Box Search API
The Box Search API enables full-text search across content stored in Box, supporting keyword queries, metadata-based filtering, content type restrictions, date range filters, and other advanced search parameters.
OpenAPI Specification
openapi: 3.1.0
info:
title: Box Search API
description: Needs a description.
paths:
/search:
get:
operationId: get_search
summary: Box Search for content
tags:
- Search
x-box-tag: search
x-box-enable-explorer: true
description: |-
Searches for files, folders, web links, and shared files across the
users content or across the entire enterprise.
parameters:
- name: query
description: >-
The string to search for. This query is matched against item names,
descriptions, text content of files, and various other fields of
the different item types.
This parameter supports a variety of operators to further refine
the results returns.
* `""` - by wrapping a query in double quotes only exact matches are
returned by the API. Exact searches do not return search matches
based on specific character sequences. Instead, they return
matches based on phrases, that is, word sequences. For example:
A search for `"Blue-Box"` may return search results including
the sequence `"blue.box"`, `"Blue Box"`, and `"Blue-Box"`;
any item containing the words `Blue` and `Box` consecutively, in
the order specified.
* `AND` - returns items that contain both the search terms. For
example, a search for `marketing AND BoxWorks` returns items
that have both `marketing` and `BoxWorks` within its text in any order.
It does not return a result that only has `BoxWorks` in its text.
* `OR` - returns items that contain either of the search terms. For
example, a search for `marketing OR BoxWorks` returns a result that
has either `marketing` or `BoxWorks` within its text. Using this
operator is not necessary as we implicitly interpret multi-word
queries as `OR` unless another supported boolean term is used.
* `NOT` - returns items that do not contain the search term
provided.
For example, a search for `marketing AND NOT BoxWorks` returns a result
that has only `marketing` within its text. Results containing
`BoxWorks` are omitted.
We do not support lower case (that is,
`and`, `or`, and `not`) or mixed case (that is, `And`, `Or`, and
`Not`)
operators.
This field is required unless the `mdfilters` parameter is defined.
in: query
required: false
example: sales
schema:
type: string
- name: scope
description: |-
Limits the search results to either the files that the user has
access to, or to files available to the entire enterprise.
The scope defaults to `user_content`, which limits the search
results to content that is available to the currently authenticated
user.
The `enterprise_content` can be requested by an admin through our
support channels. Once this scope has been enabled for a user, it
will allow that use to query for content across the entire
enterprise and not only the content that they have access to.
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: string
enum:
- user_content
- enterprise_content
default: user_content
example: user_content
- name: file_extensions
description: >-
Limits the search results to any files that match any of the
provided
file extensions. This list is a comma-separated list of file
extensions
without the dots.
example:
- pdf
- png
- gif
in: query
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: created_at_range
description: |-
Limits the search results to any items created within
a given date range.
Date ranges are defined as comma separated RFC3339
timestamps.
If the the start date is omitted (`,2014-05-17T13:35:01-07:00`)
anything created before the end date will be returned.
If the end date is omitted (`2014-05-15T13:35:01-07:00,`) the
current date will be used as the end date instead.
example:
- '2014-05-15T13:35:01-07:00'
- '2014-05-17T13:35:01-07:00'
in: query
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: updated_at_range
description: |-
Limits the search results to any items updated within
a given date range.
Date ranges are defined as comma separated RFC3339
timestamps.
If the start date is omitted (`,2014-05-17T13:35:01-07:00`)
anything updated before the end date will be returned.
If the end date is omitted (`2014-05-15T13:35:01-07:00,`) the
current date will be used as the end date instead.
example:
- '2014-05-15T13:35:01-07:00'
- '2014-05-17T13:35:01-07:00'
in: query
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: size_range
description: |-
Limits the search results to any items with a size within
a given file size range. This applied to files and folders.
Size ranges are defined as comma separated list of a lower
and upper byte size limit (inclusive).
The upper and lower bound can be omitted to create open ranges.
example:
- 1000000
- 5000000
in: query
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: integer
- name: owner_user_ids
description: >-
Limits the search results to any items that are owned
by the given list of owners, defined as a list of comma separated
user IDs.
The items still need to be owned or shared with
the currently authenticated user for them to show up in the search
results. If the user does not have access to any files owned by any
of
the users an empty result set will be returned.
