Account Settings

How Do I Bulk Import Users? (Email Only Integration)

Last updated on October 15, 2025

How Do I Bulk Import Users? (Email Only Integration)

If you're on the Email Only integration and need to add a lot of Users at once, the dashboard's bulk-import flow takes a CSV or Excel template and creates them in one upload. Faster than the one-at-a-time Add User form for any team larger than a handful.

Email Only integration
This bulk-import flow is for accounts using the Email Only integration — workspaces that don't use Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Workspace. If you're on one of those integrations, your User list comes from the directory and bulk import works differently. See How Do I Add (Import) Users? for those flows.

Steps

  1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io with an Admin account.
  2. In the left-hand menu, click Users.
  3. Click Create Users at the top of the page.
  4. In the Create Users modal, download either the CSV or the Excel template. Both produce the same result; pick whichever your team is more comfortable editing.
  5. Fill out the template with your Users' information (see fields below).
  6. Upload the completed file back into the same modal. Vacation Tracker validates the rows and creates the Users.
Create Users modal on the Users page with the CSV and Excel template download buttons and the file upload area visible

Template Fields

Name Required

The User's display name as it will appear in Vacation Tracker — calendars, reports, notifications, the Users table.

Email Required

A valid email address. This is how the User will sign in (Email Only integration uses email + password) and where Vacation Tracker sends approval requests, reminders, and notifications. Each email must be unique on the account.

Department Optional

The Department to assign the User to. Must match exactly the name of a Department that already exists in your Vacation Tracker account — typos or unknown names will fail validation. If you leave this blank, the User is placed in the workspace's default Department.

Location Optional

The Location to assign the User to. Same matching rule — names must match an existing Location exactly. If left blank, the default Location is used.

Set up Departments and Locations first
If you want the import to assign Users to specific Departments or Locations, create those before running the import. The names in your CSV/Excel column must match the names in Vacation Tracker character-for-character. See How Do I Create a Location? and How Do I Create a Department?

What Happens After Upload

  • Each row creates a new User in Vacation Tracker with Role = User (you can promote individuals to Admin later).
  • Users are assigned the Department and Location specified in their row, or the workspace defaults if those columns were blank.
  • Users are issued the Yearly Leave Quota from each Leave Policy that applies to their Location, just like manually-added Users.
  • Whether new Users automatically receive a sign-in invitation depends on the Invite Users Yes/No toggle on the Create Users page. If Yes, each new User is emailed an invitation to set their password and sign in. If No, profiles are created without invites — useful when employees don't use a computer regularly and the Admin manages time off on their behalf, or when you want to invite them later in batch.

Common Questions

The import will surface validation errors for those rows. Fix the names in your file (so they match exactly) and re-upload, or create the missing Department/Location in Vacation Tracker first and then re-upload.

Email is the unique identifier — if a row's email matches a User who already exists in your workspace, that row will fail rather than create a duplicate. To update an existing User, use the User profile's Edit button instead. See How Do I Edit User's General Information?

Functionally, no — both templates produce the same result. CSV is leaner and works in any text editor; Excel keeps formatting niceties and is easier for non-technical Admins. Pick the one your team will edit more reliably.

What's Next?

How to Add Users With the Email Integration? How Do I Create a Location? How Do I Create a Department?
Need help?
Contact our Support team via email or chat, Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.

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