Identifying Stanford Box Files using Siteimprove

This week I want to highlight a Siteimprove policy that has some larger implications. This Siteimprove policy identifies pages containing links to Stanford's Box account.

As you may know, Stanford is retiring the Box service, with all data to be moved to alternative solutions in late 2022. More information can be found on the Box Migration Project page.

What does this mean for you?

While 2022 seems like a long way away, this is the kind of thing that can creep up on you. So why not use Siteimprove to help you get ahead of the process?

Many of the sites that Siteimprove has flagged for this issue have only a few links to Box. In fact, of the 223 sites currently in Siteimprove, 47 sites have 5 or fewer links to files in Box and over half of the sites have no links to Box at all.

A migration strategy for sites with few links could involve moving these files manually (e.g., download the file from Box, upload to a new service, and change the hyperlink on the website). This way you are finished and ready to tackle other tasks.

For sites with many links to Box files, review the Pre-Migration steps. If you have questions or feedback about the migration process or your Stanford Box account, submit a Help request.

Where exactly are my files?

This brings us to another feature of Siteimprove you may want to utilize, which is the Document Inventory section.

A list of all linked documents are displayed on this report. If the document is not directly on the same URL as your site (such as a file stored on a Google Drive), it will be listed as an external document. You can sort or search this list for various URLs to find exactly where you have stored various documents. Use this information to manage where your documents are located.

Accessibility and PDF files

Siteimprove will also scan PDF files for broken links and accessibility issues but it will only scan documents located on the same URL as your site. At this time, any documents located on Google Drive or other services will not be scanned.

Additional resources

Learn more about Siteimprove

• Join our Siteimprove drop-in office hours on Zoom, Thursdays, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. (PT)
• Pop into our #cop-siteimprove Slack channel

Learn more about digital accessibility

• Attend our weekly Accessibility Office Hours
• Pop into our #cop-accessibility Slack channel