The short answer: Microsoft Teams does not fully have leave management. It can route time-off requests through Shifts or Approvals, but Microsoft’s documentation does not describe built-in leave balances, accruals or carryover for those apps. For leave management in Microsoft Teams, use Dynamics 365 Human Resources, build a custom system, or connect a dedicated leave app.
| Option | Built for | Request inside Microsoft Teams | Approve inside Microsoft Teams | Leave balances | Accrual and carryover | Rules and holidays per location | Company-wide calendar | What you need | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shifts | Frontline schedules | Yes | Yes | Not stated by Microsoft | Not stated by Microsoft | Not stated by Microsoft | Team schedule; time off is team-scoped | Included with Microsoft Teams; configured schedule and requests | Shift-based staff |
| Approvals (+ Forms/ |
Approval workflows | Yes | Yes | Not stated by Microsoft | Not stated by Microsoft | Not stated by Microsoft | Not stated by Microsoft | App access; licenses and setup for chosen workflow | Simple requests |
| SharePoint/ |
Custom records | Via configured tab/form | Custom workflow | Custom calculation | Custom calculation | Custom configuration | Lists calendar view; configure access | Relevant Microsoft licenses; build and maintenance owner | Small, simple setups |
| Dynamics 365 Human Resources app | Existing HR system | Yes | Yes | Yes | Configured in Dynamics HR | Verify your Dynamics HR configuration | Dynamics HR company calendar for HR roles; embedded app view not stated by Microsoft | Separate HR license, environment and admin setup | Existing Dynamics HR users |
| Microsoft Teams Leave App (Vacation Tracker) | Leave administration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Carryover on both plans; accruals on Complete | Yes | Channel calendar; visibility settings apply | App subscription and policy setup | Multiple policies or locations |
If you manage leave for several offices, the useful question is what happens after a manager clicks Approve. Who updates the balance? Which office’s holidays apply? Where can colleagues see the absence?
What’s the difference between time-off requests and leave management in Microsoft Teams?
A time-off request asks for permission. Leave management also records how that decision changes an employee’s entitlement and availability. You need a dependable answer to “How much leave do I have left?” after approvals, cancellations and the start of a new leave year.
Consider a Friday afternoon off. The manager needs to check coverage. Your leave system also needs to recognize a part-day request, apply the correct leave policy and avoid deducting a nonworking day.
Vacation Tracker product data (anonymized, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026) shows that the median Microsoft Teams company with at least 20 requests used four leave types. Each type needs its own rules, even when it has no finite allowance.
In the same Vacation Tracker product data, one in five requests from Microsoft Teams workspaces was part-day. A tracker designed only around whole vacation days will need more work.
Use this checklist before choosing:
- Can employees submit the leave types and durations you actually allow?
- Can the right manager approve with enough information about coverage?
- Does approval or cancellation update the appropriate balance?
- Can you apply your accrual and carryover rules?
- Can each location have its own holidays, workweek and policies?
- Can colleagues see approved absences without asking HR?
How do you request time off in Microsoft Teams with Shifts?
Shifts in Microsoft Teams lets frontline employees request time off and managers approve or deny it. Approved time off appears in the schedule. It is a sensible starting point when your main concern is staffing shifts, rather than maintaining an office team’s leave allowances across locations.
Microsoft describes Shifts as its employee scheduling and time-tracking app included with Microsoft Teams. Its getting-started guidance, checked October 16, 2026, also says it is automatically pinned for Microsoft 365 F1 and F3 users.
To submit a request, follow Microsoft’s Shifts time-off instructions, checked October 16, 2026:
- Open Shifts and select Requests.
- Select New request, then Time off.
- Enter the start and end dates.
- Keep All Day selected or enter the relevant times.
- Choose a reason, add an optional note and select Send request.
Your manager must first set up the team’s schedule and enable time-off requests. After a decision, you receive an Activity feed notification; approved time off appears in the schedule.
There is a scope limitation worth checking before you roll this out across departments. Microsoft’s Shifts administrator guidance, checked October 16, 2026, says approved time off applies only to the team where the employee requested it.
