Canvas: How to fix a "Forbidden (403)" Error

First things first, don't delete the TeacherMade app from Canvas in an attempt to fix this. Doing so can cause Canvas to get confused and refuse TeacherMade's attempts to send scores. If you need to fix the installation of the app as directed below, just edit it. Do not delete and re-install it.


There are actually two different "Forbidden" pages. The first looks like this:



That generally implies you've posted the wrong kind of link into your External Tool assignment in canvas. Either you've generated the assignment with a "TeacherMade" assignment delivery option, or you copied the URL from the browser toolbar or a "Share" link from TeacherMade.


To fix this kind of Forbidden (403) error, just make sure you use the "Copy" button to grab the Canvas-style link (which always has "/lti/" in it).




Always use that link to paste into the "URL" field of the External Tool assignment in Canvas (and don't click the "Find" button).


The other "Forbidden" page looks like this:


That one implies there's a problem with the External Tool installation in your course, such as needing to recopy the consumer key and secret or possibly the launch URL. In those cases, the "TeacherMade" link that gets installed in the left-hand column of the course would also not work.

To fix that, you'll want to edit the External Tool installation in your course.

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