{"id":30129,"date":"2026-02-16T17:11:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/?post_type=news&#038;p=30129"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:11:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:11:59","slug":"sharing-accessible-living-documents-with-box","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/news-stories\/sharing-accessible-living-documents-with-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing Accessible Living Documents with Box"},"template":"","news_categories":[91,23,65],"news_tags":[],"class_list":["post-30129","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_categories-accessibility","news_categories-admin-note","news_categories-inside-ahs"],"acf":{"intro_text_subtitle":"","hide_subtitle":false,"intro_text_body":"<p>Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since AHS is moving away from using PDFs when possible, I created the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1d1xYbSmSuUSu-03u1PW0ygGEr6q_CIt7O7PDCgmetFg\/edit?usp=sharing\">Sharing Living Documents with Box tip sheet<\/a> <\/strong>to show you how to create and share living documents as an alternative to PDFs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Always ask yourself whether a document needs to be a PDF or if a living document like Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, or Google Slides would work instead. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend uploading your living document to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.uillinois.edu\/TDClient\/37\/uic\/Requests\/ServiceOfferingDet?ID=138\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Box<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and sharing it via a link or sharing it directly from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.uillinois.edu\/TDClient\/37\/uic\/Requests\/ServiceOfferingDet?ID=152\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microsoft 365<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/learning.uic.edu\/resources\/virtual-collaboration\/google-workspace\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Docs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Microsoft and Google Suite products can also be created directly in Box and shared via a link.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is a living document?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A living document can be changed or updated, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/help.uillinois.edu\/TDClient\/37\/uic\/Requests\/ServiceOfferingDet?ID=152\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Word<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.uillinois.edu\/TDClient\/37\/uic\/Requests\/ServiceOfferingDet?ID=152\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PowerPoint<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/learning.uic.edu\/resources\/virtual-collaboration\/google-workspace\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Docs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/learning.uic.edu\/resources\/virtual-collaboration\/google-workspace\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Slides<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> documents. You can share living documents on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.uillinois.edu\/TDClient\/37\/uic\/Requests\/ServiceOfferingDet?ID=138\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Box<\/span><\/a> via a link or send them to specific people. You can control who can make changes to the document by locking it to others or assigning people to editor or viewer roles. You can also control who can download the document.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why are PDFs not preferred?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Converting a document to a PDF can introduce a host of accessibility issues that need remediation. Remediating PDFs can be complex and time-consuming. It is inherently easier to prevent and fix accessibility issues in a living document than in a dead document, such as a PDF. Since living documents can protect against others changing the document, there is no longer a significant benefit to PDFs over living documents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1d1xYbSmSuUSu-03u1PW0ygGEr6q_CIt7O7PDCgmetFg\/edit?usp=sharing\">Sharing Living Documents with Box tip sheet<\/a>\u00a0includes instructions on how to:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Upload existing living documents to Box<\/strong><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Create new living documents in Box<\/strong><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Copy the document link<\/strong><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Customize sharing options<\/strong><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Link your CV\/resume to your profile<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have any questions or require additional support, you can drop in during an<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/news-stories\/new-accessibility-specialist-office-hours\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Accessibility Specialist office hours<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/help.uillinois.edu\/TDClient\/37\/uic\/Requests\/ServiceCatalog?CategoryID=301\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">submit a support ticket<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","intro_text_excerpt":"","content_author":"Ryan Lemke","content_sticky":false,"intro_text_include_image":false,"news_include_thumbnail":false,"components":false,"SEO_meta_description":""},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30135,"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30129\/revisions\/30135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_categories?post=30129"},{"taxonomy":"news_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahs.uic.edu\/inside-ahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_tags?post=30129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}