This is the documentation for the Box connector. Check Common Info for other details (selecting items, reviewing selections, monitoring, reporting, and disconnect behavior).
Global app settings
Before you can successfully authorize any AlphaSense Box connection type (Workspace), a Box Enterprise Admin must enable the required third-party app setting in the Box Admin Console.
- Open the Box Admin Console.
- In the left sidebar, go to Platform.
- Select the Platform Apps tab.
- Click Add + in the top-right corner.
- Enter the AlphaSense app client ID.
- Click Authorize to approve the app.
This is required for Private/Shared Connection type if the “Disable unpublished platform apps by default” is ON:
Syncing Your Account
To get started:
- Go to the Integration Center from the bottom left.
- Select Box from the list.
Connecting Your Account (Step 3):
- Click the Connect Box button. The Setup Wizard will walk you through the connection and let you choose a connection type.
Choose your connection type
During setup, you’ll choose one of the following connection types:
-
Private (Individual) connection
- Best for personal use and independent management of your integration.
- All content synced to AlphaSense is private to you by default.
- You can optionally share documents within AlphaSense after they’re ingested.
-
Shared connection
- It enables the ingestion of data and the mirroring of permissions, as seen on Box, into AlphaSense. All content ingested in this connection can be viewed by people who have access to the content on Box and are present in AlphaSense..
- Required roles: the connecting account must have Editor or Co-Owner on every folder to be synced. In Box, only Owner, Co-Owner, and Editor can invite collaborators and read who has access to a folder, which is what AlphaSense relies on to mirror permissions — a Viewer-level account is not sufficient to connect. End users only need Viewer (or higher) in Box to see the content in AlphaSense; Previewer and Uploader collaborators are intentionally not shared the content.
-
Workspace connection
- Best for organization-wide ingestion with permissions mirrored from Box into AlphaSense.
- Requires Box admin access for the account completing setup.
- Content ingested via this connection can be viewed by people who have access to that content in Box and are present in AlphaSense.
- Enterprise ID is required only for Workspace connections (details below).
- Required roles: the connecting (admin) account must have Editor or Co-Owner on the folders to be synced so collaborators can be read and mirrored. End users only need Viewer (or higher) in Box to view content in AlphaSense; Previewer and Uploader collaborators are intentionally not shared the content.
Sign In and Select Folders:
- Follow the prompts to sign in to Box and grant AlphaSense access.
- For a Workspace connection, enter your Box Enterprise ID when prompted (see how to find it below).
- Select the folders you want to sync, then review and confirm your selections. See Common Info for details on selecting items, reviewing selections, monitoring, and reporting.
Workspace connection: find your Box Enterprise ID
To authenticate a Workspace connection, AlphaSense requires your Box Enterprise ID.
How to find it in Box:
- Log in to Box with a Box admin account.
- Open the Admin Console.
- Go to Account & Billing. And Copy the Enterprise ID shown there.
Continue setup in AlphaSense:
Paste the Enterprise ID into the Enterprise ID field in the AlphaSense Box setup flow. And Proceed with the Box login/authorization prompts to complete setup.
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Q: Do I need an Enterprise ID for every Box connection type?
- A: No. The Enterprise ID is required only for the Workspace connection type.
Q: What permissions are required to set up a Workspace connection?
- A: You must use a Box admin account to complete Workspace connection setup.
Q: What are the different permissions we can apply in BOX?
- A: These are the roles we can apply in Box:
| Role | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Owner | Full control. Only role that can delete root-level folders or transfer ownership. |
| Co-Owner | Everything an Editor can do plus managing collaborators and advanced folder settings. Cannot transfer ownership or delete root-level folders. |
| Editor | Read/write: view, download, upload, edit, delete, copy, move, rename. Can invite collaborators, generate/edit shared links, comment, assign tasks, lock files. |
| Viewer Uploader | Viewer + ability to upload new content and create subfolders. Cannot add tags, invite collaborators, or delete items. |
| Viewer | Read-only: preview, download, comment, generate view-only shared links. Cannot upload, edit, delete, invite collaborators, or change shared link settings. |
| Previewer Uploader | Can preview, comment, add tasks, and upload. Cannot download, share, edit, or delete. |
| Previewer | Preview only — view content in the integrated viewer, comment, add tasks. Cannot download, copy text, share, upload, edit, or delete. |
| Uploader | "Drop box" mode. Can upload and see item names, but cannot download or view content. |
Roles
Q: Which Box roles are needed for setup vs. for an end user to see content in AlphaSense?
- A: Box and AlphaSense treat roles differently depending on whether you are the account connecting Box, or an end user who just needs to read content.
- The connecting account (the user who authorises the integration) needs to be at least an Editor or Co-Owner on the folders it is expected to sync. In Box, only Owner, Co-Owner and Editor roles are able to invite collaborators and read the list of people who have access to a folder. AlphaSense relies on that ability to mirror permissions correctly, so an account with only Viewer-level access on a folder is not sufficient for the connection.
- End users who just need to view content in AlphaSense only need Viewer access (or higher) on the file or folder in Box. Anyone Box recognises as Viewer, Viewer Uploader, Editor, Co-Owner or Owner will see the document in AlphaSense.
- Previewer and Uploader collaborators are intentionally not shared the file in AlphaSense. A Previewer in Box can only see content inside Box's in-browser viewer, and an Uploader cannot view content at all — neither role grants the kind of read access that AlphaSense considers "shared", so these collaborators are filtered out and the document is not surfaced to them in AlphaSense.
Q: How does Box's waterfall (cascading) permissions model work, and how does AlphaSense honour it?
- A: Box applies permissions in a top-down "waterfall":
- A collaborator added to a folder automatically gets the same role on every subfolder and file inside it. Sharing flows from parent to child — you cannot add someone at a parent level and then restrict them on a specific subfolder underneath.
- You can elevate a user on a child folder (for example, a Viewer on
Marketing/can be made an Editor onMarketing/Campaigns/), but you cannot demote them below the role they inherit from the parent. - Files inherit collaborators from the folder that contains them. A user's effective access to a file is the highest role they hold on the file itself or on any of its ancestor folders.
AlphaSense mirrors this behaviour end-to-end:
- When a folder is ingested, its collaborators are read from Box and mapped to AlphaSense sharees, subject to the role rules above (Viewer and higher are shared; Previewer and Uploader are not).
- Subfolders and files do not need to be re-shared explicitly in AlphaSense — access cascades down from the parent folder, exactly like in Box.
- When a user is removed from a folder in Box, or downgraded to a role that AlphaSense does not consider "shared" (for example, demoted to Previewer or Uploader), their access to every file under that folder is revoked in AlphaSense as well.