How Do I Create a Personal Box Account?

The University has moved from Box to Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint for document storage and collaboration. What if you need box to continue to collaborate with outside entities after migration? The answer is the creation of a personal Box account using your Northwestern email address as the account’s identifier. Below are the steps to follow to create a free personal Box account.

Personal Box accounts (which now includes any Box account created with a @northwestern.edu email address) are only for use when accessing Box content owned by third parties with whom Northwestern students, faculty, and staff are collaborating. Northwestern University does not support Box as a document storage solution, and cannot verify the integrity or security of any Box account shared by a third party. Institutional Data for which Northwestern is responsible should not be stored in personal Box accounts. Northwestern has selected a set of storage solutions; please access Northwestern’s Storage Finder webpage at https://www.it.northwestern.edu/service-catalog/collab/doc-collab/storage-finder/index.html

Creating a Personal Box Account 

Step 1:  Copy this link address https://account.box.com/signup/personal?tc=annual into an “In Private Browser session” session (For instructions please visit: Opening a Private Browsing Window).  This will open Box account creation window, as shown below.

Step 2:  Enter information as requested.  If Step 1 from above has been completed, you will be able to use your current @Northwestern.edu Email address.

Note:         If you see the message below stating the email is already taken, then Step 1 from above has not been completed yet and you will need to wait until that has been completed before attempting to create a new account.

Step 3:   Once all boxes are filled in successfully and completion of the InCaptcha section, select the Get Started Button.  If successful, the following window will be displayed.

Once completed, external sharing will need to be re-established by sending your email address to any external contacts that were previously being shared with.