. It is better to use a browser to move them from Box to desktop.

If you would rather not move the files from box.byu.edu, you may also use Box Drive with a file copying program or use a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to move files out of Box. This article will focus on those three methods.

 

Method 1: Box Web App 

This method is quickest and easiest. However, it is not ideal if you are moving over 500 files at a time. For use cases that involve transferring over 500 files or folders, refer to the two methods below.

  1. Open a new browser window and go to box.byu.edu.

  2. Sign in with your NetID credentials.

  3. Locate the file or folder that you want to move and click on the ellipsis to the right of the file or folder name.

  4. Click on Download.

  5. Once the files have been downloaded to your computer, open File Explorer/Finder.

  6. Go to the Downloads folder and you can drag and drop the files from there to other locations on your computer where you want to store the files. Alternatively, you can right-click on the file and select  Copy and navigate to the new location you want to store the file and and then right-click and select Paste. If you are needing to move lots of files from your Download folder to another folder at one time, you can use Method 2 to do that.

 

Method 2: Box Drive/File Explorer or Finder

This method is good for transferring large amounts of files. It requires you to download a program that speeds up the file copying process so that multiple files can be queued at a time during the copy instead of one at a time. Some examples include Ultracopier, TeraCopy, etc. Ultracopier is free, works on Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems, and is downloadable from this link: http://ultracopier.first-world.info/download-all.html

The instructions below are for Ultracopier. There may be slight differences between programs, but the instructions should be very similar across different programs. 

  1. Click the carrot icon on the task bar of the computer and then right-click on the Ultracopier icon (it should look like a disk).

  2. Click on the option to Add copy/moving, and then depending on your needs, choose Add copy, Add transfer, or Add move.

  3. In the File Explorer/Finder window that opens, navigate to the folder or file that you want to move and click Open. 

  4. Then navigate to the location that you want the files to move or be copied to and click Open again.

  5. The file transfer should begin and you can follow its progress in the Ultracopier window. After it completes, you can open File Explorer/Finder and verify that the transfer moved the files to the right location.

  6. If any errors occur during the transfer process, contact the Technology Support Center at 801-422-4000.

Note: Ultracopier can be installed on Linux from a command line. On Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint or any distribution derived from these, you can run the following to install Ultracopier:

sudo apt-get install ultracopier

On Arch Linux, Arco Linux, or Manjaro, the installation can be done by running the following:

yay -S ultracopier

 

Method 3: File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

This method works well for large file transfers. In order to use this method, you will need to download an FTP client. Some examples of good FTP clients are FileZilla and SmartFTP. FileZilla is traditionally easier to use across platforms. FileZilla can be downloaded from the following link: https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?show_all=1.

Note: The instructions below are for FileZilla, but should be very similar for other FTP clients.

  1. Open FileZilla.

  2. Before proceeding, you'll need to go sign in to your Box account in a browser, click on your initials in the top right, and go to Account Settings. Scroll down and select Create Password. Choose a password and type it in (Note: This password does not replace your BYU Box account password, and will only be used to sign in to the FTP client). After doing this, go back to FileZilla and enter the following in the boxes across the top:
    • Server/Host: ftp.box.com

    • Username: Your Box account email address (i.e. your NetID@byu.edu)

    • Password: Your newly created Box password

    • Port: 21

      After entering this information, click QuickConnect. You may see a message that prompts you to allow the connection. Click OK.

  3. You should now see the files and folders from your Box account on the right side of the screen, and the folders in your File Explorer/Finder on the left side of the screen. You can now drag and drop files from your Box account into the locations in File Explorer/Finder, including other storage services that are set up on your computer such as Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.

  4. On the top portion of the screen, you can monitor the progress of the file copying. You may occasionally be prompted to overwrite a file if a file you copied already exists in the destination that the file is moving to. If you choose to do this, it will simply replace the original file with the file that was copied over. Alternatively, you can go to Transfer=>Manual Transfer to set up a file transfer by specifying the original location and the new location in the options listed.

    If you have any issues getting one of these methods set up, please call the Technology Support Center at 801-422-4000.

 

Instructions for CSRs:

If a user prefers to not use a file copying client or an FTP client, another option that you can use is running Robocopy or a similar program from PowerShell. All you need to do is download the program and do the following:

  1. Open a new PowerShell window as an Administrator.

  2. To copy all the files in one path to a new location without including subdirectories, run the following command: 
Robocopy /FFT  originalfolderpath newfolderpath 

Note: The /FFT flag allows Robocopy to ignore time differences of less than 2 seconds on files, which speeds up the copying process. 

Alternatively, to run the same command and include subdirectories and empty directories, run the following:

Robocopy /FFT /S /E originalfolderpath newfolderpath 

If you want to run the same command without including empty directories, simply remove the /E from the command line.

Another helpful flag is the /MIR flag, which copies everything in the original directory to the new directory. The dangerous part about using this flag is that it will delete any files that are in the new directory that don't exist in the original directory. Do not use this option unless you are okay with your files being deleted.