MIGRATION GUIDE
Migrate Box to SharePoint and OneDrive
Moving your organization from Box to Microsoft 365? This guide walks through moving a whole Box enterprise — every person’s files, the folders they share, Box Notes, older versions and sharing settings — into OneDrive and SharePoint with MigrationFox.
The problem: a Box enterprise isn’t one folder
A Box enterprise is hundreds of separate accounts. Each person has their own folders, and many of those folders are shared with colleagues, so the same folder shows up in a dozen accounts. Some content only opens inside Box (Box Notes). Files have years of earlier versions. And people expect their sharing to still work on Monday morning.
Moving that one account at a time is slow, and copying every account blindly creates duplicate copies of every shared folder. The goal is simple to state: each person’s content lands in the right place, once, with dates and sharing intact.
How it works, step by step
Step 1 — Create your MigrationFox account
Sign up at app.migrationfox.com. The first 2 GB are free with no credit card required, and scans are free.
Step 2 — Connect Box as an admin
Connect Box by signing in with Box (OAuth). To migrate other people’s content, sign in as a Box admin, or a co-admin with the “Manage users” permission. (A Box developer token also works.) If the account isn’t an admin, MigrationFox shows a clear message instead of the enterprise view.
Step 3 — Connect Microsoft 365
Connect the OneDrive or SharePoint destination by signing in with your Microsoft 365 account.
Step 4 — Browse other users’ Box
In the source picker, choose Browse other users’ Box in this enterprise. You see everyone active in the enterprise with the storage each person uses. Open a person to browse their folders as them. This uses Box’s “as-user” access, and Box logs those actions as the admin acting for that user.
Step 5 — Tick the people to move
Tick the people you want, or Select all, right in the source picker. MigrationFox creates one migration per person.
Step 6 — Choose where each person lands
- Each person to their own OneDrive. People are matched automatically by exact email, then by the same username before the @ (useful when your email domain is changing), then by the same display name. Only unique matches are used. You can change or skip any match, or import a CSV of
sourceEmail,destEmail. - Everyone into one shared SharePoint library, with a folder per person.
Optionally add an extra subfolder for everyone, such as “From Box”, so migrated content is easy to tell apart.
Step 7 — Pick your options
- Copy sharing settings — recreate Box folder collaborations on the destination.
- Copy version history — bring earlier Box versions, with an optional per-file cap.
- Box Notes to Word — on by default; turn it off to keep the original
.boxnote. - Filters — developer folders (
node_modules,.git,.venvand similar) and OS junk files (Thumbs.db,.DS_Store) are skipped by default; you can also exclude file types and set a maximum file size. - Existing files — Skip, Replace, Keep both, or Only newer files.
Step 8 — Run
Start the migrations. They run in the MigrationFox cloud, or on your own PC with the MigrationFox Windows app. On cutover day, re-run with Only newer files to re-copy only files changed since the last run.
What comes across
- Files and folders — each person’s folder tree, with names and paths cleaned up for SharePoint’s limits (illegal characters replaced; 400-character path limit).
- File dates — files keep their Box Created and Modified dates. Folder dates are set again after all files have landed, because SharePoint resets a folder’s Modified date whenever a file is added.
- Shared folders, once — a shared folder is copied from its owner. In each person’s migration, folders someone else shared with them are skipped (the owner’s migration copies them); the picker labels them “shared by <name>”.
- Folder sharing — Box folder collaborations, translated through your user mapping: Viewer / Previewer → read; Editor, Uploader variants, Co-owner → edit; Owner → owner.
- Box Notes →
.docx— headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, bulleted and numbered lists, checklists (☐ / ☑), tables, links, quotes and code blocks. - Version history (optional) — earlier Box versions (kept on Box Business plans and above) uploaded oldest first, then the current file, so SharePoint and OneDrive version history contains each version’s content.
- Large files — downloads from Box stream through without being stored on disk.
What doesn’t come across (yet)
- Box group collaborations — skipped and named in the job log, so you can recreate them.
- Sharing on individual files — sharing is copied for folders only.
- Images inside Box Notes — they become a placeholder line such as “[Image: name]”, because the note file doesn’t contain the image.
- Dates and authors of earlier versions — each earlier version’s date and “Modified by” show the migration time and account. The current file keeps its original dates.
Tip: check the site’s time zone
SharePoint shows times in the site’s time zone, set under Site settings → Regional settings. A new site may default to Pacific time, so file times can look hours off until you set the right zone. Set it before people start comparing dates with Box.
Pricing
Box to SharePoint and OneDrive migrations are billed at CA$0.50 per GB transferred. Every account starts with 2 GB free — no credit card required. Scans are free.
More detail on the Box connector: Box Migration Tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a Box admin to migrate everyone?
To browse and migrate other people’s Box accounts, the Box connection must be a Box admin, or a co-admin with the “Manage users” permission. MigrationFox then uses Box’s as-user access, and Box logs those actions as the admin acting for that user.
How are Box users matched to OneDrive accounts?
Automatically: first by exact email, then by the same username before the @ (useful when the email domain changes), then by the same display name. Only unique matches are used. You can change or skip any match, or import a CSV of sourceEmail,destEmail.
Will shared folders be duplicated in every person’s OneDrive?
No. A shared folder is copied once, from its owner. In each person’s migration, folders someone else shared with them are skipped because the owner’s migration copies them. The picker labels those folders “shared by <name>”.
What happens to Box Notes?
They are converted to Word documents (.docx), keeping headings, text formatting, lists, checklists, tables, links, quotes and code blocks. Images become a placeholder line such as “[Image: name]” because the note file doesn’t contain the image. Conversion is on by default and can be turned off to keep the original .boxnote. If a note can’t be read, you still get a Word file with its text.
Is Box version history migrated?
Optionally. With Copy version history on, earlier Box versions are uploaded oldest first, then the current file, so SharePoint or OneDrive version history has each version’s content. Each earlier version’s date and “Modified by” show the migration time and account; the current file keeps its original dates. You can cap the number of versions per file.
Are Box sharing permissions copied?
With Copy sharing settings on, Box folder collaborations are recreated on the destination folder: Viewer and Previewer become read; Editor, Uploader variants and Co-owner become edit; Owner becomes owner — translated through the user mapping. Box group collaborations are not yet copied (they are skipped and named in the job log), and sharing set on individual files is not copied.
Why do the times in SharePoint look a few hours off?
SharePoint shows times in the site’s time zone, set under Site settings → Regional settings. A new site may default to Pacific time, so times can look hours off until you set the right zone. The underlying dates are the files’ Box dates.
How much does it cost?
CA$0.50 per GB transferred. Every account starts with 2 GB free, no credit card required, and scans are free — so you can see the size of each person’s Box before paying anything.