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When you invite someone as a collaborator on a folder, you choose a permission level that controls what they can do with your content. The table below shows which actions are available at each level.

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Feature availability by plan

Some collaborator roles and shared link features depend on your Box plan:
  • All accounts: Editor and Viewer collaborator roles.
  • Business and Enterprise accounts: Co-owner, Previewer, Uploader, Viewer Uploader, and Previewer Uploader roles. An admin must enable these in Admin Console > Enterprise Settings > Content & Sharing > Collaborating on Content. These additional roles apply only to folders. Single-file collaborations support only Editor and Viewer.
  • Paid plans only: Shared link password protection and shared link auto-expiry are not available on free Individual accounts.

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Permissions by collaborator role

The following table shows the actions each collaborator role can perform. Superscript numbers link to the Notes and conditions section below the table.
ActionCo-ownerEditorViewer UploaderPreviewer UploaderViewerPreviewerUploader
Viewing & Navigation
Previewโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”
View Item List in Folderโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“
View Tagsโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“
View Metadataโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“
View / Export Content Insightsโœ“โœ“12โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
View Recent User Activity in Preview Headerโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Content Editing
Edit Fileโœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Edit File Nameโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Edit Folder Nameโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Edit Metadataโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โœ“
Add / Edit Tagsโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Edit Folder Settingsโœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Create Annotationsโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“2โœ“โœ“2โ€”
Delete Annotationsโœ“3โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
File Management
Uploadโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โœ“
Downloadโœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โœ“โ€”โ€”
Copyโœ“โœ“โœ“5โ€”โœ“4โ€”โ€”
Moveโœ“8โœ“8โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Delete Files / Foldersโœ“7โœ“7โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Lock / Unlock Fileโœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Create Subfoldersโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โœ“
Printโœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โœ“โ€”โ€”
Mark for Offline (Box Drive)โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โœ“โ€”โ€”
Mark for Offline (Box Mobile)โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“10โ€”
Sync Folder (Box Sync only)โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Sharing & Links
Send View-Only Linksโœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โœ“โ€”โ€”
Set Shared Link Passwordโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
File Request Linkโœ“โœ“6โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Collaboration
Invite Peopleโœ“โœ“11โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Set a Collaboratorโ€™s Level of Accessโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Restrict Invitationsโœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
View / Add Comments1โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”
View / Create Tasksโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”
Workflows & Advanced
Build Relay Workflowโœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Create Box Sign Signature Requestsโœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โœ“โ€”โ€”
Save Box Sign Signature Requests to a Folderโœ“โœ“โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โœ“
Create / Delete Folder Lock (API only)โœ“โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”โ€”
Box Item9โœ“โœ“โ€”โ€”โœ“โ€”โ€”

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Notes and conditions

The numbered notes below correspond to the superscript numbers in the permissions table. They are grouped by category so you can skip sections that donโ€™t apply to you.

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Role-specific behavior

  1. Comment deletion: Comments can be deleted only by the folder owner, co-owner, or the person who created the comment.
  2. Annotation limits for Previewers: Previewers and Previewer Uploaders can create annotations but cannot highlight and comment.
  3. Annotation deletion: Annotations can be deleted by owners and co-owners of the folder containing the annotated document, as well as by the annotation creator.
  4. Copy for Viewers: Viewers can download a file and re-upload it elsewhere, or use <kbd>Ctrl+C / <kbd>Ctrl+V to copy a file to another folder they have access to.
  5. Copy for Viewer Uploaders: Viewer Uploaders can only copy using keyboard shortcuts. The Copy option does not appear in the context menu.
  6. File Request Link: Currently applies only to the enhanced version of File Request.

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Scope and ownership

  1. Deleting files and folders: Co-owners and editors can delete sub-folders but not root-level folders. Only owners can delete folders at the root level. If a co-owner attempts to delete a root folder, they receive an option to End Collaboration. Co-owners and editors can permanently delete collaborated content from trash if the ownerโ€™s trash settings permit and the content is not retained by a policy.
  2. Moving content: Co-owners and editors can move only content within the folder they are collaborating on. For example, if a collaborator is invited to Folder A (which contains Folder B and File C), they can move Folder B and File C but cannot move the top-level Folder A itself.
  3. Box Item: When you create a Box Item, Box enables you to define a custom scope for it.

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Admin-configurable settings

  1. Offline access for Previewers (mobile): Previewers can save files for offline use on Box Mobile only if the โ€œPreview onlyโ€ collaborators can save files for offline use toggle is enabled in Admin Console > Enterprise Settings > Mobile.
  2. Editor invitation restrictions: If Enterprise-level and folder-level permissions are restricted, editors cannot invite collaborators.
  3. Content insights visibility: If the Hide collaborators and their activity from non-owners setting is turned on for a folder, owners and co-owners still see file activity but editors do not. See Managing Collaborators for details. If the admin has enabled the Restrict Content Creation setting, only the primary admin and co-admin can export access stats reports.

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Role descriptions

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Available on all accounts

Editor: Full read/write access to a folder or file. Editors can view, download, upload, edit, delete, copy, move, rename, generate and edit shared links, make comments, assign tasks, create tags, and invite or remove collaborators. Editors cannot copy, delete, or move root-level folders. Viewer: Read access to a folder or file. Viewers can preview, download, make comments, and generate shared links. Viewers cannot add tags, invite new collaborators, edit shared links, upload, edit files, or delete items. Shared link behavior for Viewers:
  • A Viewer cannot change who can access a shared link.
  • If no shared link exists, the Viewer can only create one with the folder ownerโ€™s default shared link setting.
  • If a shared link already exists, the Viewer can only share it at the access level currently set (for example, a Viewer cannot change a link set to โ€œpeople with the linkโ€ to โ€œpeople in the companyโ€).
  • If a collaborator holds multiple permission sets, the least restrictive set takes precedence. For example, a Viewer who accesses a shared link set to allow Edit access gets Edit rights on that item.

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Available on Business and Enterprise accounts

An admin must enable these permission levels in Admin Console > Enterprise Settings > Content & Sharing > Collaborating on Content. These roles apply only to folders; single-file collaborations support only Editor and Viewer. Co-owner: All the read/write access of an Editor, plus the ability to change some advanced folder settings. Co-owners cannot change the owner of a folder. Previewer: Limited read access. Previewers can only preview items using the integrated content viewer. They can use the browserโ€™s search function to search text in content, but cannot use the file-specific search. Previewers cannot select and copy text, share, upload, edit, or delete content. Uploader: Limited write access. Uploaders can upload content and see item names in a folder, but cannot download or view content.
Note: In Hubs, if a folder Uploader is invited to a Hub as Viewer, the folder Uploaderโ€™s permissions change to Viewer Uploader.
Viewer Uploader: A combination of Viewer and Uploader. Full read access and limited write access. Viewer Uploaders can preview, download, add comments, generate shared links, and upload content. They cannot add tags, invite collaborators, or delete items. They can edit files through Box Edit (download, edit, and re-upload seamlessly) or manually by downloading, editing locally, and re-uploading with the same file name. Viewer Uploaders cannot modify file names or delete files. Previewer Uploader: A combination of Previewer and Uploader. Limited read and write access. Previewer Uploaders can preview, add comments, add tasks, and upload content. They cannot add tags, generate shared links, invite collaborators, select and copy text, or edit or delete items.