Box AI

Overview

Box AI is a set of generative AI capabilities built into Box that can help users summarize content, ask questions about files, generate drafts and extract insights from content stored in their Box account.  Box AI works with Box Notes and many common files types, including documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations, and image files.  Box AI honors existing Box permissions, so users can only use Box AI with content they already have permission to access.  Box AI is available in several places in Box, including AI Home, file previews, Box Notes, and Box Hubs.  Box provides introductory training resources to help users get started.

Details / Instructions

How Box AI Works

Box AI behaves differently depending on where and how you use it within Box.

AI Home

AI Home is a full-page Box AI workspace available from the left navigation menu in Box. It provides a ChatGPT-like experience for asking questions, adding sources, and returning to previous sessions. In AI Home, you can add content from Box or your device, use @ mentions to reference files, and resume previous conversations from session history.

AI Home is useful when you want to ask questions across multiple files, compare information, summarize content, or work from a central AI workspace rather than opening one document at a time.
 

Box Notes

For Box Notes, Box AI focuses on generating and refining text, such as:

• Meeting agendas

• Email templates

• Project charters

• Outlines

• Summaries

Documents (Word, images, PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.)

For standard documents, Box AI is designed to answer questions about the content.
You can use Box AI to:

• Summarize a document

• Query the contents of a file

• Extract key points or summaries

• Ask for themes, outlines, or explanations

• Draft text based on the content of a file

• Compare or search across multiple documents

You may query up to 10 documents simultaneously.
To query more than 10 documents at once, they must be accessible from within a Box Hub.

How to Get Started

From AI Home:

1. Open Box in a web browser.
2. Click AI in the blue navigation menu on the left.
3. Enter your question or request.
4. Add or reference documents as needed

From a File or Box Note:

1. Open a document, file preview, or Box Note in Box.
2. Click the “Box AI” option.
3. Enter your question or request in the dialog box that appears.

Common examples include:

• “Summarize the key points of this document.”
• “Create a meeting agenda based on this content.”
• “Draft an email announcement about this topic.”
• "Compare these documents and identify major differences."
• "What are the most important action items mentioned here?"

Tips for Writing Better Box AI Prompts

Box AI works best with specific, structured prompts. Include context, format requirements, or output preferences.

Below are examples of improved prompts:

After receiving a response, refine as needed—better results may take several iterations.
Box provides additional best practices to help maximize the value of your content.

Known Limitations

Box AI can be helpful, but it may not be accurate for every task.  Review AI-generated responses before using or sharing them.

Technical Limits

• Each Box AI question is limited to 1000 characters.
• Box AI can process only the first 2MB of text in a document.
• Queries against a Box Hub with more than 20,000 documents may fail.
• Non-English languages may yield lower-quality output.
• Box AI cannot return responses on images in a Box Hub

Content-Specific Limitations

Box AI may return mixed or inaccurate results when working with:

• Calculations and numeric reasoning
• Table structures and numbers
• Counting words or phrases
• Images, videos, charts, or graphs

Common Issues

• "Unable to process your request at this time"
  • If Box AI displays a message that it is unable to process your request, try the following:
    • Check the Box Service Status webpage to ensure there are no ongoing issues with BoxAI
    • Refresh Box and submit the prompt again.
    • Start a new AI Home session or new prompt.
    • Shorten or simplify the prompt.
    • Confirm that you have permission to access the file.
    • Try a different file to determine whether the issue is specific to one document.
  • If the issue continues, contact the Help Desk and include the file type, approximate file size, where you were using Box AI, and the error message you received.

Security and Privacy

Box AI follows the same permission model as Box itself:

• It only accesses files you own or already have permission to view.

• Questions and generated responses stay within the Box AI service and are not shared externally.

• Additional information on security, architecture, and privacy can be found at:
  https://www.box.com/ai/trust

See Also