Let’s be honest: We all want to be more productive and do our best work. However, today’s fast-paced, ever-changing hybrid work environment makes it challenging. With collaborators in the office and across the globe, a multitude of “productivity” tools to choose from (with most orgs using upwards of 211 apps!), and cybersecurity threats on the rise, keeping everyone on the same “secure” page while still maintaining efficiency can be daunting.
Many organizations are facing challenges with real-time collaboration, particularly in the areas of secure external collaboration, document sharing, live file editing, as well as document versioning. According to a recent Nintex survey:
- 49% of employees struggle with document sharing
- 39% struggle with live file collaboration & editing
- 33% struggle with document versioning
For hybrid work to be effective, is important to create a culture of collaboration that empowers teams to work together and provides them not only with the right tools but also the understanding of how to use them. Only then are we helping teams work better together.
That’s where Box Notes comes in — a powerful collaboration tool that allows teams to create, edit, and share content seamlessly. Here are 3 ways to use Notes to save time, tackle any kind of project, and deliver better results while working together securely and collaboratively.
Organize your work using tables of contents and call-out blocks
Working collaboratively across departments or projects is most effective when everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals. You can accomplish this by providing a summary (or TLDR) of your Note and using a table of contents.
Call-out blocks highlight important information within a document quickly. They help hybrid teams, or collaborators working asynchronously, orient themselves and easily see what needs attention without having to read through the entire document again and again. Call-outs also help prevent miscommunication by providing clear visual cues that draw attention where needed most.
A table of contents serves two purposes: It gives users an overview of the document's contents and organization, and it allows readers to jump to a specific section of an on-line document.
- Try it yourself! Use the + symbol in the left side of a Box Note to insert a call-out box — you can change the icon or box color as need — or add a table of contents — use the heading functionality to create primary, secondary, and tertiary headers.
Work together seamlessly by sharing Notes
One of the biggest challenges when collaborating remotely is keeping track of who made what changes when working on a document together. This problem becomes even more pronounced as multiple people make edits simultaneously.
Box Notes solves this issue by providing in-line cursors that allow users to see exactly where their collaborators are making changes in real-time. These cursors help streamline communication between teammates by allowing them to quickly identify which sections have been updated or need attention without having to scroll through an entire document looking for revisions.
And, it also helps prevent version control issues since all collaborators can see each other’s updates at once instead of waiting for someone else’s turn before they start editing again. What if someone makes a mistake? No worries, you can always revert to a previous version.
- Try it yourself! Use the share button to invite a collaborator to edit your Note, or create a shared link to add to a meeting invitation.
Enhance your content with formatting
Visually appealing content engages readers and helps to convey information effectively. Advanced options like tables, fonts, and typographic capabilities are built into Box Notes' user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to format text or headers. Plus, you can upload images and previews directly from Box so you can link to other essential information. The intuitive UI simplifies adding elements such as bullet points or numbered lists so that writers don't waste valuable time trying different formats until they find one that works best – everything just flows naturally!
- Try it yourself! Use the + symbol to add a table, and after adding headers to the columns, highlight the text and try changing the size and color.
If you're looking for ways to improve productivity and collaboration in the hybrid work environment — look no further than Box Notes! Box Notes gives organizations an intuitive way to work together to achieve better results across a broad range of content collaboration activities including
human resources driving onboarding and performance evaluations
marketing teams working and managing campaigns across internal teams and external agencies
sales teams co-editing sales plays, call scripts, and email templates
lab techs creating standard operating procedures manuals (SOPs)
software engineers developing and reviewing code
With Box Notes, we’re proving once again that Notes is where teams work together, securely and collaboratively, to achieve better results. To learn more, watch our Box Notes video or read the datasheet.
Box Notes FAQs
What is Box Notes?
Box Notes is our native, real-time collaborative workspace built directly into the Box Intelligent Content Management (ICM) platform. Unlike standalone note-taking apps that create fragmented information silos, Box Notes centralizes your team's ideas, meeting minutes, and project plans right alongside the files and workflows they are already using. It’s the secure, single source of truth that turns raw brainstorming into structured, actionable team execution.
How does collaborative note-taking software help my team work better?
When your team takes notes in a shared, real-time workspace, you eliminate the back-and-forth of emailing drafts and chasing down the latest version. Box Notes lets everyone contribute simultaneously, so meeting recaps, project plans, and team decisions are captured accurately and accessible to the right people the moment they're written.
What makes Box Notes different from other note-taking apps for teams?
Most note-taking tools live outside your content ecosystem, forcing your team to constantly switch between apps to find files, context, and conversations. Box Notes keeps your notes right alongside your documents, spreadsheets, and media in Box, which reduces context switching and gives your team a single workspace for content and collaboration.
What are the key features of Box Notes?
Box Notes is packed with high-impact organizational features, including rich text formatting, inline tables, link previews, call-out boxes and more. Box Notes also supports robust collaboration with real-time co-authoring, commenting, threaded replies, and @mentions to keep stakeholders aligned. Plus, because it's built on Box, every note automatically inherits robust version history, granular access controls, and enterprise-grade security policies.
Can I use AI to take better meeting notes in Box?
Yes. With Box AI natively integrated, you can instantly optimize your notes with AI-powered meeting summaries, organize complex reviews, and collaborate on project plans in real time. Box AI extracts key takeaways and action items grounded directly in your organization's secure content, allowing your team to spend less time transcribing and more time driving business outcomes.
Is Box Notes a good tool for knowledge management?
Box Notes gives your teams a structured, searchable place to document processes, capture institutional knowledge, and build living wikis that stay current. With features like table of contents, anchored links, and headings, it’s easy to create an organized, formatted Box Note to capture your team’s knowledge.
How does Box Notes support agency collaboration and cross-team projects?
Box Notes makes it easy for internal teams, external partners, and agency collaborators to work together on briefs, campaign plans, and creative reviews in real time. You can invite agency partners, vendors, and clients to co-edit briefs, campaign plans, and creative reviews in real time. With Box's granular permission model, you control exactly who can view, edit, or share each note, ensuring open collaboration where you want it and strict security where you need it.
How secure is Box Notes for business use?
Box Notes is built with the same frictionless security that protects all your content in Box. Every note automatically inherits your enterprise's security policies, classification labels, and compliance standards. From granular user permissions to comprehensive audit trails, your sensitive information remains fully protected and compliant at all times.
What types of teams and use cases is Box Notes best suited for?
Box Notes is built for any team that creates content collaboratively, from capturing meeting notes and running project planning sessions to building agency collaboration workspaces and managing ongoing team documentation. It's especially valuable for organizations in regulated industries like healthcare, financial services, and government, where secure, compliant note-taking is a strict operational requirement.
How do I get started with Box Notes?
Getting started is fast. If your organization is already on Box, you can create a new Box Note directly from the left side bar or any folder with a single click. There’s no extra setup, licenses, or integrations required. Box Notes is included in every Box plan. Simply open a note, invite your team, and start collaborating securely right away.
