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Folder

A standard representation of a folder, as returned from any folder API endpoints by default

This resource has a few variations that can be encountered when using the API.

The fields that are part of the standard variant are generally returned when the resource is requested via its own API endpoints. For example, when retrieving a file by ID, it will return these fields unless the fields parameter has been specified.

string
"12345"

The unique identifier that represent a folder.

The ID for any folder can be determined by visiting a folder in the web application and copying the ID from the URL. For example, for the URL https://*.app.box.com/folders/123 the folder_id is 123.

string
"folder"

folder

Value is always folder

string / date-time
"2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"

The date and time at which this folder was originally created.

string / date-time
"2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"

The date and time at which this folder was last updated.

string / date-time
"2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"

The date and time when the folder was created. This value may be null for some folders such as the root folder or the trash folder.

User (Mini) object

The user who created this folder

string
"Legal contracts for the new ACME deal"256

The optional description of this folder

string
"1"

The HTTP etag of this folder. This can be used within some API endpoints in the If-Match and If-None-Match headers to only perform changes on the folder if (no) changes have happened.

object
string
"open"

When this parameter has been set, users can email files to the email address that has been automatically created for this folder.

To create an email address, set this property either when creating or updating the folder.

When set to collaborators, only emails from registered email addresses for collaborators will be accepted. This includes any email aliases a user might have registered.

When set to open it will accept emails from any email address.

Value is one of open,collaborators

string / email
"upload.Contracts.asd7asd@u.box.com"

The optional upload email address for this folder.

Items object

A page of the items that are in the folder.

This field can only be requested when querying a folder's information, not when querying a folder's items.

string
"active"

Defines if this item has been deleted or not.

  • active when the item has is not in the trash
  • trashed when the item has been moved to the trash but not deleted
  • deleted when the item has been permanently deleted.

Value is one of active,trashed,deleted

string / date-time
"2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"

The date and time when the folder was last updated. This value may be null for some folders such as the root folder or the trash folder.

User (Mini) object

The user who last modified this folder.

string
"Contracts"

The name of the folder.

User (Mini) object

The user who owns this folder.

Folder (Mini) object

The optional folder that this folder is located within.

This value may be null for some folders such as the root folder or the trash folder.

object

The tree of folders that this folder is contained in, starting at the root.

Folder (Mini) array

The parent folders for this item

integer / int64
1

The number of folders in this list.

string / date-time
"2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"

The time at which this folder is expected to be purged from the trash.

string
"3"

A numeric identifier that represents the most recent user event that has been applied to this item.

This can be used in combination with the GET /events-endpoint to filter out user events that would have occurred before this identifier was read.

An example would be where a Box Drive-like application would fetch an item via the API, and then listen to incoming user events for changes to the item. The application would ignore any user events where the sequence_id in the event is smaller than or equal to the sequence_id in the originally fetched resource.

object

The shared link for this folder. This will be null if no shared link has been created for this folder.

string
"open"

The access level for this shared link.

  • open - provides access to this item to anyone with this link
  • company - only provides access to this item to people the same company
  • collaborators - only provides access to this item to people who are collaborators on this item

If this field is omitted when creating the shared link, the access level will be set to the default access level specified by the enterprise admin.

Value is one of open,company,collaborators

integer
3

The number of times this item has been downloaded.

string / url
"https://www.box.com/shared/static/rh935iit6ewrmw0unyul.jpeg"

A URL that can be used to download the file. This URL can be used in a browser to download the file. This URL includes the file extension so that the file will be saved with the right file type.

This property will be null for folders.

string
"company"

The effective access level for the shared link. This can be a more restrictive access level than the value in the access field when the enterprise settings restrict the allowed access levels.

Value is one of open,company,collaborators

string
"can_download"

The effective permissions for this shared link. These result in the more restrictive combination of the share link permissions and the item permissions set by the administrator, the owner, and any ancestor item such as a folder.

