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Searching for files owned by multiple users

  • May 22, 2025
  • 1 reply
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I'm an IT Security staffer and have been given Box Admin privs to collect information, so please forgive my ignorance.

 

I need to copy all files owned by each of several dozen users to a different directory.  Is there a way to execute a search for the files of all users at once and copy them en masse?

In copying them, will the users' directory structures be preserved?

Ideally, I would like to copy any file that is even shared with anyone on my list.  Is this ever possible?

 

Thank you,

- Andy

    1 reply

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    Hi Andy, 

    Welcome to the Box Community!

    First off, you need to be a collaborator with the permission to copy contents owned by different users in your Box organization. You would need at least an "Editor" access to the folders of the contents you would like to copy to be able to do this and I'm afraid this cannot be done at once or at mass in Box.

    • Editor: An editor has full read/write access to a folder or file. Once invited to a folder or file, the editor is able to view, download, upload, edit, delete, copy, move, rename, generate and edit shared links, make comments, assign tasks, create tags, and invite/remove collaborators. The editor is not able to copy, delete, or move root level folders. See Understanding Collaborator Permission Levels for details.

    If you have access to the "Content Manager" (available for  Business Plus, Enterprise, and Elite accounts) in the admin console, you can use it to make this process a little easier. 

    Here's how 

    1. Login to your Box account
    2. Go to Content Manager in your Admin Console
    3. Navigate to the user/folder that you're looking to copy files/folders from
    4. If you are not yet a collaborator on the folder, invite yourself into that folder (as an Editor)

    I hope that the information shared here would be helpful. Thanks for post and let us know how else we can help!

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