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Note: End of Life (EOL) has been announced for Box Sync effective December 2026. For more information visit the official announcement page.
Many users often find themselves upgrading their own machines or are provisioned new machines from their IT team needing access to their Box content locally. If users are syncing items to their local machine and need Box Sync on their new machine, users should follow the workflow below:
  1. Ensure all the items on the cloud are up to date. Box Sync will bring down all the items that are marked for sync on box.com. Users are responsible for ensuring their items are up to date on the cloud, so the new machine syncs the most updated content to the new machine.
  2. Quit Box Sync or uninstall Box Sync on the old machine. If the old machine is no longer used, either option is acceptable to ensure sync is not running. However, do not copy the old Box Sync folder to the new machine.
  3. Install Sync on the new machine and log into the user’s Box account. Download the Box Sync installer and follow the installation prompts.
  4. Let the new machine sync all the items. Make sure the computer does not go to sleep during the syncing process, since Box Sync requires a stable internet correction to sync your content between the cloud and your machine.
You’re all done! Box Sync is now ready on the new machine.
Warning
  • If users copy the old Box Sync folder from the old machine to the new machine, items will get duplicated, and users will need to manually delete the duplicated items on their end.
  • Some disaster recovery tools (i.e. Time Machine, Carbon, Genie Timeline) may have a “backup”, “restore”, or “sync” function. These functions should not be used to move Box Sync content from one device to another. We recommend using the instructions for reinstalling Box Sync on a new device as mentioned on this page.
  • Data migration tools such as Apple Migration Assistant should not be used to move Box Sync content to a new device. We recommend using the instructions for reinstalling Box Sync on a new device as mentioned on this page.