Value is one of can_edit,can_download,can_preview,no_access

boolean
true

Defines if the shared link requires a password to access the item.

object

Defines if this link allows a user to preview, edit, and download an item. These permissions refer to the shared link only and do not supersede permissions applied to the item itself.

boolean
true

Defines if the shared link allows for the item to be downloaded. For shared links on folders, this also applies to any items in the folder.

This value can be set to true when the effective access level is set to open or company, not collaborators.

boolean
false

Defines if the shared link allows for the item to be edited.

This value can only be true if can_download is also true and if the item has a type of file.

boolean
true

Defines if the shared link allows for the item to be previewed.

This value is always true. For shared links on folders this also applies to any items in the folder.

integer
3

The number of times this item has been previewed.

string / date-time
"2018-04-13T13:53:23-07:00"

The date and time when this link will be unshared. This field can only be set by users with paid accounts.

string / url
"https://www.box.com/s/vspke7y05sb214wjokpk"

The URL that can be used to access the item on Box.

This URL will display the item in Box's preview UI where the file can be downloaded if allowed.

This URL will continue to work even when a custom vanity_url has been set for this shared link.

string
"my_url"

The custom name of a shared link, as used in the vanity_url field.

string / url
"https://acme.app.box.com/v/my_url/"

The "Custom URL" that can also be used to preview the item on Box. Custom URLs can only be created or modified in the Box Web application.

integer / int64
629644

The folder size in bytes.

Be careful parsing this integer as its value can get very large.

string / date-time
"2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"

The time at which this folder was put in the trash.

Response Example

{
  "id": "12345",
  "type": "folder",
  "content_created_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00",
  "content_modified_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00",
  "created_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00",
  "created_by": {
    "id": "11446498",
    "type": "user",
    "login": "ceo@example.com",
    "name": "Aaron Levie"
  },
  "description": "Legal contracts for the new ACME deal",
  "etag": "1",
  "folder_upload_email": {
    "access": "open",
    "email": "upload.Contracts.asd7asd@u.box.com"
  },
  "item_collection": {
    "entries": [
      {
        "id": "12345",
        "etag": "1",
        "type": "file",
        "sequence_id": "3",
        "name": "Contract.pdf",
        "sha1": "85136C79CBF9FE36BB9D05D0639C70C265C18D37",
        "file_version": {
          "id": "12345",
          "type": "file_version",
          "sha1": "134b65991ed521fcfe4724b7d814ab8ded5185dc"
        }
      }
    ],
    "limit": 1000,
    "offset": 2000,
    "order": [
      {
        "by": "type",
        "direction": "ASC"
      }
    ],
    "total_count": 5000
  },
  "item_status": "active",
  "modified_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00",
  "modified_by": {
    "id": "11446498",
    "type": "user",
    "login": "ceo@example.com",
    "name": "Aaron Levie"
  },
  "name": "Contracts",
  "owned_by": {
    "id": "11446498",
    "type": "user",
    "login": "ceo@example.com",
    "name": "Aaron Levie"
  },
  "parent": {
    "id": "12345",
    "type": "folder",
    "etag": "1",
    "name": "Contracts",
    "sequence_id": "3"
  },
  "path_collection": {
    "entries": [
      {
        "id": "12345",
        "etag": "1",
        "type": "folder",
        "name": "Contracts",
        "sequence_id": "3"
      }
    ],
    "total_count": 1
  },
  "purged_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00",
  "sequence_id": "3",
  "shared_link": {
    "access": "open",
    "download_count": 3,
    "download_url": "https://www.box.com/shared/static/rh935iit6ewrmw0unyul.jpeg",
    "effective_access": "company",
    "effective_permission": "can_download",
    "is_password_enabled": true,
    "permissions": {
      "can_download": true,
      "can_edit": false,
      "can_preview": true
    },
    "preview_count": 3,
    "unshared_at": "2018-04-13T13:53:23-07:00",
    "url": "https://www.box.com/s/vspke7y05sb214wjokpk",
    "vanity_name": "my_url",
    "vanity_url": "https://acme.app.box.com/v/my_url/"
  },
  "size": 629644,
  "trashed_at": "2012-12-12T10:53:43-08:00"
}