Box Sync and Box Drive are two separate desktop applications that give users the ability to access Box content from the user's desktop environment. Box Drive will eventually replicate most of Box Sync's functionality, but for now there are a few differences between the applications that may make one more suited to your needs than the other.
Box Drive
Box Drive brings your entire Box folder tree to your desktop. All the files you have access to on Box will be accessible from your desktop Box folder. However, Box Drive does not currently support marking files for offline access. This feature will be available in future versions of Box Drive, but until then, if you need to access certain files while disconnected from the internet, we recommend using Box Sync.
Box Sync
Box Sync allows you to choose specific files and folders to sync between Box and your desktop. You need to select which files you'd like to sync, and those files will be available from any desktop where you have installed and logged into Box Sync. With Box Sync, your synced files are available for offline access. The files are stored on your local machine, so you will be able to open and edit them without being connected to the internet (your changes will be synced to Box the next time you connect).
See the charts below for more details on the current differences between Box Sync and Box Drive:
End-User Functionality:
|
Box Drive |
Box Sync |
Search & view all the content in your Box account (including read-only) |
✓ |
|
Upload content to any Box folder/ Open files from any Box folder
|
✓ |
|
Lock content for editing |
✓ |
✓ |
Mark content for offline access |
|
✓ |
Create and retrieve a Shared link |
✓ |
✓ |
Change the location of the Box folder on your computer |
|
✓ |
Admin Functionality:
|
Box Drive |
Box Sync |
Device Pinning |
|
✓ |
Device Trust |
✓ |
✓ |
Box Verified Enterprise |
✓ |
✓ |
Auto-updates without user requiring admin rights |
✓ |
✓ |
Virtual Desktop Support:
Configuration |
Box Sync |
Box Drive |
Published apps |
x* |
x* |
Remote Desktop |
x* |
x* |
VDI (persistent) |
✓ |
✓ |
VDI (non-persistent) |
x |
✓ |
*Both Box Sync and Box Drive only work if you are running on client PC (not on RDS/Terminal Services server) and client drive mapping from RDS/Terminal Services server must be enabled to save content into Box.