The Shifts pages checked October 16, 2026 do not describe built-in leave balances, accrual or carryover. Shifts supports custom time-off reasons and external integrations; verify what a connected system handles.
Our recommendation: use Shifts for shift-based frontline teams that need requests and schedule coverage. Do not choose it as your office leave ledger without verifying how balances will be maintained.
Can the Approvals app handle leave requests in Microsoft Teams?
Yes. Approvals can send a leave request to someone for a decision inside Microsoft Teams. It suits a simple approval workflow, but you still need to decide where the approved absence and remaining allowance are recorded. A request marked Approved is not a reconciled leave balance.
Microsoft’s Approvals overview, checked October 16, 2026, lists requesting time off as an example. It supports templates; when creating an approval inside a conversation, only people in that conversation can be approvers.
For a custom workflow, combine a form with Power Automate approvals. Microsoft’s guidance, checked October 16, 2026, describes configurable approval flows; your licenses and connectors determine what is included.
Before building, assign an owner for rejected requests, cancellations and changed dates. Otherwise, the manager can approve an amendment while the spreadsheet still holds the original absence. Someone eventually gets to reconcile both (usually HR).
The Approvals overview checked October 16, 2026 does not describe leave balances or a leave calendar. Plan for a connected record and additional configuration.
Our recommendation: use Approvals for a small, single-office team with occasional requests and a clearly owned leave record. Reconsider once maintaining that record becomes a recurring job.
Can you build a Microsoft Teams leave tracker with SharePoint, Lists or Excel?
Yes. You can build a shared leave record with SharePoint or Lists, or maintain an Excel tracker that colleagues access from Microsoft Teams. The trade-off is ownership: your organization must design the calculations, permissions and approval process, then keep them working when policies or staff change.
The PnP community’s Lists and SharePoint vacation-tracker walkthrough, checked October 16, 2026, demonstrates a shared calendar in a channel tab. A SharePoint leave tracker’s wider capabilities depend on what you build.
For a simpler starting point, use our Excel leave-tracker guide and leave-tracker templates. Keep one authoritative copy rather than emailing updated versions around.
A Power Apps leave request interface can also be part of a custom design. It does not remove the need to specify the underlying policy logic.
Test the awkward cases before trusting a custom tracker: a canceled request, a half-day absence, a new starter and a holiday that applies to only one office. Check who can change balances and who maintains the system when its creator is away.
Our recommendation: consider this a stopgap for fewer than about 15 people in one location. Retain a well-maintained custom system if it already meets your needs.
What does the Dynamics 365 Human Resources app add to Microsoft Teams?
The Dynamics 365 Human Resources app brings leave balances, requests and manager decisions into Microsoft Teams through an existing HR system. Employees can request, edit and cancel leave. This is a different proposition from a standalone approval form because the app connects to configured Human Resources records.
Microsoft’s Human Resources app documentation, checked October 16, 2026, describes employee balance visibility and manager approval or rejection, including approval through Outlook.
The documented prerequisites include:
- A Dynamics 365 Human Resources environment, version 10.0.39 or later, with the latest quality update.
- A Dynamics 365 Human Resources or self-service license.
- The required administrator roles in Dynamics 365 Human Resources and Power Apps.
Dynamics HR also documents accruals and carry-forward rules, checked October 16, 2026. Ask your administrator which plans are configured; the Microsoft Teams app is their interface, not a replacement for that setup.
Our recommendation: start here if you already run Dynamics 365 Human Resources. We would not adopt an entire HR system solely to replace a leave spreadsheet.
What should a leave management app for Microsoft Teams do?
A dedicated leave app should connect the request, approval, balance and calendar without requiring HR to copy each decision elsewhere. For a company with multiple offices, it should also apply the correct location policy. Judge the complete workflow, not just whether the vendor has a Microsoft Teams bot.
Use this shortlist when evaluating an app:
- Requests and approvals through a bot and tabs.
- A calendar tab colleagues can open in a channel.
- Balances per leave type, with the accrual and carryover rules you use.
- Policies and public holidays by country, state or province.
- Out-of-office updates for Outlook and Microsoft Teams.
