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Ally: Alternative Formats

Anthology Ally helps build inclusive environments and makes digital content more accessible for all.

Updated over 7 months ago

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to describe the function and use cases for Anthology Ally. Ally is Cochise College's accessibility tool built into Moodle (as of Summer 2025).

Help Center: Ally for LMS Help for Instructors

Procedure

Anthology Ally includes the following:

  • Alternative Formats - Visible to all users with access to the course

  • Course Accessibility Report - Visible to instructors and evaluators

  • LMS Content Editor (WYSIWYG) - Visible to instructors and other content editor roles

  • Institutional Report - Visible to administrators

Alternative Formats

Ally creates alternative formats of your course content based on the original. Instructors do NOT need to do anything. Ally creates the alternative formats for you.

Ally provides alternative formats for these content types:

  • PDF files (custom encoded fonts are not supported)

  • Microsoft® Word files

  • Microsoft® Powerpoint® files

  • OpenOffice/LibreOffice files

  • Uploaded HTML files

  • Content created in the LMS course editor (WYSIWYG)

Students (and instructors) can select the alternative format icon next to course documents to download additional file formats.

Download Alternative Formats Icon

These alternative formats can be generated:

  • OCR’d version (for scanned documents)

  • Tagged PDF (currently for Word, Powerpoint and OpenOffice/LibreOffice files)

  • Immersive Reader (LMS only)

  • Mobile-friendly HTML

  • Audio

  • ePub

  • Electronic Braille

  • BeeLine Reader

  • Translated Version

    • Translated Version is disabled by default. Administrators can submit a support case to have it enabled.

This video shows how Ally creates accessible files, like screen reader text and captioned images, right in your course for easy download and use.

If you want, you can turn off alternative formats for any individual content item for whatever reason.

  1. Find content with the Download Alternative Formats icon and select the icon.

  2. Select the menu beside the Download alternative formats heading.

  3. Select Disable alternative formats for this file.

  4. Select Close.

Dialog box showing to download a PDF in different formats. A cursor hovers over a toggle labeled "Disable alternative formats for this file."

Learn More: Alternative Formats
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