UW-Madison Box - Troubleshooting Collaboration Problems

• What problem are you experiencing?
• I'm unable to access a file or folder that was shared with me.
• I shared a file or folder with someone who cannot access it.

• How was the item shared with you?
• Someone sent me a shared link.
• I was added to the item as a collaborator.

• How did you share the item?
• I sent them a shared link.
• I added them as a collaborator.

• Which of the below error messages did you receive?
• "The item you are trying to access has either been deleted or is unavailable to you."
• "404 File Not Found: The webpage you have requested was not found."
• Other / I didn't receive an error message

• Are you a UW-Madison affiliate with a Box account that you log into with your NetID and password?
• Yes.
• No.

• What error message are they receiving when they follow the link?
• "The item you are trying to access has either been deleted or is unavailable to you."
• "404 File Not Found: The webpage you have requested was not found."
• Other / I don't know

• Are you the Owner?
• Yes, I am the current owner of the folder.
• No, I am a co-owner or an editor with invite rights.

• Are you a UW-Madison affiliate with a Box account that you log into with your NetID and password?
• Yes.
• No.

• There is likely an error in the shared link itself. First, check to make sure there aren't any special characters (e.g. parentheses) appended to the end of the link URL. If you copied and pasted the link into your browser, check to make sure you didn't accidentally miss a character. If there are no obvious problems with the link, contact the owner to have them re-send it.

  If you are still having problems, contact the DoIT Help Desk. If you are not a UW-Madison affiliate but the person sharing with you is, be sure to communicate this to the agent and give them the name of the person you are collaborating with. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.

  
  

• Contact the sender of the shared link to have them try re-sending it to you. If you continue to have problems with the link, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. If you are not a UW-Madison affiliate but the person sharing with you is, be sure to communicate this to the Help Desk and give them the name of the person you are collaborating with. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.
  

• Do you primarily use an address other than netid@wisc.edu for email communication, e.g. do you list a firstname.lastname@wisc.edu address listed in the UW Directory?
• Yes.
• No.

• Contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. If you are not a UW-Madison affiliate but the person sharing with you is, be sure to communicate this to the agent and give them the name of the person you are collaborating with. The Help Desk will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current collaborator settings for that item.
  

• Are you the owner of the item in question?
• Yes.
• No.

• This error message indicates there is a problem with the shared link, such as an extra or missing character. Try resending or republishing the link. If you are pasting the link manually into a chat or email, make sure you copy the entire link, and take care to avoid pasting it near any other characters that may get accidentally get included when the recipient accesses the link (e.g. don't nest the link in parentheses).

  If the recipient is still having problems with the link, contact the DoIT Help Desk.

  
  

• Contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.
  

• Are you sharing with a UW-Madison affiliate who has a netid@wisc.edu email address?
• Yes.
• No.

• Because you don't own the folder, your own access level may be preventing you from successfully sharing it with other collaborators. To avoid any unnecessary troubleshooting on your part, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue.
  

• The owner of the shared item likely set an expiration date on the shared link, or they may have deleted the item. Contact the owner to have them verify the item wasn't deleted and/or send you an unexpired shared link.

  If you are currently logged into a personal Box account (blue page banner), it may also be that the owner restricted access to users with accounts under the UW-Madison Enterprise agreement. Try logging out of your personal account and clicking the shared link again; if it is restricted to UW-Madison, you should be prompted to log into uwmadison.app.box.com.

  If you are still having problems, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.

  
  

• After following the shared link, are you prompted to log into https://uwmadison.app.box.com?
• Yes.
• No.

• The owner likely shared the item with your primary email address rather than your standard netid@wisc.edu address. To ensure you get access to files shared with this address, associate your primary address with your UW-Madison Box account per these instructions: UW-Madison Box - Linking Alternate Addresses

  Once you have added this email to your UW-Madison Box account, contact the owner to have them re-share the item with you. If this fails to solve the problem, or if your other email address was already associated with your UW-Madison Box account, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue.

  
  

• It may be that the owner of the item shared it with the wrong person. Contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current collaborators for that item.
  

• Is the person you are sharing with a UW-Madison affiliate with a netid@wisc.edu email address?
• Yes.
• No, they are an external user.

• Is the person you are sending the shared link to already a collaborator on the item?
• Yes.
• No.

• Did you use their netid@wisc.edu email when you added them as a collaborator?
• Yes.
• No.

• Verify with the collaborator that you are using the correct email address to share with them, as they may have multiple Box accounts, or they may have their account registered under a different email address. Also keep in mind that you can not use Google Groups, Office 365 Groups or WiscLists to add collaborators to a folder. Additionally, make sure colleagues have the correct name of the folder you shared with them, as they may be looking for a folder of a different name. If they still cannot access the folder, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue.
  

• The owner of the shared item likely restricted access to users with accounts under the UW-Madison Enterprise agreement. Contact them to have them change the access settings on the shared link. If you are still having problems, contact the DoIT Help Desk. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.
  

• The owner of the shared item likely set an expiration date on the shared link, or they may have deleted the item. Contact them to have them send you an active shared link. If you are still having problems, contact the DoIT Help Desk. If you are not a UW-Madison affiliate but the person sharing with you is, be sure to communicate this to the Help Desk. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.
  

• Check to make sure there is not an expiration date set for the shared link. If necessary, update this date to extend access to the file or folder. If there is no expiration set and the affiliate still cannot access the file, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.
  

• The default access for shared links is set to "People in your Company", which requires the possessor of the link to have an @wisc.edu email address. If you did not manually change the access to "Anyone with the link" yet, do so by following these instructions: UW-Madison Box - Managing Shared Link Security Settings

  If you did change this setting, check to see if there is an expiration date set on the shared link. If neither of these appears to be the cause of the problem, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.

  
  

• Check to make sure there is not an expiration date set for the shared link. If necessary, update this date to extend access to the file or folder. If this is not the problem, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. If you are not a UW-Madison affiliate but the person you are sharing with is, be sure to communicate this to the agent. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings and collaborators for that item.
  

• If you are not the owner of the item you are trying to send a shared link for, the link you generate might only be valid for current collaborators. First, try changing the shared link access setting per these instructions: UW-Madison Box - Managing Shared Link Security Settings.

  If the only option available for shared links is "People in this folder," only current collaborators will be able to access the item with a shared link. If the person you are trying to share with has a Box account and you have sufficient rights, invite them as a collaborator. If this is not possible, contact the owner of the item to have them allow "Anyone with the link" or "People in your Company" shared links per these instructions, or to invite the person as a collaborator.

  If you are still having problems, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current shared link settings for that item.

  
  

• Contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the issue. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current collaborators for that item.
  

• It may be that they have not associated any other email addresses with their Box account. Try sharing the item with their netid@wisc.edu email address. If you aren't sure what this is, contact the collaborator to request this information. If you cannot obtain this address, or if this does not solve the issue, contact the DoIT Help Desk to report the problem. They will then send your case to the UW-Madison Box team, who can review the current email aliases for the collaborator's account.
  

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See Also:

• UW-Madison Box - Collaboration
• UW-Madison Box - Managing Shared Link Security Settings