Working with Box
Box is the odd one out among our integrations. SmartyGrants and Salesforce already know what an application is. Box is a filing cabinet, so we have to tell it.
A folder becomes an application. The files inside it become that application's attachments. Results get written back into the same folder.
Telling Box where an application starts
Since Box has no idea what an application is, the connection settings have to draw the boundary. Pick whichever matches how the folders are already arranged:
Child folders. Every folder directly inside the root you choose is one application. Usually the right answer, because most clients already keep one folder per applicant.
Marker folder. A folder counts as an application when it contains a folder with an agreed name. Handy when the structure is deep or inconsistent.
Fixed depth. Everything a set number of levels below the root. Blunt, but fine for tidy trees.
Routing rules
Without rules every file arrives as a generic attachment and someone has to work out what each one is. Routing rules sort them on the way in.
A rule is a pattern plus the question it should file against. Files are tested in order and the first match wins. Patterns can match the file name, the folder path, or both, so a rule looking for insurance catches Insurance.pdf and public-liability-insurance-2026.pdf alike.
Taking the folder above through a set of rules:
File in Box | Rule that catches it | Where it lands |
insurance-2026.pdf | name contains "insurance" | Q: Proof of insurance |
accounts-fy26.xlsx | name contains "accounts" | Q: Annual accounts |
photo.jpg | the default rule | Q: Supporting material |
photo.jpg, with no default set | nothing matches | Attached to no question at all |
That last row matters more than it sounds. Document checks are configured per question, so a file on the wrong question, or on none, is not checked against the requirements you expect. When a document check looks like it never ran, the routing rules are the first place to look.
You will find them under Integration settings, Attachment routing. The tab only appears for Box connections.
Getting files without waiting
Box syncs on a schedule, which is rarely fast enough when someone is on the phone. Two manual options:
Sync now, in integration settings, runs the sync for the whole connection immediately. Pull, on a single application, goes straight to that one folder in Box and re-checks whatever it finds.
The application header tells you when the last sync finished and when the next is due. The Pull button only shows while the Box connection is active, so you cannot click it into an error.
Getting between the two systems
After a folder syncs, each side links to the other. The application gets a Box Folder entry pointing at the source folder, and the Box folder gets an Open in Optible bookmark. Whichever tool someone is in, they can jump to the other.
Writing documents back
Optible can drop the generated application export into a subfolder of the application's Box folder. A folder has no fields to map onto, so you type the subfolder name rather than picking from a list.
Why one setting change is slow and the rest are not
Changing the root folder changes which files are in scope at all, so everything has to be walked again. On a large account that takes a while. Everything else, including renaming a marker folder, editing routing rules, or changing the output subfolder, applies straight away.
A few behaviours worth knowing
Delete a file in Box and it stays deleted. It will not quietly reappear on the next sync.
Re-syncing a document does not wipe the information already pulled out of it.
Documents added after the first sync are still read and checked.