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Connect Box as a knowledge source. The AI agent can then search and reference files in the Box folders you specify when answering employee inquiries. You sign in with your Box account and connect via OAuth.
AI Helpdesk requests permission to read and write all files and folders in Box (root_readwrite). As Box’s “Scopes (external site)” guide describes, the write permission is required to download file content. AI Helpdesk never modifies your Box files.

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Prerequisites

  • Admin role in AI Helpdesk is required
  • You need a Box account that can access the folders to import
  • Prepare the IDs of the Box folders to import
  • Knowledge sources must be initialized. If the Knowledge sources section shows the Initialize Knowledge sources button, click it and wait until initialization finishes
AI Helpdesk does not apply access permissions of Box folders or files. Files imported from the folders you specify can be used to answer questions from every employee in your organization who uses AI Helpdesk.Do not specify folders that contain sensitive files. For details, see Set what to import.

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Connect Box

1

Start connecting a source

Select Settings from the left navigation, then open the Integration tab. Click Connect a source in the Knowledge sources section and select Box.
2

Choose the connection method

Select Authorize with Box.
3

Authenticate with Box

Click the Authorize with Box button. You are redirected to the Box authorization page. Sign in with your Box account and grant access to AI Helpdesk.
4

Set the folders to import

After authorization, you return to AI Helpdesk and the Configure Box screen appears. Enter folder IDs in Folder IDs to crawl, then click Save Settings (Set what to import).
5

Start the first sync

Click Start first sync. To run the sync later, click Skip for now.
6

Confirm the connection

A Box row appears in the Knowledge sources section. When the sync finishes, the row’s badge shows Synced.
Box cannot sync until you save at least one folder. You cannot click Skip for now on the Configure Box screen.If you close the screen without saving, the Box row shows a message that asks you to finish setup. Click Edit Config in the row’s menu (…) and save the folder IDs.

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Set what to import

Set the following on the Configure Box screen when you connect. To change the settings later, click Edit Config in the menu (…) of the Box row.
  1. In Folder IDs to crawl, enter the IDs of the folders to import, one ID per line (at least one is required)
  2. Under File types to sync, select at least one file extension to import. All extensions are selected by default
  3. Click Save Settings
  • Subfolders of the specified folders are imported too
  • You can choose from pdf, doc, docx, txt, md, html, csv, xls, xlsx, and pptx
  • Files in formats you did not select under File types to sync are not imported
  • Files larger than 25 MB are not imported
A single sync can import up to 3,000 items. If the files in the specified folders exceed this limit, the sync fails. Specify folders at a lower level to narrow the scope.

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Using Box with the AI Agent

Once connected, the AI agent includes Box in knowledge searches automatically. The AI agent does not access Box each time it answers a question. Instead, it searches the content that each sync imports and indexes. Files you add or update in Box appear in search results after the next sync. By default, the sync schedule is set to Manual (default). With Manual, Box syncs only when you click Sync Now. You can find it in the menu (…) of the Box row in the Knowledge sources section. To sync automatically, open Sync schedule in the same menu and change it to Every hour, Every 6 hours, Daily, or Weekly. You need the AI Helpdesk Admin role to run a sync or change the sync schedule. To explicitly reference Box in a Playbook step, use the {{document_search}} tool.

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Check the sync history

To open the sync history, click the badge that shows the sync status of the Box row (such as Synced). You can also click Sync history in the row’s menu (…). For what each count in the sync history means, see “Read the sync history” in Confluence integration.

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Disconnect Box

1

Open Knowledge sources

Go to Settings > Integration tab and open the Knowledge sources section.
2

Disconnect

Click Disconnect in the menu (…) of the Box row you want to disconnect. In the confirmation dialog, click Disconnect.For 5 seconds after you click the button in the dialog, you can click Undo in the notification to cancel the disconnection.
After disconnecting, the AI agent will no longer search Box. Synced content is removed on the next update.
Disconnecting does not remove the access you granted on the Box side. If you no longer need it, revoke it in Box.

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Troubleshooting

The row shows “Box connection expired. Please reconnect.” Click Edit credential in the row’s menu (…). Then click Re-authenticate in the confirmation dialog, and authorize with Box again. The row’s badge shows “Sync failed” Check the error in the sync history. If the specified folders contain more than 3,000 files, open Edit Config in the row’s menu (…). Then specify folders at a lower level. You cannot click “Sync Now” in the row’s menu No folder IDs are saved. Click Edit Config in the row’s menu (…) and save Folder IDs to crawl. Certain files do not appear in search results AI Helpdesk imports only files in the folders in Folder IDs to crawl, including subfolders. The files must also be in a format selected under File types to sync. Check the settings from Edit Config in the row’s menu (…).
Last modified on October 14, 2026