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BOOX Cloud vs Dropbox: where should your BOOX notes go?

BOOX Cloud keeps your notes editable on BOOX devices. Dropbox turns every notebook into a PDF any app can read. What each does, what it doesn't, and why most people should use both.

Michal Wlosik

Michal Wlosik

· 3 min read

BOOX Cloud vs Dropbox: where should your BOOX notes go?

A BOOX tablet offers two very different places for your notes: BOOX Cloud, Onyx's own service, and third-party storage like Dropbox. They sound interchangeable. They aren't, and the best setup for most people uses both.

The short answer: use BOOX Cloud as your backup of editable notes, so you can restore them to a BOOX. Use Dropbox for PDFs of every notebook that any app, including Penlo, can read.

What BOOX Cloud does

BOOX Cloud (also called ONYX Cloud) comes with your Onyx account. As of October 2026:

  • 10 GB free for registered users.
  • Syncs your notes between BOOX devices. Sign in on a new BOOX and your notebooks come back, still editable.
  • View notes on the web through the send2boox website and the BOOX Assistant app.
  • Restore notes to the same or another BOOX, as long as you sign in to the same account on the same server.

To sync everything, open Notes, then the menu, Sync Settings, and Sync all notes to ONYX Account.

What BOOX Cloud doesn't do

Your notes stay in BOOX's world. Other apps can't open them, so BOOX Cloud can't feed your notes into a search tool, a notes app or an AI assistant. It's a backup and a way to move between BOOX devices, not a way to use your notes elsewhere.

What Dropbox does

Link Dropbox under Settings › Accounts, turn on automatic PDF export in the Notes app, and your BOOX saves a fresh PDF of each notebook every time you close it. Those PDFs open anywhere: on your computer, your phone, in any PDF app, and in Penlo. Our step-by-step BOOX to Dropbox guide walks through it.

The catch: copies in third-party storage can't be restored to the tablet as editable notes. A PDF in Dropbox is a picture of your notebook, not the notebook itself. That's exactly why it's worth keeping BOOX Cloud too.

At a glance

BOOX CloudDropbox
Free storage10 GB2 GB (2.5 GB with a referral)
What's storedYour BOOX notes, editableA PDF of each notebook
Restore to a BOOXYesNo
Open in other appsNoYes, any PDF app
Works with PenloNoYes
When it syncsWhen you sync notesEvery time you close a notebook

Our recommendation: use both

  1. Turn on BOOX Cloud sync so your editable notes are backed up and follow you to a new device.
  2. Link Dropbox and turn on automatic PDF export so every notebook is also available as a PDF you can use anywhere.
  3. Connect that Dropbox folder to Penlo to make every notebook searchable as text.

Prefer OneDrive? It works with BOOX and Penlo too. Dropbox has one advantage with Penlo: it can import every notebook already in your folder in one go. See Dropbox vs OneDrive.

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What Penlo adds on top

A folder of PDFs is a good backup, but you still can't search your handwriting in it. Penlo watches that folder, reads every new notebook with Google Gemini, and turns it into text you can search, copy and send to Notion or your AI assistant.

Penlo's connect step, with Dropbox and OneDrive
Connect the same Dropbox your BOOX saves to.
Penlo's Sources and sync settings with Dropbox connected
Choose the folder your BOOX saves to.

Your BOOX notes, searchable everywhere.
Connect Dropbox once and every notebook you close shows up in Penlo as text. Try every feature free for 7 days.

Try Penlo free for 7 days

Setup takes about five minutes: see Getting started with Penlo.

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Michal Wlosik

Written by

Michal Wlosik

Builder, product marketer. Creator of Penlo and Ectobuilder. Co-author of The AdTech Book. Writes about turning handwritten notes into searchable, useful text.

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