Connect Canvas with an access token

There are two ways to bring your Canvas courses, assignments, due dates and grades into Planner. You can use either one, or both.

• The Chrome extension. The free Severn Planner Overlay extension syncs while you use Canvas in Chrome on a computer. The setup guide walks through it.
• An access token. You make a token in Canvas and paste it into Planner. It works in any browser, with no extension: Safari, Firefox, Edge, Chrome, an iPhone or iPad, a Chromebook, and Planner for Mac.

If you use both, nothing comes in twice. Planner knows each Canvas assignment by its own Canvas ID, so an assignment that already came in through the extension is not added again.

When to use a token

Use a token if any of these is true:

• You use Planner on an iPhone or iPad, where Chrome extensions can't be installed.
• You use Safari, Firefox or another browser that isn't Chrome.
• You use Planner for Mac.
• Your school's computers block Chrome extensions.
• You'd rather not install an extension at all.

If you already use the extension and it works for you, you don't need a token. You can add one later.

Step 1: Find your Canvas address

Sign in to Canvas the way you normally do. Look at the address bar once you're in. Your Canvas address is the first part, before the first slash. It usually looks like one of these:

• yourschool.instructure.com
• canvas.yourschool.edu

If your school sends you through its own sign-in page first, wait until Canvas itself has opened, then look at the address bar.

Step 2: Make an access token in Canvas

1. In Canvas, select Account in the menu on the left, then Settings.
2. Scroll down to Approved Integrations.
3. Select New Access Token.
4. For Purpose, type Severn Planner, so you know later what it's for.
5. Expires is optional. Leave it empty and the token keeps working until you delete it. If you pick a date, you'll need a new token after that day.
6. Select Generate Token.
7. Copy the token right away. Canvas only shows the whole token once. If you lose it, delete it and make a new one.

If you don't see New Access Token, your school has turned off personal access tokens. See Troubleshooting, below.

Step 3: Paste it into Planner

1. Open app.severnplanner.com and sign in.
2. Open Settings, then Account, and find School connection.
3. Select Connect with an access token. If Canvas isn't connected yet, choose Connect your school, then Canvas, and select Connect with an access token instead. On an iPhone, iPad or Safari, the button is called Connect Canvas with an access token.
4. Enter your Canvas address from step 1 and paste the token from step 2.
5. Select Connect. Planner checks the token with Canvas, then starts the first sync.

Step 4: Review your first sync

The first sync shows everything Planner found in a review list before anything is added. Each assignment is already matched to one of your classes by name. Check the class for each row and change any that are wrong. A Canvas course with no class in Planner yet is offered as a new class. Untick anything you don't want, or select Ignore to stop Planner from suggesting it again. Then select Import Selected.

Grades come in the same way, with a review list of any class whose grade in Planner is different from Canvas.

What syncs

• Courses: your active Canvas courses, matched to your classes.
• Assignments: the title, due date and time, type (homework, quiz, test, essay, project), points, the description, and links to files and outside tools.
• Grades: each course's current score and letter grade, and your points in each grade category, for the grade predictor.

It's read only. Planner never submits, posts, comments or changes anything in Canvas. It does not read your messages, the people in your courses, or anything about other students. Unpublished assignments are left out.

How it stays up to date

With a token, Planner checks Canvas for changes:

• when you open Planner,
• when you come back to Planner from another tab or app,
• every 10 minutes while Planner is open,
• and whenever you select Sync now in Settings.

New and changed work is shown to you before it's applied:

• New assignments appear in the review list.
• A moved due date shows as Moved, with the old date. Once you import it, the assignment moves, your dashboard notes the change, and any study sessions Planner had planned for it are placed again before the new due date.
• A renamed assignment shows as Renamed.
• An assignment your teacher deleted or unpublished shows as "no longer in Canvas". Select Review to choose which ones to remove from Planner.

A token sync happens in the Planner you have open. If Planner is closed, it catches up the next time you open it.

Your token and your privacy

• The token stays on the device where you added it. It's saved only in that browser on that device, never in your Planner account. On another device, like your phone, add a token there too. You can use the same token or make a separate one for each device.
• It passes through our sync service without being kept. Browsers can't reach a school's Canvas directly from another website, so Planner's requests go through a small Severn Planner service on Cloudflare on their way to your Canvas. It only forwards read requests to your one Canvas address. It doesn't store or log your token or anything Canvas sends back.
• Anyone with your token can read your Canvas. Don't share it, and don't paste it anywhere except Planner.
• You can turn it off at any time. In Planner, open Settings, then Account, select Access token, then Remove token. In Canvas, open Account, then Settings, find the token under Approved Integrations, and delete it. Deleting it in Canvas stops it working everywhere right away.

The privacy policy has the details.

Troubleshooting

Planner shows these messages in Settings, under School connection.

"Canvas didn't accept that token"

The token was mistyped, deleted, or past its expiry date. Make sure you copied the whole token, with nothing missing at either end. If it still fails, make a new token in Canvas (Account, then Settings, then New Access Token) and paste that one in.

"Your school's Canvas doesn't allow access tokens"

Some schools turn off personal access tokens for students. If New Access Token is missing in Canvas, or Canvas refuses the token, that's what has happened. Use the Chrome extension on a computer instead; it signs in the normal way and doesn't need a token. You can also ask your school whether it allows access tokens.

"That address didn't answer as Canvas"

The address you entered isn't your school's Canvas. Sign in to Canvas, copy the address from the address bar once Canvas has opened, and enter just the first part, like yourschool.instructure.com.

"Planner couldn't reach that address"

The address may be mistyped, or your school's Canvas may be down for a moment. Check the address and try again.

"That address sends you to" another address

Your school's Canvas address forwards to a different one. Use the address Planner shows in the message.

"Canvas asked Planner to slow down"

Canvas limits how many requests one token can make at once. Planner waits and tries again on its own. Nothing is lost; the next sync picks up where it left off.

"Planner couldn't reach Canvas"

Check your internet connection, then select Sync now.

"Your Canvas address changed, so this token no longer matches it"

You changed your Canvas address in Settings after adding the token. A token only works with the Canvas it was made in. Select Add a new token and paste a token from your current Canvas.

Nothing new shows up

Planner only shows what's new or changed since the last sync. If you skipped an assignment in the review list, it isn't offered again unless it changes in Canvas. If you deleted an assignment in Planner, the next sync offers it again while Canvas still lists it.

Still stuck?

Email jeremy@severnplanner.com with what you see in Settings, under School connection. Please never send your token, your Canvas password, or your Planner password.

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