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The Admin Console is the administrative layer for your organization, where you carry out organization-wide tasks: managing users and their settings, creating groups and folder membership at scale, as well as accessing, sharing, locking, and inspecting files in users’ accounts. You can review usage, storage, and deployment in Insights, run organization-wide Reports, and set Enterprise Settings so global rules apply to every user. You can also control which applications managed users may use, manage enterprise development sandboxes, and control access to additional Box features. Follow this guide to learn the basics of Box admin tools and understand how you can control your organization’s settings.

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Accessing the Admin Console

The Admin Console is available on Business Starter plans and above. (Free developer accounts include a limited subset of Admin Console features.)
  1. Go to app.box.com/login.
  2. Enter your email or username and password or use Single Sign-On (SSO) if enabled for your account.
  3. After you sign in, in the Box navigation bar, click Admin Console .
What you can open in the Admin Console depends on your plan, optional products (such as Shield or Governance), and which co-admin permissions you have been granted. See the Box Pricing page for features by plan.
Organization-wide SSO is configured under Enterprise Settings; see Setting Up Single Sign-On (SSO) for Your Organization. End users and admins still authenticate through Box login or your company IdP according to how SSO is implemented.
The Admin Console’s main navigation lists the areas you can configure. Which options you see depends on your plan, add-ons, and co-admin permissions. In most cases, choosing an item opens a page with tabs across the top where related settings are grouped. To learn what settings you can access in each area, review the following table.
DestinationUsageCommon tasks
InsightsReview organization-wide Box usage, storage, and deployment statistics.View storage and bandwidth
Users and GroupsAdd or remove users, manage their settings, convert unmanaged users to managed users, and create groups and manage membership (including folder membership for departments or teams).
ContentAccess, share, lock, and get details about files in each user’s Box account.
ReportsRun account-wide reports such as usage logs, file and user statistics, and security audits.Run user details report
ClassificationCreate, modify, and delete security classification labels for your organization’s deployment.
ShieldCreate detection rules and access policies based on classification labels.
GovernanceCreate and configure policies, holds, and related controls to keep organizational content secure.
RelayCreate and configure workflow automations centered on content.
GxPMonitor validation of Box functionality for use with regulated content.
PlatformManage your enterprise’s development sandboxes.
IntegrationsControl which applications managed users are permitted to use.
Account & BillingModify your Box account and reach the Box sales team.
Enterprise SettingsManage global settings; rules here apply to each user in the enterprise (including security, sign-in, content and sharing, notifications, mobile, Sign, Box clients, and more).
For a full walkthrough of the console, see the Admin Console Guide.

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Searching the Admin Console

Use the Admin Console search to open users, groups, enterprise settings, and help topics. It does not search inside users’ file contents.
  1. At the top of the Admin Console, click in the search field to open the search panel.
  2. Type your keyword (at least three characters in English, or two in Japanese). Results appear by category as you type.
  3. Click a result to go to that user, group, setting, or topic.
To limit the search to one area, use SEARCH IN in the panel to pick a category first. For scope, permissions, and recent searches, see Searching the Admin Console.

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Searching content across users

Content Manager search finds files and folders owned by or accessible to your managed users (Business Plus and above for Content Manager). This is separate from the Admin Console search bar above, which does not return file body content.
  1. Go to Admin Console > Content.
  2. Open the Content Manager tab.
  3. Enter keywords in the Content Manager search bar and run the search. Optionally click Filters to narrow results.
For syntax (for example name: and contents:), shared links, and file IDs, see Searching for files and folders. For what Content Manager can do, see About Content Manager.

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Adding managed users

Managed users are Box accounts your company creates and controls through the Admin Console (unlike external collaborators or personal sign-ups you later claim). When you add someone this way, you are provisioning them into the enterprise: Box sends the invitation or creates the account, their usage counts against your plan and storage, and you can enforce login rules, apps, and other defaults on that person. You must be an admin, a co-admin with Manage users permissions, or a group admin. See Adding managed users for CSV import and advanced options.
  1. Go to Admin Console > Users and Groups.
  2. Open the Managed Users tab.
  3. Click Add Users, then Add Users Manually.
  4. Enter each person’s name and email. Optionally assign groups or folders.
  5. Click Save.
After users exist, you can configure their accounts in more detail.

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Running an organization report

Generate exports and logs about your whole Box deployment: who did what, how storage and bandwidth are used, collaborations, security events, and similar. When you run a report, Box compiles that data for a chosen report type, time range, and other filters, and then delivers a file into your Reports folder for download, sharing, or audit. Reports require a Business plan or above. Co-admins need report permissions.
  1. Go to Admin Console > Reports.
  2. Click Create Report.
  3. Select a report type, then click Next.
  4. Set options and the date range (if the report offers them).
  5. Click Run. Completed reports are saved in your Box Reports folder.
For scheduling, saving layouts, and subscribers, see Running reports.

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Next steps

When you are comfortable with these basics, go deeper with the following topics:

Large Scale Deployments

Governance Settings

Adding Managed Users

Configuring and Editing Users

Searching for Files and Folders

Managing File Requests

Recovering Content

Creating and Managing Groups

Setting Up Single Sign-On (SSO) for Your Organization

Configuring Multi-Factor Authentication

Running the User Details Report

Governance Settings

IT & Admin Console Troubleshooting & FAQs