- User import from Microsoft Entra ID.
- A Microsoft AppSource listing for your IT team’s review.
Vacation Tracker is one example of a leave management app for Microsoft Teams. Its setup and plan limits are covered below.
During a demo, ask to see a request approved and then canceled. Check the balance and calendar after each action. Repeat with a part-day request and an employee in another location. That tells you more than a feature checklist alone.
Our recommendation: shortlist a dedicated leave app when you need location policies and reliable balances but do not want to build or adopt a broader HR system.
How do you create a team vacation calendar in Microsoft Teams?
Choose the calendar according to what should update it: manually entered events, a shift schedule or approved leave. A Microsoft Teams PTO calendar is useful only if colleagues can trust it. Decide who owns updates before choosing where the calendar appears.
An Outlook group or shared calendar can provide a common absence view. It still needs an agreed process for adding, changing and removing PTO entries; displaying an absence does not itself approve leave or adjust an allowance.
For frontline staff, use the Shifts schedule, where Microsoft’s documentation says approved time off appears. Remember that time off applies to the requesting team, rather than assuming a company-wide absence view.
For an app-managed Microsoft Teams leave calendar, add a calendar tab to a channel. Vacation Tracker’s calendar-tab instructions describe this route:
- Open a channel in a team where Vacation Tracker is installed and select +.
- Choose Vacation Tracker.
- Select Calendar and save the tab.
Use department and location filters to show the relevant employees. Label-based filtering requires Complete.
To add PTO to the Microsoft Teams calendar through a leave app, use its approved-leave calendar rather than creating a second request process.
If you only need colleagues to see that you are unavailable, set an out-of-office message in Microsoft Teams.
How fast are leave requests approved in Microsoft Teams?
Based on what we see in Vacation Tracker, manually approved leave requests decided inside Microsoft Teams had a median request-to-approval time of 35 minutes versus those approved outside Microsoft Teams which took about 14 hours. The comparison covers requests from workspaces using Vacation Tracker’s Microsoft Teams integration.
Here’s a few more interesting data points we’re seeing in Vacation Tracker:
- 86% of manually approved requests in Microsoft Teams workspaces were approved inside Microsoft Teams, through the bot or tabs.
- 58% of manual approvals inside Microsoft Teams happened within an hour, compared with 29% outside Microsoft Teams.
- 55% of requests from Microsoft Teams workspaces were submitted inside Microsoft Teams.
- Employees in Microsoft Teams workspaces requested leave a median of seven days before it started. A calendar updated once a month would be a poor fit for that notice window.
- 5.7% of requests expired without a decision, or about one in 18. Review reminders and escalation arrangements can help here rather than assuming that sending a request guarantees a response.
Approving leave inside Microsoft Teams puts the request where managers already work, with a notification they can act on without opening another tool. That is the practical reason we recommend it.
Which leave management option in Microsoft Teams fits your company?
Choose according to the system you already use and the policy work you need it to handle. Headcount is a useful prompt to review your setup, but separate locations and complicated allowances can make a small company’s requirements more demanding than a larger company’s.
- For shift-based frontline staff, start with Shifts.
- If you already use Dynamics 365 Human Resources, start with its Microsoft Teams app.
- For a small, single-office team with few requests, consider Approvals or a shared List with a named owner.
- For 50 or more employees, several leave types or multiple locations, shortlist a dedicated leave app inside Microsoft Teams.
How does Vacation Tracker handle leave management in Microsoft Teams?
Vacation Tracker is leave management software for Microsoft Teams, Slack and Google Workspace that lets employees request, approve and track PTO, with multi-country policies, accruals, public holidays and reports, without requiring an HRIS. In Microsoft Teams, employees use the bot or tabs while administrators configure the underlying policies.
Employees can use My Profile and Request Leave tabs, plus a Calendar with Wallchart view. Approvers receive requests with overlapping leave shown and can approve in one click.
To install, follow the Vacation Tracker bot setup instructions: open Apps, search for Vacation Tracker, choose Add to a Team, select the team and channel, then Set Up Bot. Repeat for each team where needed.