To search across an entire enterprise, we recommend using the
`enterprise_content` scope parameter which can be requested with our
support team.
example:
- '123422'
- '23532'
- '3241212'
in: query
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: recent_updater_user_ids
description: >-
Limits the search results to any items that have been updated
by the given list of users, defined as a list of comma separated
user IDs.
The items still need to be owned or shared with
the currently authenticated user for them to show up in the search
results. If the user does not have access to any files owned by any
of
the users an empty result set will be returned.
This feature only searches back to the last 10 versions of an item.
example:
- '123422'
- '23532'
- '3241212'
in: query
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: ancestor_folder_ids
description: >-
Limits the search results to items within the given
list of folders, defined as a comma separated lists
of folder IDs.
Search results will also include items within any subfolders
of those ancestor folders.
The folders still need to be owned or shared with
the currently authenticated user. If the folder is not accessible by
this
user, or it does not exist, a `HTTP 404` error code will be returned
instead.
To search across an entire enterprise, we recommend using the
`enterprise_content` scope parameter which can be requested with our
support team.
explode: false
example:
- '4535234'
- '234123235'
- '2654345'
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: content_types
description: >-
Limits the search results to any items that match the search query
for a specific part of the file, for example the file description.
Content types are defined as a comma separated lists
of Box recognized content types. The allowed content types are as
follows.
* `name` - The name of the item, as defined by its `name` field.
* `description` - The description of the item, as defined by its
`description` field.
* `file_content` - The actual content of the file.
* `comments` - The content of any of the comments on a file or
folder.
* `tags` - Any tags that are applied to an item, as defined by its
`tags` field.
in: query
example:
- name
- description
explode: false
required: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
enum:
- name
- description
- file_content
- comments
- tag
- name: type
description: |-
Limits the search results to any items of this type. This
parameter only takes one value. By default the API returns
items that match any of these types.
* `file` - Limits the search results to files
* `folder` - Limits the search results to folders
* `web_link` - Limits the search results to web links, also known
as bookmarks
example: file
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: string
enum:
- file
- folder
- web_link
- name: trash_content
description: |-
Determines if the search should look in the trash for items.
By default, this API only returns search results for items
not currently in the trash (`non_trashed_only`).
* `trashed_only` - Only searches for items currently in the trash
* `non_trashed_only` - Only searches for items currently not in
the trash
* `all_items` - Searches for both trashed and non-trashed items.
in: query
required: false
example: non_trashed_only
schema:
type: string
default: non_trashed_only
enum:
- non_trashed_only
- trashed_only
- all_items
- name: mdfilters
description: >-
Limits the search results to any items for which the metadata
matches
the provided filter.
This parameter contains a list of 1 metadata template to filter
the search results by. This list can currently only
contain one entry, though this might be expanded in the future.
This parameter is required unless the `query` parameter is provided.
in: query
example:
- scope: enterprise
templateKey: contract
filters:
category: online
x-example:
- scope: enterprise
templateKey: contract
filters:
category: online
contractValue: 1000000
required: false
schema:
type: array
minItems: 1
maxItems: 1
items:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/MetadataFilter'
description: |-
A list of metadata templates to filter the search results by.
Required unless `query` parameter is defined.
- name: sort
description: >-
Defines the order in which search results are returned. This API
defaults to returning items by relevance unless this parameter is
explicitly specified.
* `relevance` (default) returns the results sorted by relevance to
the
query search term. The relevance is based on the occurrence of the
search
term in the items name, description, content, and additional
properties.
* `modified_at` returns the results ordered in descending order by
date
at which the item was last modified.
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: string
default: relevance
enum:
- modified_at
- relevance
example: modified_at
- name: direction
description: >-
Defines the direction in which search results are ordered. This API
defaults to returning items in descending (`DESC`) order unless this
parameter is explicitly specified.
When results are sorted by `relevance` the ordering is locked to
returning
items in descending order of relevance, and this parameter is
ignored.
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: string
default: DESC
enum:
- DESC
- ASC
example: ASC
- name: limit
description: |-
Defines the maximum number of items to return as part of a page of
results.
in: query
required: false
example: 100
schema:
type: integer
format: int64
default: 30
maximum: 200
- name: include_recent_shared_links
description: |-
Defines whether the search results should include any items
that the user recently accessed through a shared link.
