Known Issues with Box

The following separate knowledge base articles document some known issues:

This article documents current known issues with Box

Box Edit won't open a file or claims not enough free space

This can happen if the Box Edit cache gets corrupted.  Use these instructions from Box to clear the cache.

Box Edit "file type not supported" error

Box Edit intermittently reports "file type not supported" for common files like Office (.docx, xlsx, pptx, etc). A subsequent attempt to open the file will generally be successful. To resolve the issue, download and install the latest version of Box Edit.

Google Chrome browser reports that "This site uses a plugin (application/x-boxedit) that is not supported"

Box has updated Box Edit to not use NPAPI browser plugins, which Google Chrome no longer supports. Installing the latest version of Box Edit should resolve the issue.

File version shows with "Will be permanently deleted on (date)" message

Box has a limit of 100 versions of a file. Once the versions exceed 100, the oldest versions will be marked to expire.

Specific file(s) will not open from within my Box Sync folder, but do open when I'm working with Box in my browser

This could be caused by one of two known limitations:

  • Your file name may contain characters that are not permitted in many systems. See this information about reserved characters and words that may cause a file to be inaccessible when using Box Sync.
  • The combined length of your file name, along with the folder names leading to where your file lives (sometimes referred to as the "path"), may exceed the length permitted on your system. Here is a link to Box documentation about this path length limitation.

Safari is prompting me to use "unsafe mode" when using Box

You can use Box with Safari, but you should not set your browser to always use "unsafe mode". Box has an online help article about how to use Box with Safari securely. However, please note that UIS recommends using the Chrome browser with Box for the greatest range of features and usability.

I can't drag and drop my files or folders to upload them

Drag and drop uploading is only available when using the Chrome browser. Chrome is our recommended browser partly for this reason. However, if you greatly prefer another browser, you can upload files and folders by clicking the Upload button (on the left above your list of files and folders).

When I use the Upload button, I'm able to upload files, but I can't upload folders

Box help has an article that will help resolve most folder upload issues.
If you are using Internet Explorer (IE) to access Box, it may be due to known problems with IE and folder uploads.
Please note that UIS recommends using the Chrome browser with Box for the greatest range of features and usability.

I can't find all of the sheets in my Excel workbook when viewing it in preview mode

Box preview does show all sheets in an Excel workbook, but it doesn't clearly demarcate each separate sheet. It starts a new "page" for each sheet, but if some of your sheets have a large number of rows, these will also show as multiple "pages" in preview. This can make it difficult to tell one sheet from another. For complex Excel workbooks, it can sometimes be easier to work with them by downloading them (if possible), rather than using the preview mode.

I'm unable to find a person to add as a collaborator

First, try searching for the person using their PUNet email address.
If you search by their PUNet email address and still don’t find them, they may not have their account built yet. But not to worry: their accounts will get created automagically when they log in! Have them go to https://pacificu.box.com and log in using their PUNet ID and password. Once they do that, within a few minutes or so, you should be able to find them when you search for them.

My Excel spreadsheet takes too long to preview, or times out before previewing

Very large spreadsheets, and especially workbooks with a large number of formulas, are harder for the Box previewer to display. If you are having a hard time previewing your spreadsheet, open it with Box Edit if you think you might need to make changes, or download it.

Integration with Google Docs gives an Auth error

  1. Sign out of all Google accounts.
  2. Sign out of Box.
  3. Sign back into Box.
  4. Follow these directions: Integrating With Google Docs Troubleshooting

See Also

For more information, please see the Box Introduction & Resources page.

Questions?

Contact Support