ARCHIVED: Transfer ownership of an IU Box folder to a personal (non-IU) Box account

This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable.

On this page:

Overview
Before you begin
Transfer your content
Limitations of personal (non-IU) Box accounts

Overview

Important:

IU's Box cloud storage service was retired on May 10, 2021. For information about cloud storage options available at IU, see Storage at IU.

Note:

To transfer ownership of content to an organizational or group Box account, see ARCHIVED: Transfer ownership of a Box folder to a different account.

You may need to transfer ownership of content from one Box account to another for various reasons, including a change in leadership of a project, a desire to transfer institutional data out of an individual IU Box account into a university-owned "non-individual" account (that is, an ARCHIVED: organizational or group account), or the ARCHIVED: end of your affiliation with Indiana University.

Before you begin

If any folders in your IU Box account are currently synced, UITS recommends that you unsync them before proceeding.

If you have not already done so, create a personal (non-IU) Box account:

Go to Box Individual.
Complete the form and follow the on-screen steps. You cannot use an IU email address.
Click Continue.
Check the email of the address you entered, and click the link in the confirmation message to activate your personal (non-IU) Box account.

Transfer your content

Transfer folders that you own

Important:

If any folder you own contains IU institutional data, make sure to transfer that data to the appropriate university faculty or staff member, or to your organization's group or organizational account. If you aren't sure if the data you own is institutional data, see About institutional data at IU.

From within your IU Box account, add your personal (non-IU) Box account as a collaborator.
Change your personal (non-IU) Box account's collaborator level to Folder Owner, and click Okay.
From your personal (non-IU) Box account, remove your IU Box account as a collaborator on the folder.

By transferring your folders this way, you will maintain all existing collaborations. However, any co-owners will be changed to editors when a folder is transferred.

Transfer loose files in your IU Box account

Create a new folder in your IU Box account named Loose Files.
Move all loose files into that folder.
Transfer ownership of that folder to your personal (non-IU) Box account.

Transfer folders on which you wish to remain a collaborator

Note:

If the folder owner has set the folder to restrict collaboration to within IU domains only, this setting will need to be changed to invite an individual Box account as a collaborator. Changing this setting should only be done if it is appropriate to do so.

If you do not have sufficient permissions to invite your personal (non-IU) Box account as a collaborator, send a message to the folder owner requesting that your personal account be added as a collaborator at the appropriate level. The folder owner will need to know the email associated with your personal (non-IU) Box account to invite it.
Accept the collaboration invite from your personal (non-IU) Box account.
Remove your IU Box account as a collaborator. If your personal (non-IU) Box account does not have sufficient permissions to do so, you can remove yourself as a collaborator from within your IU Box account.

Limitations of personal (non-IU) Box accounts

Be aware that limitations of personal (non-IU) Box accounts include:

The version history of files owned by personal (non-IU) Box accounts will not be accessible.
If a folder's collaborator hierarchy includes a co-owner, and that folder is transferred, the co-owner will be changed to an editor. All other collaborators will maintain their current collaborator level.
Custom shared links will no longer direct the link user to the file or folder.
Features available only to enterprise Box accounts will be lost. To view the differences between enterprise and personal (non-IU) accounts, see ARCHIVED: Compare IU and personal (non-IU) Box accounts.