Read Data from Box
Box Connectors in Designer
This page covers the capabilities of the new version of Box connectors. To know more about the older versions, visit Box, Box Input Tool (deprecated), or Box Output Tool (deprecated).
Use the Input Data tool to read data from your Box storage. See Box for general information.
Input Options
Every supported format offers the same input options. Select the option that matches what you want to do with the file or folder.
Read Data Only (Default): Reads data from the file content.
Read Metadata Only: Reads metadata from the file or folder.
When you select this option, the Select All Metadata checkbox is enabled by default. Clear the checkbox to select individual fields from the Metadata List.
Read Only List of Full Paths: Reads only the full paths, recursively, from the selected folder. This option returns paths instead of file contents.
Download File or Folder: Downloads the selected file or folder to your machine.
When you select this option, Download Location appears. The default location is
%TEMP%/Box.
Nota
Format-specific options are available only when Read Data Only is selected. The other input options act on the file or folder rather than its contents, so format-specific settings do not apply.
In Box connector version 2.5.8 and earlier, Include subfolders was a separate checkbox. In version 3.0.0, it is part of Download File or Folder, which handles files and folders together.
Supported Formats
These are the supported formats and options to read data:
Input Option: Select the way to handle the data or file. See Input Options above.
Delimiters: Enter the delimiter character.
First Row Contains Field Names: Select the checkbox to indicate the first row of the data as field names.
Field Length: Enter the maximum length of each field. This gives you control over string cut-off.
Start Data Import on Line: Enter the number of the line from which to start reading data.
Ignore Delimiters in: Select how to handle characters in data that are also used as the delimiter.
Treat Read Errors as Warnings: Select the checkbox to read data despite errors, and return the errors as warnings.
Code Page: Select the code page of the file.
Allow Shared Write Access: Select the checkbox to allow write access from multiple sources.
AMP Only: Allow Newlines in Quoted Fields: Select the checkbox if your data contains new lines in fields.
AMP Only: Force Single-threaded Reading: Select the checkbox to force processing of data in single threads. To learn more, go to Alteryx Engine and AMP: Main Differences.
Input Option: Select the way to handle the data or file. See Input Options above.
Data Range: Select the range of data.
Sheet Name: Enter the name of the sheet from which to read data.
Named Range: Enter the named range of the sheets from which to read data.
Import only the list of sheet names: Select this option to read only the sheet names.
Select Range (Cell, Rows or Columns): Select the checkbox to further specify the range from which to read data. The From and To fields accept alphabetical characters for columns, numbers for rows, and combinations of alphabetical characters and numbers for specific cells. Example: A, 1, A1.
First Row Contains Data: Select the checkbox if the first row of the file contains data instead of headers.
Start Data Import on Line: Enter the number of the line from which to start reading.
Input Option: Select the way to handle the data or file. See Input Options above.
AMP Only: Read Data in structured form: Select the checkbox to read the data from the file into a table.
Unstructured mode only: Parse Value as String: Select the checkbox to read the data from the file as a string.
Code Page: Select the code page of the file.
Box connector version 3.0.0 can also read YXDB, Avro, and Parquet files.
Parquet requires Designer 2026.2 or later. The read options for these formats are the standard Alteryx options for each file type. The Box connector neither adds to them nor restricts them.