Box.com can bite me

box-frustration

September 29, 2021 / Updated: January 31, 2022 / Lena Shore
Filed under: , ,

How do you turn off box.com on startup? I have the answer.

I have customers that use box (a shared file service). We don’t use it much and I noticed that it was auto-launching on my Mac. I went to the preferences to tell the app not to launch upon start up. There was no option. A little research on box’s site revealed that although people have been complaining about this since 2015, there is no solution.

I was irritated, but also know there is more than one way to peel a potato. Here are two:

1. Remove the launch file

For macOS, some of the solutions mentioned will still load Box and then close it after startup. To prevent it from loading do this:

  • Open a new Finder window
  • Click Go in the top menu
  • Press and hold the Option key. This will make Library appear
    • Click Library
  • Open the LaunchAgents folder
  • Delete the file “com.box.desktop.launch.plist”

2. Create an Automator App!

  1. Open Automator and create an “app”
  2. Add a “Pause” and “Quit Application” as illustrated below
    • Note that you can adjust the pause or more or less time. My first attempt didn’t give enough time for Box to launch before the app fired. In reality, I could probably adjust it to 15 seconds.

      Automator screen

      Automator screen

  3. Save the file someplace on your computer
  4. Go to System Preferences
    1. Users & Groups (choose the User you want)
    2. Choose Login Items
    3. Click the “+” icon and find/add the app you created in steps 1-2.
    4. Marvel at your work.
Preferences Pane for Login Items

Preferences Pane for Login Items

Bite me box.

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