BOX - Perpetual Access

When an employee leaves Baylor, ALL Files/Folder OWNED by their account go away on their last day. All collaborators, including Co-Owners, also LOSE ACCESS.  To regain access to business data, email the Helpdesk with the previous owner and folder name, if known; if not, describe the contents.

Best Practices:

• If you work in a folder having an individual Owner, ask them to transfer the Ownership to a resource account. 
• When you create a folder that should remain after you leave, make a resource account the folder owner

(A resource account is owned and managed by ITS; they are typically named for the group, such as English_Box or History_Box. If you do not see one for your unit, ask the HelpDesk to create one.)

How to make a resource account the Owner of a BOX folder where you are the Owner:

1. Create/Open the BOX folder
2. Elevate an existing Collaborator to Co-owner (so they can elevate you to co-owner after the transition)
3. Add a new collaborator (Editor) using your “department resource account” (chemistry_box) (history_box) (arts_sciences_box) (etc)
4. Transfer Ownership to the resource account
   • Open Collaborators for the folder
   • Click the 3 dot ellipsis next to the resource account
   • Assign "Owner" to the resource account; it becomes the folder “Owner” and you become an Editor
   • Ask another Co-Owner to elevate your account to Co-Owner (if desired)

NOTE: Co-Owners may do almost everything an Owner can do; they cannot MOVE the parent folder nor perform certain minor folder settings rarely needed (add private collaborators; restrict collaborators; restrict commenting; restrict shared-link access). Most folders do not need this; it is a good practice to have a Co-Owner in the folder. 

Folders with ongoing business data should be owned by a resource account, not an individual account. Perpetual ownership is the key to perpetual access.

Related: See the Box FAQ for how to transfer your personal data prior to departure.

Sample image of a Resource Account Owner with Co-owner and Editors:

Arts & Sciences Technology 
Created 06-15-22 due to increasing confusion when folks leave; Updated 08-25-23
If not clear, email astc @ baylor.edu to help us make this better.