Add-ons

How Do I Set a Blackout Period for a Specific Location or Department?

Last updated on June 6, 2025

How Do I Set a Blackout Period for a Specific Location or Department?

|| Please note, this article is an add-on to the original article on our Blackout Period automation: How to Set a Blackout Period (Block Time)

Maybe you have a different blackout period for your different locations, departments or for a specific group of people. With our filtering option, you are able to customize as much as you need.

Go to the Vacation Tracker Dashboard - app.vacationtracker.io/signin
On the left-hand side click on Automations

Click on Create Automation
You’ll have a board of different automations, make sure to click on Blackout Period with the calendar icon

Choose a name for your Blackout Period
Click on “No” to set the blackout period for a particular Location or Department (If you are currently subscribed to our Complete plan, you can additionally filter by Labels)

Locations: you can filter by Locations and add several locations the blackout period affects

Departments: you can filter by Departments and add several departments the blackout period affects
Labels: If you’re on the complete plan, you can filter by Labels and add several labels the blackout period affects
_Please note, you can always mix and match different filter options by clicking on the + icon _

Select the Leave Types you would like the Blackout Period to be set for
Select the start and end date for the Blackout Period

Choose if you’d like for the Blackout period to recur annually

Please note, at the bottom of the page, you will have a summary of how many Users the Blackout Period will affect and a summary of the policy you created.

You can use our default template to set an Auto-Reject response or add your own message. The User will receive this automatic response when they try to request a leave during the Blackout Period you set.