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Work With Files
We focus on designing Boxcryptor as user-friendly and easy to use as possible. Once Boxcryptor is set up, you will not notice that your files are encrypted. Just keep working with your files as usual.
On-the-fly Encryption
Boxcryptor encrypts your data on-the-fly and it encrypts every file separately. When you work with your files there is no need for bulk decryption. You can just open any encrypted file and it's content will be decrypted automatically in the background. When you save your changes, the contents are encrypted automatically again. Simply work with your protected data with Boxcryptor without noticing the cryptographic process behind it.
We decrypt and encrypt your files on demand: Do you want to view your content? Just tap on it and we download and decrypt your file for you. Are you finished with writing your essay? Just send it to Boxcryptor and we encrypt the file and store it into the cloud.
Encryption and Permission Hierarchy
You can decide for every file or folder which security level you want to set. Boxcryptor gives you full control over this. You can allow others to access a file by giving permissions, you can choose if the filename should be encrypted as well, or you can leave single files and folders unencrypted.
To make things easier all properties of a file are inherited hierarchically from its containing folder. For example, if you have an encrypted folder called My Secret Files and add a file to this, the file will be encrypted automatically and the chosen permissions will be inherited. The same applies to whole folders.
Encrypted and permission to access for Alice
Encrypted and permission to access for Bob
Encrypted and permission to access for Alice and Bob
Note: If you add a file to a folder that is not encrypted, Boxcryptor will ask you if you want to encrypt it or not.
Work With Your Files
With Boxcryptor, you never need to manually decrypt any data when you want to work with it.
The Boxcryptor app is a general-purpose file browser. You can browse into folders or preview files by tapping on them. Boxcryptor will automatically download and decrypt files for you. You can upload files, create a new file, create a new folder, or take an encrypted photo by tapping on 
.
If you tap on a file longer, the file browser will switch to Operation Mode. In this mode, you can select files and folders by tapping on them. All available operations, such as copy, move, rename or delete can be triggered via the bar at the top.
Tapping on 
opens the File Details Bar. In this bar you see a preview of the file and you can trigger basic functions, such as copy, move, rename or delete.
Besides that, Boxcryptor allows you to mark a file as a favorite. All files marked as favorite can be easily accessed via 
→ Favorites.
The activities view ( → Activities) displays all files which have been changed recently.
Editing Files
Editing files on Android is a bit trickier than on other platforms. To increase security, Android sandboxes apps. This means that each app can only access its own folder on the system. Therefore, installed apps cannot access any data of other apps.
The problem is that if you send or share a file with another app, such as Word, the file is in fact copied to another place and Boxcryptor cannot access it anymore.
For this purpose we integrated Boxcryptor into Android’s Storage Access Framework, which can be accessed by these other apps. If you want to edit files, make sure to always work directly within the third party app, not Boxcryptor. For instance, if you want to edit a Word file, open Word → select Open other documents on the Open tab, → Browse → → select Boxcryptor.
How to Recognize Encrypted Files
Boxcryptor allows you to have encrypted and unencrypted files and folders. Encrypted files or folders are marked with badge icons. Before creating new files or directories, you can decide whether these items should be encrypted or not.
encrypted
Encrypt Existing Files and Folders
Encrypting already existing files is currently not possible with Boxcryptor for Android. Please use Boxcryptor for Windows, Boxcryptor for macOS or Boxcryptor Portable to migrate your existing files.
Work With Filename Encryption
Filename encryption effectively prevents outsiders from analyzing your data structure. However, it also comes with the cost of a slightly slower performance and higher efforts regarding a proper setup. If you want to use filename encryption with shared files and folders, please read our blogpost, especially chapter 5, before proceeding.
A filename encrypted file will look like this: 怐悰挦抱沯抮殥枏曕擟敯漢怏搬濂檬浉楻挭抧柜欅䀣.bc
Filename encryption can be enabled globally. All new encrypted items that do not inherit encryption settings from their parent folders will be encrypted with filename encryption. Existing encrypted files, however, will not be touched, which means that you have to activate filename encryption for existing files manually. Filename encryption is one of the properties that files inherit from their parent folder. Therefore, if you save a file to a folder with filename encryption, it will have filename encryption as well.
Conclusively, even if filename encryption is enabled globally, new files that are created in a folder without filename encryption will also have no filename encryption due to the encryption property inheritance.
Go to → Settings → General and switch on Use filename encryption.
Existing files without filename encryption will remain unchanged. Please use one of our desktop clients to activate filename encryption for your existing files.
How to Decrypt Files
You do not need to decrypt your files when working with Boxcryptor.
If there is a scenario in which you want to decrypt a file, here are some possibilities:
- If you want a file or folder to be decrypted but synced to your cloud provider, please use Boxcryptor for Windows, Boxcryptor for macOS or Boxcryptor Portable.
- If you want to copy or move your files to another location or app in decrypted mode, the file browser allows you to view an unecrypted version and export this version to other apps.
Camera Upload
The Camera Upload backs up any photo or video you take with your smartphone or tablet. All new photos or videos are saved automatically and encrypted to Boxcryptor Photos within your previously selected cloud provider.
The folder and all included files will have file name encryption turned on by default. File name encryption for Camera Upload cannot be disabled.
To enable Camera Upload, follow these steps:
Tap on
→ SettingsTap on Enable Camera Upload.
Select the cloud/location you want to upload to. If you have only one cloud/location added to Boxcryptor, it will be displayed and selected automatically.
Select if you only want to upload via Wi-Fi connection, or via mobile connection (data plan) as well.
To disable Camera Upload tap on Enable Camera Upload again.
How to Work With Offline Files
The Offline Files feature allows you to access your encrypted files at any time even without an internet connection.
To do this, you can select the desired file and make it available offline by clicking on 
The encrypted file is then available under Offline Files.
When an Offline File is updated in the cloud, it updates automatically after about 15 minutes. However, it is also possible to start a manual synchronization:
Go to Offline Files in the main menu, tap on and tap Syncronize.
If you make a change to an Offline File, an automatic upload will start as usual.
The Offline Files feature is available to you from version 2.85.736.