Common Issues for Workgroups

Workgroup folders in Box

• The name of the workgroup folder is the same as the name of the Stanford workgroup; it should never be changed in Box.
• Workgroup folders can only be created from workgroups owned by departments, divisions, and projects. You cannot create a workgroup folder for a personal workgroup  — those that  have the ~ (tilde) character in the name. See the Workgroups page more information.
• By default, workgroup folders are shared with People in this folder. You can change the setting to People in your company (all of Stanford University) or Anyone with the link.  To update the folder access, click the Share link for the folder and expand the access list.

Membership

• Stanford workgroup members who don't  yet have a Box account are not defined as a collaborator in the Box workgroup folder.  They will need to login to Box to be added to the Box workgroup folder (see Timing below).
• All Stanford workgroup members have Editor permissions, which enables them to create, delete, and modify content, and also to manually invite other collaborators to the folder or any subfolders they create.
• To define a Box workgroup folder with a limited number of people with Editor permissions, create a new Stanford workgroup with only those members.  Those members can then invite other collaborators to the folder and set their permissions as desired.
• Staff who have left Stanford do not have access to the content in the Box department folder because that access requires a SUNet ID.
• If an administrator unlinks and then relinks a Stanford workgroup to Box, the workgroup members  reappear in Box, but  individuals who were manually invited to be collaborators do not reappear in Box and will need to be added again.
• A workgroup can be linked to only one Box workgroup folder. Also, you cannot link two workgroups to the same workgroup folder. For this reason, we recommend creating a new workgroup with a meaningful name (relating to the content:project name, initiative name, etc.) and then nest the workgroups you wish to have access.
• If you link a workgroup with nested workgroups below it, all members of both workgroups (both the parent workgroup and the nested workgroup) are defined with Editor access to the workgroup folder in Box.

Timing

• If a Box account is created after the workgroup is already linked to Box, it can take up to one hour for a person be be added to the workgroup Box folder.
• When a change is made in the Stanford workgroup after the workgroup is linked to Box, it can take up to 24 hours for a person be be added to the workgroup Box folder.
• If an administrator unlinks a Stanford workgroup from Box after it has been linked and members have been created, all members of the workgroup (including the administrator) will no longer see the workgroup folder in Box and any data within it immediately following the unlink.  At that point, the data  resides in an "inactive" Box account.  The data is not deleted until the expiration date for the account is hit.  Currently there is no expiration date on the account, however this policy could change in the future.  If this policy changes, the policy will be documented on the service page.  Note: Linking the workgroup to Box again brings back the workgroup folder in Box with all data unless the expiration date on the account has been exceeded.