Box vs Google Drive

2022. Google is adding new Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Keep optimizations for tablets



Google introduced Android 12L earlier this year to make tablets easier to use, and at I/O, the company announced plans to update more than 20 Google apps on tablets to optimize them for larger screens. Today, Google said it’s adding several new features for Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Keep to get started on this promise. The most notable feature announced today is the ability to drag text or images between two Workspace apps when you have them open side-by-side. Google notes that you can now drag text or images from apps, such as Chrome or Sheets, and drop that content right into an existing document or spreadsheet cell. In Google Drive, you’ll be able to quickly upload files by dragging and dropping them into the app. You can also add links to Drive files by dragging the file into an open app like Keep.


2021. Box acquires eSignature startup SignRequest for new content workflows



Box announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire e-signature startup SignRequest for $55 million. The acquisition gives the company a native signature component it has been lacking and opens up new workflows for the company. While Box has partnerships with other e-signature vendors, this gives it one to call its own, one that will be built into Box starting this summer. As we have learned during this pandemic, the more work we can do remotely, the safer it is. Even after the pandemic ends and we get back to more face-to-face interactions, being able to do things fully in the cloud and removing paper from the workflow will speed up everything.


2020. Box adds new collaboration capabilities



Box is adding some new collaboration functionality in face of pandemic. For starters, they are offering a cleaner interface to make it easier for users to interact with and share files. They are also helping users organize those files with a new feature called Collections, which lets them group their files and folders in ways that make sense to them. This is organized on an individual basis. Next, they are adding an annotations capability that makes it easy to add comments either as a single editor or in a group discussion about a file. Think Google Docs collaboration tools, but for any document, allowing an individual or group to comment on a file remotely in real time, something many folks need to do right now. Finally, external partners and customers can share files in Box from a special landing page.


2020. Box adds automated malware detection to Box Shield security product



Box announced it was adding automated malware detection tools to Box Shield, the security product it announced last year. The company is taking a three-pronged approach with this solution. For starters, it will let users view a file without actually having to download it first, while indicating if there is a risk associated with it. Next, it will actually prevent users from downloading a file with malware attached. Lastly, it will alert the security team when a file with malware has been uploaded to Box.


2018. Box acquired workflow automation startup Progressly



Box purchased Progressly, a startup that focuses on workflow. In 2016 Box launched own workflow tool called Box Relay along with a partnership with IBM to sell it inside large enterprises. It's useful for well defined processes inside a company like contract management or employee on-boarding, but Box wanted to expand on that initial vision to build additional types of workflows. The Progressly team will help them do that. It should allow Box to build workflows that not only run within Box, but ones that can integrate and intersect with external workflow engines like Pega and Nintex to build more complex automation in conjunction with the Box set of tools and services. This could involve both internal employees and external organizations and moving content through a much more sophisticated workflow than Box Relay provides.


2018. Google Drive added comments to Microsoft Office files



Google Drive makes it easier for teams and agencies to use a mix of G Suite and Microsoft Office while working with their colleagues and customers. From now Google Drive users can easily comment on Office files, PDFs and images in the Drive preview pane without having to use (and potentially pay for) tools like Microsoft Office or Acrobat Reader — or having to convert them to Google Docs, Sheets or Slides files. That’s not quite the real-time commenting feature you get from G Suite or Office 365, but it’s still better than having to constantly convert documents back and forth between Office and G Suite.


2017. Box applied AI to content management



Box has just unveiled Skills and the related SDK, Skills Kit. With these new offerings, organizations and developers now have the ability to pull insights from their massive content stores in Box data sets and apply machine learning to release the intrinsic commercial value in that content. Box is previewing three initial Box Skills, using machine learning tools from Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure to solve common business use cases: Those use cases include: Image recognition (detecting individual objects and concepts in image files, capturing text through optical character recognition (OCR), and automatically adding keyword labels to images to easily build metadata on image catalogs), Audio Transcription & Analysis (uses audio files to create and index a text transcript that can be easily searched and manipulated in a variety of use cases), Video Indexing (analyzes video files to provide text transcription, topic detection and indexing, and facial recognition).


2017. Google launches Drive File Stream to replace the Google Drive desktop app for G Suite users



Google launched a new desktop application for Google Drive users, called Drive File Stream, which is now available to G Suite customers. The app will serve as a replacement for the Google Drive desktop app that will be shut down next year. A key difference between the consumer application and the enterprise version is the option for administrative control. Company I.T. departments starting today will see the settings for Drive File Stream appear in the Admin Console for their version of G Suite, says Google. This will allow them to configure and distribute the solution for their domain, including turning sync on, specifying how the software is installed, disabling Google Update if the company prefers manual updates, and managing other settings.


2017. Google Drive gets a new Backup & Sync desktop app



Google launched its new Backup and Sync app for both Mac and PC, which aims to help users more easily back up the files and photos on their computer. The utility is meant to replace the older Google Photos desktop app, as well as the Google Drive client applications. The new tool offers a simple user interface, where you’ll first sign into your Google account, then select the folders you want Google to continually back up to Google Drive. In addition to backing up files on your desktop computer, the new software also can be used to back up photos from USB-connected devices, like cameras, as well as SD cards. For business users Google is planning to release a new enterprise-focused solution called Drive File Stream, which will roll out to all G Suite users later this year.


2017. Box introduced Box Elements - pre-packaged content services for developers



Box introduced a new developer tool Box Elements, pre-packaged application pieces designed to deliver Box functionality with a few lines of code. Eventually there will be three types of Elements: UI, app and services. Today, the company is launching the UI pieces, which include Content Uploader, which lets developers add drag and drop file capability into any application; Content Explorer, which lets developers insert Box file navigation in any application; Content Preview, which lets developers display any of 120 different file types inside an application including interactive video; and Content Picker, which enables developers to insert file picking capability inside an application. While none of these sound like earth-shattering capabilities, each one would require a fair amount of development time to build from scratch. What Box is offering here is the ability to implement them quickly with little or no content expertise required.