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7.0 - Updated on 2024-03-22 by John Kelly

6.0 - Updated on 2023-10-11 by John Kelly

5.0 - Updated on 2023-10-02 by John Kelly

4.0 - Updated on 2023-03-27 by John Kelly

3.0 - Updated on 2020-03-16 by Denise Moser

2.0 - Updated on 2020-03-11 by Matthew McGuire

1.0 - Authored on 2015-07-06 by Chelsea Noble

First, please note that every folder has only one owner in Box; it is the person who created the folder. Being a co-owner on a folder is NOT the same as being the owner of a folder; these are 2 separate roles. Only a folder owner can make someone else a folder owner.

Second, folders are owned at the top-level (or root level). Sub-folders are owned by the top-level folder owner; whoever owns the top-level folder owns all sub-folders and the content contained within no matter who creates the sub-folder(s).

How to tell which folders you own?

  1. You own all private (yellow) folders.
  2. For the collaborative (blue) folders, click on the folder name and the Details tab (on the right) to see who is the owner.
    1. To see the Details tab, be sure to select the Toggle icon in the upper right that displays the right-hand pane.
    2. Toggle icon to Hide or Show Sidebar

When a person leaves the University or moves to another area of responsibility within the University, that person should transfer ownership of Box folders that they own which contain departmental content to another person in that department. The recommended approach is to move content following the instructions below.

For storing content specific to one’s department, it is recommended to create and use a group account to avoid the need to change folder ownership in the future.

There are 2 ways to change ownership of a folder and all of the contents contained within the folder: (1) Move the content to a folder owned by another; or (2) change the ownership of a folder from one person to another.

Note: Best practice is to move the content under most circumstances. If the folder structure to be moved is simple (i.e. the same collaborators have access to all sub-folders and content), then changing ownership is also an acceptable approach. The more complicated the collaboration under a folder, the better approach is to move the content. If you are unsure, choose option 1.

These approaches apply to moving the contents of a folder - and all collaborations - when you are the folder owner.

Option 1: Move a folder - and all its contents - to a folder owned by another

Moving content is the best approach to making someone else the folder owner. We recommend moving to a Box group account if you have one. See this link for more information on a group account and how to request one. 

For the below example, we’ll use the scenario that Jill owns a folder (name: Departmental Content Folder), will be leaving the University, and needs to transfer the contents to Jack.

  1. If Jill has the folder or any sub-folders sync’ed, it is recommended that Jill unsync the folder(s) from her desktop as the first step. This applies if the person is using Box Sync and not Box Drive (the streamng app). We recommend that people use Box Drive. 
  2. Jack should create a folder under his account and invite Jill as a collaborator for this folder. Jack should invite Jill giving her the default collaborator role of Editor. Jill needs Editor access in order to move content. Jill will now move the folder (not copy) “Departmental Content Folder” into the folder “Files from uniquename”
    1. The suggested naming structure for the folder that Jack creates is: “Files from uniquename” where uniquename is Jill’s NetID.
    2. Once Jill accepts the invitation from Jack, the folder “Files from uniquename” will display in Jill’s account.
    3. One may also want to look into using a Box group account instead of moving the files to Jack’s personal space. Anyone with Editor rights or above to the group folder can create the folder (i.e. Files from uniquename) as a sub-folder for Jill to move the contents.

Here are the steps to move the folder and contents:

  1. Following the above, Jack has created a folder and invited Jill as an Editor; Jill has accepted the invitation to collaborate on this folder.
  2. For the below folder, Jill will click on the lego icon (3 dots or ellipse) and choose Move or CopyContent folder options
  3. A Move/Copy Selected Item window will appear. Jill will navigate to the folder entitled “Files from uniquename”, select that folder (by selecting, the folder will be lightly highlighted and the text will change to underlined), and click the Move button
    Move or Copy the folder
  4. All content and collaborations move intact. Note: this is NOT true if you move individual files rather than a folder.
  5. These files now belong to Jack (or the group account if using that approach). Jill will remain a collaborator and have editor privileges to this folder and files as long as Jack wants Jill to have this access.
  6. To remove Jill as a collaborator, please see the documentation here
  7. Repeat steps 1-6 as needed to move additional folders that Jill owns.

Option 2: Change the ownership for a folder from one person to another

As noted above, if the collaborative nature of the folder structure that you plan to move is simple (i.e. the same collaborators have access to all sub-folders and content), then this approach is acceptable. If this is not the case, see option 1 above. If one is unsure about using this approach, use option 1 above.

A few notes before going to the link below:

  1. It is best practice that the folder owner unsync the folder from one’s desktop if the folder is synced.
  2. For step 4 in the link’s example, first click the ‘Access: Editor’ link to see the drop-down choices

See this link for documentation on changing folder ownership to a current collaborator:

To make someone who is not collaborating on the folder a folder owner, the first step is to invite that person as a collaborator to the folder, then follow the steps above to change the access to the Folder Owner.