Highlights and Recording - Hear all about Box Metadata

Thanks to Shuang Li, ​@matt.riley Box ​@Scott Picanco Box Veerender Nallamala for yesterdays overview and demo of Box Metadata.

Metadata as an unlock for AI 

Metadata is a foundational element for unlocking AI potential, optimizing workflows, and surfacing actionable insights from unstructured content. "90% of enterprise content is unstructured. That means a lot of that key structured data that makes that content valuable is locked away."

The roundtable explored solutions to this challenge with updates and demos, focusing on how metadata extraction tools can surface this hidden value.

Introducing Box Extract -  Recording clip here

​@Scott Picanco Box provided an overview of Box Extract, Box’s new metadata extraction tool designed to simplify and scale data extraction processes directly within Box environments. Announced at BoxWorks last year, the feature promises significant business value for customers:

“[Box Extract is] our new agentic data extraction tool … launching … in the next few weeks, if not sooner. It allows you to create and manage your own custom extract agents, to extract data accurately, reliably, and at scale where your content lives natively in Box.”

Key Features of Box Extract:

1. Customizable AI Instructions: Users can configure AI-powered prompts to extract specific fields from documents, ensuring high accuracy.

2. Automation: Extract agents enable metadata to be applied automatically to uploaded content, streamlining workflows and saving time.

3. Monitoring: Customers can track extraction processes, view folder statuses, and manage content metadata conveniently.

4. Future Enhancements: Box Extract will expand capabilities over time, unlocking even more robust integrations and automation options.

   

    

Metadata Management Enhancements - Recording clip here

The roundtable outlined updates to enhance metadata management in Box tools:

Recent Launches:

• Multi-Level Metadata Taxonomies: Configurable taxonomy fields can now be assigned to metadata templates via the admin console.

“We just launched multi level metadata taxonomies last month … supported across Box products, including preview, apps, forms, relay, and extract.”

Upcoming Features:

1. New Field Types & Validations (2026):

• New types such as date, location, currency, and percentages will provide versatility for metadata formats.

• Validation functionality will support structured formats like phone numbers and social security numbers.

1. Bulk Management Tools:

"We’ll release Bulk Ops API to help customers manage metadata at scale programmatically."

1. Democratized Metadata Management -  Recording here

Traditionally limited to admins, the ability to create and manage metadata templates will soon extend to more users:

“Goal here is to eliminate administrative overhead by allowing users...to create and manage metadata templates directly.”

Use Case Demo: Workflow Automation  - Recording here

​@matt.riley Box  Product Manager for Metadata at Box, led a demo showing metadata’s application in a typical auto inspection workflow. This scenario demonstrated how metadata uplifts automation in real-world environments:

Walkthrough:

1. An inspector fills out a form, with metadata intuitively simplifying inputs:

"As soon as I start typing, I'm getting the value that I’m looking for…It makes it fast to find exactly the option I need.”

1. Metadata tags the finalized report, ensuring it’s searchable and actionable:

"The new file is generated from the form submission, tagged with metadata so it’s findable and usable later."

1. Metadata-enabled dashboards improve filtering and visualization:

“We’re able to just really quickly filter down to exactly what we want to see.”

Roadmap for Future Improvements Recording here

Box’s product leadership team also shared several exciting features in the pipeline to further empower customers:

• AI-Generated Templates: Artificial intelligence will begin playing an active role in metadata template creation. “AI generated metadata templates are something that’s kind of been in discussion.”

• Template Creation within Box Extract: The ability to add templates directly in Box Extract is targeted for late FY27.

• Lifting Template Limits: Currently capped at 500 templates per enterprise, this restriction will be removed later this year: “It will be, for most intents and purposes, unlimited.”

Customer Q&A Insights

Customers engaged in Q&A with the Box team

1. Dynamic Metadata: Can metadata be auto-populated with dynamic values like timestamps?

   • Currently unavailable, but Box plans to introduce this feature in workflows soon.

2. Exporting App Views: Is there functionality to export app views into accessible formats (Excel/CSV)?

   • ​@Scott Picanco Box from product marketing confirmed this is on the roadmap: “This will be coming in Box apps 100%.”