Overview

Sharing in Box is a core user action, measuring the pulse of user activity— however, it was one that was friction heavy, confusing, and full of dead ends. I lead the redesign to simplify sharing in Box so it was more intuitive and secure.

My Role: Lead designer through end to end process: discovery, user research, requirements, design, testing, support through launch.

The problem

Box has always had two distinct sharing models: Shared Links and Collaborator Invitations. Each pathway gave users distinct permissions and access levels. But to our users, sharing was simply sharing, yet we continued to receive feedback that it was difficult and confusing to do. We had made one of our core actions complicated.

The experience, different between files and folders, combined with a complex permission model, was difficult to navigate. Knowing this, we took the opportunity to add a new feature as a way to do a major overhaul.

The feature would allow users to invite collaborators to a single file for full editing permissions. Historically, users could only invite collaborators to a folder, which caused a huge amount of “folder sprawl” in users’ accounts. Alternatively, users could send share links to a file, but this had limited functionality.

This was an exciting new feature users had been requesting for ages, but we were apprehensive about adding any features without rearchitecting the entire sharing experience. How could we reimagine a better, simpler way to share in Box?

Why are users having a hard time sharing?

My team was lucky to have access to a wealth of knowledge from the Box Consulting and Customer Services teams. Digging into all of the user feedback, we summarized the key user problems related to sharing.

01. I can't invite someone to edit a file, so I have to invite them to a folder instead.
02. I have no idea who already has access to a file or folder that I'm sharing.
03. I don't understand the Box permission model— it's too complex
04. Creating shared links for every file or folder is a security risk for my enterprise
05. I don't know when I should use a share link or invite a collaborator
06. I don't know what to expect when I click "Share"— I get different experiences everywhere

Our goal— more sharing, more engagement

Success meant a growing number of collaboration invitations and share links created, which would not only increase the amount of content shared within Box, but also grow our active user base and engagement levels. For ours users, our team’s primary goal was to launch the new single file collaboration feature so users could easily and quickly grant others’ access to their content. In addition to that were higher-level goals for the business: increase collaboration within Box, consolidate our fractured sharing paradigm into a streamlined experience, enable users to choose the correct path, and help users to understand our existing permission model.

Emphasis on Collaboration and Increased Security

One of our goals was to promote collaboration within Box, because it increased engagement, was trackable, and encouraged users to stay in Box. We also wanted to turn off share links by default because it was a security risk for many enterprises to have them automatically generated. However, I needed to de-emphasize share links without increasing friction. Being able to quickly copy the share link and send it off was still a major need for our users. To reduce friction, I ensured that the share link was auto-copied when the user generated the link to reduce another click.

Easily View and Manage Collaborators

Previously, users had to open a separate page to view and manage collaborators, which was only accessible from the main Box app. I added the “Shared with” feature in the new share modal so users could get a glimpse into who already had access, and to help users understand the difference between sharing the link vs. inviting a collaborator. Clicking this opened up a new modal where the user could see all existing collaborators and change their permissions.

One Click to Share

Before, all share buttons in Box exposed a dropdown menu with more option. Through the entire Box app, I updated all the buttons so opening the share modal only took one click, allowing the user to see all sharing options and take an action more quickly.

Simplifying Permissions

Box’s permission model is complex (it even took me a long time to figure it out), and users were often left perplexed and afraid of choosing the wrong option. Sometimes they would abandon the flow altogether. To alleviate that headache, I included the permission model in line so they could easily compare the different permission levels and pick the right option

Iterate, iterate, iterate

I probably had around 100 variations of the share modal . There were many different permutations every component. However, I first began with high-level sketches to get rough ideas on paper before diving into the details.

Early sketches of the "northstar" version of the modal. I was focused on combining everything in one view: invite, share link, existing collaborators, and all permissions.

Early Designs

After throwing ideas and flows onto paper, I began designing variations in Sketch. I would show my team the designs I was most confident about, then get feedback and go back the drawing board for another iteration on the designs. Every single detail was nuanced, and I felt as if I was trying to put all these important pieces together into a jigsaw puzzle.

Recognizing the need to simplify the sharing pathway, I explored options where the share link and invite collaborators were combined in one view. Trying to minimize the amount of information in the modal and make it less overwhelming, I also tried hiding the share link URL and the share link settings.

Exploring Tabs

I continued to go down the tabbed model path, arguing that tabs allowed us to separate different sets of information but still expose all options to the user.

Data and tests indicated that the ability to easily and quickly change permissions was important for the user. Knowing that, I played around with fully and minimally exposing settings.

Unified Modal

Feedback reminded me of our goals— simplify the path to sharing and encourage collaboration. I moved away from tabs, as it contradicted with our belief that everything should be exposed by default. We would not hide share links or invite collaborators. I also tried options where the share link was hidden and placed heavier emphasis on the “People” section.

The Strongest Wins

After landing on three options I felt were strong contenders, I ran several tests to pick the best one and refine. I tested Box users, internal Boxers, and non-Box users who have never interacted with Box before. Based on the questions we asked, option B was the most successful. In summary, people preferred to see all helpful information and options in one view.

Currently in beta

At the moment, we have not rolled out the updated experience to enough users to gather statistical significance to validate the success of the new design. However, we're continuing to get feedback from users and iterate on the designs to improve the user experience. So far, we've noticed positive changes and feedback in the following:

Increase in collaboration invites

Decrease in shared links sent

Improved perception of security

Box Sharing