Getting Started

Overview

FixAllyScore is a desktop app that fixes Canvas LMS Ally accessibility scores. It runs entirely on your machine—your course content never leaves your computer.

To begin, download FixAllyScore for your platform. The app is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Installation takes less than a minute—no admin privileges required on most systems.

Once installed, you will need two things to get started:

1. A Canvas access token from your institution (instructions below)
2. The URL of your Canvas instance (e.g., canvas.university.edu)

Getting Your Canvas Token

FixAllyScore uses the Canvas API to read and update your course content. To connect, you will need to generate a personal access token from your Canvas account. This takes about 30 seconds.

1. Log in to your Canvas instance in a web browser.
2. Click your profile picture (or initials) in the top-left corner, then click Settings.
3. Scroll down to the section labeled Approved Integrations.
4. Click + New Access Token.
5. In the Purpose field, enter a name like FixAllyScore. You can leave the expiration date blank or set one if your institution requires it.
6. Click Generate Token.
7. Copy the token that appears. You will only see it once, so paste it somewhere safe or directly into FixAllyScore.

Scanning a Course

With your token in hand, you are ready to scan your first course.

1. Open FixAllyScore and paste your Canvas access token into the Token field.
2. Enter or select your institution's Canvas URL (e.g., canvas.university.edu).
3. FixAllyScore will load your courses. Select the course you want to fix from the list.
4. Click Scan.

What happens during a scan

FixAllyScore downloads each page, assignment, discussion, and file from the selected course. Everything is processed locally on your machine. The app runs accessibility checks against each asset and identifies issues that Ally would flag—missing alt text, untagged PDFs, heading structure problems, low-contrast text, and more.

When the scan finishes, you will see results organized by asset type (pages, assignments, files) with a count of issues found for each. A typical 30-module course scans in under two minutes.

Reviewing Fixes

After scanning, FixAllyScore presents each proposed fix for your review. Nothing is changed in Canvas until you approve it.

The review screen

Each fix shows three things:

• What Ally flagged—the specific accessibility issue detected
• The proposed change—shown as a before/after diff so you can see exactly what will be modified
• A confidence score—how certain the app is that the fix is correct

Color coding

Fixes are color-coded by confidence level:

• Green — Auto-fixable with high accuracy. These are straightforward fixes like adding missing alt text to decorative images, tagging PDF headings, or correcting heading hierarchy. Safe to approve in bulk.
• Amber — High confidence, but review recommended. The fix is likely correct, but involves content-specific judgment—for example, generating alt text for a photograph or chart. Worth a quick look before approving.
• Red — Needs manual attention. These are issues FixAllyScore cannot resolve automatically, such as complex STEM diagrams, embedded third-party content, or math notation. The app explains what is wrong and suggests what to do.

Actions for each fix

For every proposed fix, you have three options:

• Approve—accept the fix as proposed
• Edit—modify the proposed fix before approving (useful for tweaking alt text or adjusting wording)
• Reject—skip this fix entirely

Publishing to Canvas

Once you have reviewed and approved your fixes, publishing them back to Canvas is a single click.

1. Click Publish to Canvas in the top-right corner of the review screen.
2. FixAllyScore writes each approved change back to Canvas using your access token and the Canvas API. Pages are updated, files are replaced, and assignments are modified in place.
3. A progress bar shows each asset being updated. Most courses publish in under a minute.

After publishing, Canvas will re-run its Ally accessibility checks on the next cycle, which typically happens within a few hours. Your Ally score will update automatically—there is nothing else you need to do.

Upgrading to Professor

FixAllyScore has two tiers:

• Free—unlimited scanning and issue detection for any number of courses. You can see exactly what needs to be fixed and how. Review and manual editing are included.
• Professor ($19/mo or $149/yr)—everything in Free, plus auto-fixes, PDF remediation (tagging, heading structure, alt text for embedded images), and one-click publish to Canvas.

You can upgrade directly from within the app by clicking Upgrade in the top menu, or visit fixallyscore.com/download to manage your subscription.