Search for Box Drive content from Explorer/Finder Search
AdminAnonymous
(Admin, Box)
shared this idea
We are currently not planning to implement this feature and will continue to prevent all Box Drive results from appearing in Explorer/Finder searches.
Box Drive does not download the all of the metadata (File name, folder structure, etc.) of your Box content. Instead, it is downloaded on demand and then evicted when it is no longer relevant. This eviction process is not visible to users and it is not easily predictable. This would cause the search results in Explorer/Finder to be inconsistent for users – sometimes they would find a file and other times they may not if the metadata and file were evicted.
We have chosen not to download all of the metadata (and then keep it up to date with changes) as this can result in a large performance, storage and bandwidth tax which is not scalable – especially in environments where users interface with millions of files/folders.
We will continue to improve the Box Drive Search experience as well as add in additional features in the future to help you access your Box content quickly!
74 comments
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Anonymous
commented
Was really surprised this is not included as a feature for Box. We've used several file sharing platforms, and they all could do this. Please consider adding it.
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Anonymous
commented
I will echo the comments here regarding the native search. I would like to add that for users who do not work with millions of files, it is infinitely beneficial for Box to emulate a local folder and behave the way we would expect. I have used Box since 2013 and would strongly reconsider my loyalty considering this lack of care. I've used Box Sync up until now when getting an M1 Mac forces me to switch to Box Drive.
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Anonymous
commented
I'm on a Mac. This is a must-have feature. Old Box sync worked with Mac Spotlight - it was a huge help quickly locating files. Without Spotlight support I need to log into the web interface. It's a real pain.
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Anonymous
commented
I have to have the ability to search folders for files within Windows/File Explorer. I'm often hunting for very specific information within several files and need to rapidly open the files or open multiple files at the same time. None of the search options available today with Box Drive give me the option to do any of this.
There's no reason we shouldn't be able to have the Box Sync search capabilities with files saved for offline use.
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Anonymous
commented
Bad enough that you can't use Finder to search Box Drive files. It might be less of an issue if the Box Drive search was any good, but it's not very good. You can't even resize the darned window!
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Anja Luesink
commented
This is a serious change from Box.Sync. I want all my files downloaded on my computer. I like the current search function and treatment like a regular folder on my computer. We have all files stored on several computers and can continue working off-line whenever there is a calamity. These happen as we see currently in Texas. As long as this is not available I will not switch to Box.Drive.
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Anonymous
commented
Dear Box, Please add my voice to those requesting search indexing for Mac OS Spotlight. This is a significant limitation for me in terms of working across various platforms.
Gordon Bigelow
Rhodes College -
Anonymous
commented
I agree with all the previous commenters that not including a robust search feature in Box Drive that can be used with Windows File Explorer is inexcusable. Even your own support page discusses the importance of searching for files. The entire point of searching for files is to find files that you don't know the exact location of. If I have to navigate manually to the correct folder first then there is no point to searching.
At the very least, improve the integrated box drive search function to allow sorting and filtering.
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Anonymous
commented
No excuse! Dropbox does it just fine.
And your search feature is worthless. No resizing, no details view, no hierarchy, NO NOTHIN!
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Anonymous
commented
I am disappointed, I still use BOX SYNC (I saved the installer ***), because BOX DRIVE is useless in WINDOWS SEARCH. I think that they should, at least, allow the possibility of downloading some folders, at least those marked on the cell phone for "offline access", or as it was called in BOX SYNC, "sync with computer"
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Anonymous
commented
The inability for Windows Search to index offline files is a complete show stopper from transitioning from Box Sync. We have a custom application that uses Windows Search SQL to query the index (metadata & content) of locally stored PDF documents.
If Box Drive is using junction points that prevents Windows Search unable to index these files then the whole application is rendered useless. FWIW we previously tried BoxSearchManager and it's very limited compared to Windows Search and also a *lot* slower making it an impractical replacement.
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Anonymous
commented
This is still not planned? I cannot switch to drive just to be told to use your search when its vastly inferior to native search on the mac. It feel like Box is trying run off none commercial users. Very frustrating.
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Jeffrey Arkoette
commented
This needs to re-prioritized and allowed. Not being able to have simple File Explorer Search is a significant obstacle that has hindered adoption within our user-base. It has also caused more users to migrate to Dropbox/OneDrive who offer such search capabilities and weakens our enforcement of a preferred cloud storage solution.
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Anonymous
commented
Please allow local search, even for only folders who's contents are available offline. I have been using box sync for the longest time because of these handicaps- I generate thousands of jpeg and .cr2 files and need to search based on partial string search and kept to a specific folder. Recently changing to Box Drive has handicapped me.
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Paying Enterprise Customer
commented
Microsoft OneDrive has a simple option 'Turn On Files On Demand' so the user can determine if they want caching or syncing. On the search results being inconsistent, how does Microsoft handle it? It seems like your decision to not download metadata is due to limitations in your design rather than what the user wants. This is a major miss in your design and should be rectified.
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Mikkel Larsen-Ledet
commented
I am frustrated that Box community moderator asks us to "Share our usecase" as if file search is such a weird request...? That this should even have to be a request and not an obvious must have feature for a desktop file access?!?!
I am baffled.I see this as a MUST have feature if I am to further roll out BoxDrive in our organisation.
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John Forsyth
commented
This should be a no-brainer for files that are available off-line.
Not user friendly
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Anonymous
commented
I am so confused about why this would be the direction Box would take with their software. I always liked Box over others even if the software always felt a step behind others. Now, this takes the software many steps back.
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Anonymous
commented
Can you at least allow local (spotlight/windows search) searching for files & folders marked for Offline use?
Files marked Offline should work like sync files and actually be present in the filesystem not just in some encrypted cache. Having actual files would solve a bunch of other problems as well (like not being able to redirect Windows profile folders up to Box ).
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Anonymous
commented
Yes please, also need to be able to narrow by who has last updated