The partnership between the two software vendors means the Box app will get video editing and AI image generation capabilities in 2025.
Adobe Express is now embedded into Box’s content management application as the default tool for editing images.
Express is Adobe’s freemium design app that’s aimed at helping non-designers produce a range of content, such as social media campaign assets, logos or flyers. As of today, a streamlined “modular” version of the app is available natively in Box, allowing users to edit an image file without switching screens.
When a Box user selects a visual file, they are given an option to open it in an embedded version of Express that offers a range of image editing tools, such as resizing or cropping, adjustments to contrast and brightness, and more. Edited images are then saved in the original file location, Adobe said, and won’t be moved to Adobe’s servers.
No account login is needed for the basic editing tools, though access to some of Adobe’s Firefly generative AI features — such as “remove object” — will require a sign-in.
“Every Box user can now create and edit visual content directly in Box with Adobe Express as the default image editor,” said Aubrey Cattell, Adobe vice president for developer platform and partner ecosystem. “They don’t need to leave the Box environment and move across applications — they can make those edits directly in place and save them back to the Box infrastructure.”
There’s no additional fee to use Express in Box, though access to “premium” features in Adobe’s app will require a paid subscription.
It’s the first “on by-default” app in Box, according to Cattell. “Express is stepping into the shoes of the native image editor for Box; we’re powering that experience,” he said. “That doesn’t require an IT admin to take any action, it doesn’t require a user to take any action — it’s just there.”
The integration is the first part of a “multi-pronged integration plan,” according to Cattell, with Box also set to add more features from Express in the first half of 2025. That includes the ability to edit video files from inside Box using Express and generate new images using Adobe’s Firefly model.
The Box integration is the latest stage in a recent push by Adobe to widen access to its streamlined design tool. In addition to embedding Express into its own apps, such as GenStudio, the company has added integrations with third-party apps such as whiteboard app Miro and collaboration tool Slack. The tools vary in sophistication, with Slack’s Express integration focused on simple image generation as opposed to the fuller functionality available in Box.
“The feedback that we’ve gotten in our research and in talking to customers is a lot of them want their creative solutions to work where they already are doing their work,” said Cattell.
Part of the value proposition for Box is that it serves as a private and secure environment for enterprise customers to store and access files, “so why not enable them to make the changes to the billions of images that they have on the server right there, without having to leave that environment?” he said.
“We can extend Adobe’s reach, but also meet our customers where they’re already working by making that technology part of those other applications. And so that’s really the strategy: it’s both addressing a customer need, but also expanding our reach.”
