Alternative Format FAQs

Alternative formats

What alternative formats does Ally generate?

What alternative formats does Ally generate?

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)

    Alternative formats for WYSIWYG content is currently only available for Blackboard Learn Ultra, Blackboard Learn Original, Instructure Canvas, D2L Brightspace, and Schoology.

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.

More on alternative formats

Are alternate formats generated when a request to download is made?

When an alternative format for a content item is requested for the first time, Ally generates the alternative format on demand. In most cases, it generates within 1-2 minutes.

As soon as it is generated, the alternative format is downloaded. Ally then caches the result, so any additional requests for the same alternative format can be served and downloaded from cache immediately.

Translated Version FAQs

Translated Version alternative format

This alternative format provides a machine-translated version of the original content into multiple languages (see full list below). PDF, Word, Powerpoint, and HTML documents are supported.

Accuracy varies and depends on the type of language being used in the document. For example, if there is a lot of technical language, complex sentence structure, and local colloquialisms.

Why use the Translated Version alternative format?

The Translated Version alternative format is great for content that is not in your primary language. The Translated Version is an ideal resource to compare with the original document when you are stuck or having trouble comprehending.

In what languages is the Translated Version alternative format available?

The Translated Version is currently available in the following languages:

  • Afrikaans
  • Albanian
  • Amharic
  • Arabic
  • Armenian
  • Azerbaijani
  • Bengali
  • Bosnian - Latin
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Chinese - Simplified
  • Chinese - Traditional
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dari
  • Dutch
  • English
  • Estonian
  • Finnish
  • French
  • French (Canada)
  • Georgian
  • German
  • Greek, Modern
  • Gujarati
  • Haitian
  • Hausa
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Icelandic
  • Indonesian
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Kannada
  • Kazakh
  • Korean
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Macedonian
  • Malay
  • Malayalam
  • Maltese
  • Mongolian
  • Norwegian Bokmål
  • Pashto
  • Persian (Farsi)
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Serbian - Latin
  • Sinhala
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Spanish (Mexico)
  • Swahili
  • Swedish
  • Tagalog
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian
  • Urdu
  • Uzbek
  • Vietnamese
  • Welsh

Support for the following languages within the Translated Version alternative format is not available:

  • Bosnian (Cyrillic)
  • Serbian (Cyrillic)