Connecting Box as an external knowledge source

You can set up a Box connection to connect and sync content from your Box knowledge base.


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Summary: ◀▼
You can connect Box as an external knowledge source to sync supported files (Word, Excel, HTML, Markdown) from selected root folders and their subfolders. Manage connections by setting viewer permissions, manually syncing content, or removing connections. This integration helps keep your knowledge base updated with external content accessible across workflows, improving content management and access control for your support team.




You can connect Box to your Zendesk account to make the content available wherever external content is used. You must be
a Knowledge admin to set up and manage external content connections.
Note: Box connections currently support Microsoft Word, Microsoft
Excel, HTML, and Markdown file types.

This article contains the following topics:
Setting up a Box connection
Adding or removing content from your Box connection
Managing Box connections



Related articles:
About connecting external content to Zendesk
for use across knowledge experiences
Knowledge product limits for your help
center




Setting up a Box connection

You can set up a Box connection to connect and sync content from your Box knowledge
base.
When you set up a Box connection, you select parent folders that reside in the root
directory of your Box knowledge base. When the connector syncs, all supported
content within that parent folder (including subfolders and supported files) will
sync to your Zendesk account.
You can sync as many parent folders as you like; however, you must create a new
connection for each one. After you create a Box connection, you can configure workflows to use this external
content.

To set up a Box connection
In Knowledge admin, click Manage articles
( ) in the sidebar.
Click External content > Connections.

Under the Available sources section, click Connect on the Box
card.

Click Continue.

Log into Box with a user account that has the correct permissions for
content you want to sync to Zendesk.
Select the Root folder that you want to sync to your Zendesk account, then
click Sync. You can only select the top level folders in the root
directory; you cannot select subfolders or individual files in the root
directory. When you select a root folder, the sync automatically
includes all subfolders and supported file types (docx, .xlsx, .html,
and .md) in that folder.

When the sync is complete, the page shows a green Synced status
for each synced folder. The number of Items reflects the files that you
synced from the top level folder and all subfolders underneath it. For
files to be synced to your Zendesk account, they must contain content.








Adding or removing content from your Box connection

When you set up your Box connection, you specify the root folder in Box that you want
to connect. If you want to connect additional root folders to your Box connector,
you can create additional connections, with each connection containing a single root
folder. All supported content within each root folder (subfolders and supported
file types) is synced to the connection.
To add or remove content from a Box connection, you can add or delete the content
from your Box knowledge base, then either wait for an automatic sync, or manually
sync your site. The new content item will be reflected in the Items number for the
Box connection on your Connections page.




Managing Box connections

Once you've created a Box connection, you can view information about the connection,
set viewer permissions for content, and manually resync or remove the connection.
This section contains the following topics:
Viewing Box connection details
Managing viewer permissions for Box content
Manually resyncing Box content
Removing a Box connection




Viewing Box connection details

You can use the information panel to view information about the Box connection,
when it was created and by whom, and when it was last synced.

To view Box connection details
In Knowledge admin, click Manage articles
( ) in the sidebar.
Click External content > Connections.

Click the options menu ( ) on the row for the connection you want to
manage, then select Manage.

View details about the connection:

Created: When the connection was created

Connected by: Name of the Knowledge admin who created the
connection

Items: Number of connected pages

Status: Sync status

Last synced: When the last sync occurred. Syncs are
automatically performed every 24 hours, though they can also be
triggered
manually









Managing viewer permissions for Box content

You can set the viewer permissions for who can view connected Box
content in your Zendesk workflows.

To manage viewer permissions for Box content
In Knowledge admin, click Manage articles
( ) in the sidebar.
Click External content > Connections.

Click the options menu ( ) on the row for the connection you want to
manage, then select Manage.
Under Viewing permissions, select one of the following options to
determine which user segments can view content
from this space:

Only visible to selected user segments: Select up to 10
user segments from any of the following (an Enterprise plan is
required to select multiple user segments):

Signed-in users: Includes internal and external
users who create an account and sign in to your help
center.

Agents and admins: Includes team members only, so
that you can create content that is internal-only.
Note: Light agents are included in
this segment. For a list of light agent permissions,
see Understanding and
setting light agent
permissions.


Custom user segment: Allows you to restrict
viewing access to specific users based on tags,
organizations, or groups by applying user segments. See
Creating user
segments to restrict access.



Visible to everyone: Includes anyone who visits your help
center and does not require sign-in.



Click Save.





Manually resyncing Box content

When you connect Box as an external content source, a sync process runs every 24
hours to update new or changed content within the top level folder and their
subfolders that you connected.

To manually resync Box content
On the Connections page, click the options menu ( ) for the connection you want to
sync.

Select Sync again. The Box connection syncs immediately, and
the Last synced column is updated with the most recent sync
time.






Removing a Box connection

You can remove the connection to Box if you no longer want to sync its content.
If you remove a connection, all content within that connection (folder and
subfolders) will be removed.
When you remove a connection, the related content is no longer available wherever external content is used.

To remove a Box connection
On the Connections page, click the options menu ( ) for the Box connection you want to
remove.

Select Remove connection.
Review the message, then click Remove.
The Box connection is removed from the Connection list, and is
no longer available as an external content source.





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