Users and Groups

Overview of the three user types in Box

There are three types of users in Box, Managed Users, Unmanaged Users, and External Users.

Managed Users

Managed users are user accounts that are managed by the primary organization, and the content in these accounts belongs to the organization. Admins or Co-admins can update these users, including deleting or editing user details.

If a managed user is suspended or has access revoked, their content will still be accessible and available as it belongs to the organization.

Unmanaged Users

Unmanaged users are independent of the primary organization but still collaborate on the organization's content. They must have an email address with the same domain as the organization or belong to a verified domain.

If an unmanaged user is deleted, their content is deleted with them. Box recommends converting these users to managed users before deletion to ensure important content is retained.

External Users

External users are independent of the organization and interact with a subset of content within the account.

Groups

Groups are a collection of users with a shared set of permissions and access levels. When added to a group, users inherit the group's permissions immediately.

External users cannot be added to a group.

Choosing between Managed Users and External Users

To help Admins choose the ideal user type between Managed and External users, Box put together a table of what many organizations have found to work well.

Managed Users	External Users
Team members	Vendors
Long-term contractors	Customers and clients
Coworkers	SMEs or consultants
Users that need to abide by your Box account's security policy	Short-term partners
Long-term partners	Bidders