When this parameter has been set to true,
the format of the response of this API changes to return
a list of [Search Results with
Shared Links](r://search_results_with_shared_links)
in: query
required: false
example: true
schema:
type: boolean
default: false
- name: fields
description: |-
A comma-separated list of attributes to include in the
response. This can be used to request fields that are
not normally returned in a standard response.
Be aware that specifying this parameter will have the
effect that none of the standard fields are returned in
the response unless explicitly specified, instead only
fields for the mini representation are returned, additional
to the fields requested.
in: query
example:
- id
- type
- name
required: false
explode: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: offset
description: |-
The offset of the item at which to begin the response.
Queries with offset parameter value
exceeding 10000 will be rejected
with a 400 response.
in: query
required: false
example: 1000
schema:
type: integer
format: int64
default: 0
- name: deleted_user_ids
description: |-
Limits the search results to items that were deleted by the given
list of users, defined as a list of comma separated user IDs.
The `trash_content` parameter needs to be set to `trashed_only`.
If searching in trash is not performed, an empty result set
is returned. The items need to be owned or shared with
the currently authenticated user for them to show up in the search
results.
If the user does not have access to any files owned by
any of the users, an empty result set is returned.
Data available from 2023-02-01 onwards.
example:
- '123422'
- '23532'
- '3241212'
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
- name: deleted_at_range
description: |-
Limits the search results to any items deleted within a given
date range.
Date ranges are defined as comma separated RFC3339 timestamps.
If the the start date is omitted (`2014-05-17T13:35:01-07:00`),
anything deleted before the end date will be returned.
If the end date is omitted (`2014-05-15T13:35:01-07:00`),
the current date will be used as the end date instead.
The `trash_content` parameter needs to be set to `trashed_only`.
If searching in trash is not performed, then an empty result
is returned.
Data available from 2023-02-01 onwards.
example:
- '2014-05-15T13:35:01-07:00'
- '2014-05-17T13:35:01-07:00'
in: query
required: false
schema:
type: array
items:
type: string
responses:
'200':
description: |-
Returns a collection of search results. If there are no matching
search results, the `entries` array will be empty.
content:
application/json:
schema:
oneOf:
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/SearchResults'
- $ref: '#/components/schemas/SearchResultsWithSharedLinks'
'400':
description: >-
Returns an error when the request was not valid. This can have
multiple
reasons and the `context_info` object will provide you with more
details.
* `missing_parameter` - Please provide at least the `query` or
`mdfilters`
query parameter in a search.
* `invalid_parameter` - Any of the fields might not be in the right
format. This could for example mean that one of the RFC3339 dates is
incorrect, or a string is provided where an integer is expected.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/ClientError'
'403':
description: |-
Returns an error when the user does not have the permission to make
this API call.
* The developer provided a `scope` of `enterprise_content` but did
not request this scope to be enabled for the user through our
support channels.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/ClientError'
'404':
description: |-
Returns an error when the user does not have access to an item
mentioned in the request.
* The developer provided a folder ID in `ancestor_folder_ids`
that either does not exist or the user does not have access to.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/ClientError'
default:
description: An unexpected client error.
content:
application/json:
schema:
$ref: '#/components/schemas/ClientError'
components:
schemas:
ClientError:
title: Client error
type: object
x-box-resource-id: client_error
description: A generic error
properties:
type:
description: error
example: error
type: string
enum:
- error
nullable: false
status:
description: The HTTP status of the response.
example: 400
type: integer
format: int32
nullable: false
code:
description: A Box-specific error code
example: item_name_invalid
type: string
enum:
- created
- accepted
- no_content
- redirect
- not_modified
- bad_request
- unauthorized
- forbidden
- not_found
- method_not_allowed
- conflict
- precondition_failed
- too_many_requests
- internal_server_error
- unavailable
- item_name_invalid
- insufficient_scope
message:
description: A short message describing the error.
example: Method Not Allowed
type: string
nullable: false
context_info:
description: |-
A free-form object that contains additional context
about the error. The possible fields are defined on
a per-endpoint basis. `message` is only one example.
type: object
nullable: true
properties:
message:
type: string
description: More details on the error.
example: Something went wrong.
help_url:
description: A URL that links to more information about why this error occurred.
example: >-
https://developer.box.com/guides/api-calls/permissions-and-errors/common-errors/
type: string
nullable: false
request_id:
description: |-
A unique identifier for this response, which can be used
when contacting Box support.
type: string
example: abcdef123456
nullable: false
tags:
- name: Search