Customizing Metadata Templates

Metadata allows your managed users to define and store custom data associated with their files in Box. As an admin, you can create templates for your managed users and enable them to keep track of file attributes such as owners, project names or release dates. Metadata makes it much easier to organize, understand and search through all of your Box files. You can reference Box’s end-user metadata documentation for more benefits and use cases. To enable your managed users to start using metadata in Box, create templates that they can choose from and apply to files.

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Creating Metadata Templates

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From the Admin Console

1. Go to Admin Console > Content.
2. Select the Metadata tab.
3. Select Create New.
4. Select Name Your Template and enter a name.
5. Create a name for your first attribute by selecting Name Your Attribute.
6. Select the Format down arrow and select the type of data your managed users can enter into the attribute you are creating.

7. Use the Description field to incorporate additional information about the attribute.
8. Select New Attribute to add additional attributes.
9. Use the Status drop down to indicate whether this template is Visible to your managed users or Hidden for the time being.
10. Select Save.

You must have at least one attribute in the template in order to save your template.

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From Box Extract

In addition to creating metadata templates in the Admin Console, Admins and Co-Admins can create metadata templates directly in Box Extract when creating or configuring a Custom Extract Agent. Create a Custom Extract Agent

1. Navigate to Automate and select the Extract tab.
2. Click New+ and select Custom Extract Agent.
3. Select up to 10 files to reference and extract data from, using the Custom Extract Agent.

From the configuration page of the Custom Extract Agent, you can choose:

• Generating a new metadata template with Box AI.
• Creating a new metadata template manually.
• Using an existing metadata template.

Generate a new metadata template with Box AI Using this option, Box AI analyzes the files in the source folders and generates a new metadata template based on the files you selected. You can then review the fields generated, adjusting any settings within the fields in Configure the agent.

• Admins and Co-Admins can select up to 10 sample documents for Box AI to analyze when generating a new metadata template. Based on the content and structure of these documents, Box AI automatically generates relevant metadata fields, including field names, field types, and extraction instructions.
• Admins and Co-Admins can review and edit the generated fields and their properties before saving and applying the template within the Custom Extract Agent. For more information about modifying metadata fields and extraction instructions, see Configure the agent.
• Once the template is created, you can select the template and fields you want to use in Configure the agent. The information shown after the template is created is an example of the data extracted from the files.

Create a new metadata template manually If you choose to create a new metadata template manually, you can add fields to the template by clicking the + Add field button and adding from the following field types:

• Text
• Number
• Date
• Dropdown
• Taxonomy

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Editing Metadata Templates

1. Go to Admin Console > Content.
2. Select the Metadata tab. A list of metadata templates displays.
3. Select the template you wish to edit.
4. Make any desired changes.
5. Select Save.

While editing a saved template, you can still add attributes by clicking Add Attribute. You can also hide existing attributes by clicking Hide, or delete existing attributes by clicking Delete. Within an attribute you cannot make changes to the Format field unless the format is a dropdown list. If you selected Dropdown for your format, you can add or delete options.

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Deleting Metadata Templates

You can delete metadata templates using the Metadata Template Deletion API. This is not yet available in the Admin Console. Once you have deleted a given metadata template, the metadata template instances that are associated with your files will also be deleted. This action cannot be undone.

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Hiding Metadata Templates

If you have any templates that you want to hide from users, whether this is a template you are still developing or if this is a template you want available only via API, you can hide these from managed users today.

1. Go to Admin Console > Content.
2. Select the Metadata tab. A list of metadata templates displays.
3. Select on the template you wish to hide.
4. From the Status dropdown menu, select Hidden.

To revive a template, simply follow the steps above and select Visible from the Status dropdown menu.

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Admin Report Logging

The creation, update, and deletion of metadata templates and metadata values are available in the Box User Activity Report. If the metadata template is changed or deleted, only one event is logged noting the template change/deletion. There is no separate event logged for all template values associated with items that are impacted.