A channel calendar and daily or weekly “who’s off” summaries make absences visible. When enabled for the user and leave type, the out-of-office integration switches Outlook autoreplies and Microsoft Teams out-of-office status on and off with approved leave.
Users can be imported from Microsoft Entra ID and sign in with Microsoft. For managing leave across multiple locations, each location can have its own policies based on country, state or province, workweek, and holidays. Regional public holidays import automatically, and a Location Admin can manage assigned locations.
Vacation Tracker also has iOS and Android apps and nine dashboard languages. Microsoft Teams, Slack and Google Workspace are separate integration choices, with one platform per workspace. For a fuller walkthrough, use the Vacation Tracker for Microsoft Teams guide.
What else should you know about leave management in Microsoft Teams?
Keep leave approval, calendar visibility and out-of-office status separate when setting up your process. These FAQs cover the common distinctions.
Does Microsoft Teams have a leave tracker?
Microsoft Teams has time-off request tools, including Shifts, and supports connected leave-management apps. Choose according to whether you need a schedule entry or maintained leave balances. Dynamics 365 Human Resources and dedicated apps such as Vacation Tracker provide leave-management workflows through Microsoft Teams; a custom tracker requires your own configuration.
Can you see leave balances in Shifts?
Microsoft’s Shifts documentation reviewed on October 16, 2026 does not describe employee leave balances, accruals or carryover. It describes time-off requests and schedule visibility. Before relying on Shifts as a leave tracker, ask how your organization will calculate, display and reconcile remaining allowances for each employee and leave type.
How do I add PTO to my Microsoft Teams calendar?
Choose whether you need a personal availability signal or a shared leave record. For your own absence, use an Outlook calendar entry and the appropriate out-of-office setting. For team visibility tied to approved leave, use your leave app’s calendar. Our Microsoft Teams out-of-office guide covers the availability setting.
How do I set PTO in Microsoft Teams?
Submit the request through whichever process your employer uses: Shifts, Approvals, Dynamics 365 Human Resources or a leave app. Setting an out-of-office status communicates your absence but does not replace that request process. Confirm the leave first, then make sure your availability and shared calendar reflect the approved dates.
Is Shifts free with Microsoft Teams?
Shifts is included with Microsoft Teams, according to Microsoft’s getting-started documentation, checked October 16, 2026. Your administrator can confirm app access and help configure the team schedule. For a shift-based team that needs time-off requests and approvals, start by checking the Shifts setup you already have.
Is there a free leave tracker template for Microsoft Teams?
You can use an Excel leave tracker as a shared record alongside Microsoft Teams. Vacation Tracker’s templates provide a starting point. A spreadsheet template still needs someone to maintain balances and dates; it does not automatically become an approval workflow simply because colleagues can open it from a channel.
Can Microsoft Teams handle different holidays for each office?
A connected leave-management system can apply different holidays by location. Choose an app or custom configuration that assigns the right calendar to each employee. For example, Vacation Tracker supports location-specific regional holidays. A shared Microsoft Teams absence calendar alone does not establish which holidays should affect each person’s leave calculation.
Do I need a separate leave app if we use Microsoft Teams?
Not necessarily. Shifts may cover a shift-based team’s request needs, and an existing Dynamics 365 Human Resources setup may already handle leave management. Consider a dedicated app when balances, accruals and location policies otherwise require repeated manual updates. Keep a functioning custom solution if its maintenance cost is acceptable.
What should you set up first?
Decide where your authoritative leave balance lives, then connect requests and calendar visibility to it. For a dedicated Microsoft Teams vacation tracker, start a 14-day trial or book a demo using your own location and policy requirements.
Sources
- Microsoft: Shifts setup and included access, time-off requests, schedule settings and team scope/integrations.
- Microsoft: Approvals, administration and Power Automate approval flows.
- Microsoft: Dynamics HR app, leave plans and company calendars.
- Microsoft: out-of-office status and Outlook automatic replies.
Vacation Tracker product data (anonymized, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026): request-level data from workspaces using Microsoft Teams. Leave-type usage is measured among companies with at least 20 requests.
