Account Settings

Can I Edit Users' Names Within Vacation Tracker?

Last updated on May 27, 2025

Can I Edit Users' Names Within Vacation Tracker?

Yes — Admins can override a User's name from the dashboard. The edit lives in Vacation Tracker only; it doesn't push back to Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Workspace, and Vacation Tracker won't overwrite it the next time you run a directory sync.

A new hire's Slack profile shows "Alex C." — fine for chat, but you want their full legal name on leave reports for HR. Edit the User in Vacation Tracker, change the Name to "Alexandra Chen", and that's what shows up in reports, calendars, and notifications going forward. Slack still shows "Alex C." — the two are independent.

How to Edit a User's Name

  1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io with an Admin account.
  2. In the left-hand menu, click Users.
  3. Click the User's name in the table to open their profile page.
  4. On the profile page, click Edit in the top-right of the User Profile card.

The Update User modal opens with the User's current details pre-filled. The fields available are:

  • Active — checkbox controlling whether the User can sign in and accrue leave
  • Role — dropdown to switch between User and Administrator
  • Name — what this article focuses on; type the corrected name here
  • Email — the email Vacation Tracker uses to send notifications
  • Department and Location — dropdowns
  • Employee Since, Birthday, Employee End Date — date pickers
  • Employee ID — a free-text identifier
  1. Update the Name field with the corrected name.
  2. Click Update. The modal closes and the new name appears immediately on the profile page, the Users table, the calendar, the Wallchart, and notifications going forward.
Update User modal showing the Name field at the top of the form, alongside Active toggle, Role, Email, Department, Location, and date fields, with Cancel and Update buttons at the bottom

You'll see a small lock icon appear next to the name on that User's profile after the edit. That's Vacation Tracker's way of telling you "this name has been manually overridden, the directory isn't the source of truth anymore."

What the Edit Does — and Doesn't Do

Important
The updated name lives only inside Vacation Tracker. It doesn't propagate to your organization's Slack workspace, Microsoft Teams tenant, or Google Workspace directory — those continue to show whatever name the User has set on their account there. If you also need the name updated on the directory side, that has to be done in the directory's own admin tools.
Also important
Once a name is edited in Vacation Tracker, the Sync Existing Users action will not revert it. Vacation Tracker treats the manual edit as the source of truth from that point on — the lock icon next to the name reflects that. The only way to put the User back on directory-driven naming is to change the name in VT to match the directory exactly (or contact Support).

Common Questions

Only Admins. The Edit button on the User Profile card and the Update User modal are inside the Admin-only Users section. Approvers and regular Users can't change names — not their own and not anyone else's. To get Admin access, see How Do I Set an Administrator?

Not from inside Vacation Tracker. Users who want a different name showing in VT have two options: change it on their Slack / Microsoft / Google account (if that's how they joined and they haven't been manually edited yet) and then ask an Admin to run Sync Existing Users, or ask an Admin to make the edit directly in Vacation Tracker.

It indicates that the name has been manually overridden in Vacation Tracker and is no longer being pulled from the directory. As long as the lock is there, Sync Existing Users won't touch this User's name. If you ever want the directory to take over again, you'd need to clear the override — contact Support if the User's name should be re-bound to the directory.

What's Next?

Can I Update User Information from my Directory Into Vacation Tracker? How Do I Add (Import) Users? How Do I Deactivate a User?
Need help?
Contact our Support team via email or chat at hello@vacationtracker.io, Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.

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