SOURCE: Vacation Tracker TITLE: Connecting to a Shared / Existing Calendar URL: https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/connecting-to-a-shared-existing-calendar/ LANG: en PUBLISHED: 2024-01-25 UPDATED: 2026-01-27 READING: 3 min SUMMARY: Connecting to a Shared / Existing Calendar # Connecting to a Shared / Existing Calendar # Connecting to a Shared / Existing Calendar Push your team's approved leaves into a Google Calendar or Outlook calendar that already exists. Once connected, every approved request lands as an event on that shared calendar within minutes — no extra steps for the people who already check that calendar daily. Your Operations team checks a "Team Out of Office" Google Calendar every morning. Connect Vacation Tracker to it once, and every approved leave shows up as an event there automatically — no one has to copy dates over by hand. Plan & permissions The Shared Calendar feature is on the Complete plan only. Any role — Admin, Approver, or User — can open the Sync Your Team Calendar page and create a connection from their own account. ## How to Open the Shared Calendar Settings - Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io (https://app.vacationtracker.io/signin). - In the left-hand menu, click Calendar. - At the top of the Calendar page, click Sync with your calendar (Google, Outlook, etc.). ![Calendar page with the button for syncing to your Google or Outlook calendar next to the page title at the top](https://cms.vacationtracker.io/uploads/helpdesk_artikal_connecting_to_a_shared_existing_calendar_first_image_place_1c2a259a8f.png) You'll land on the Sync Your Team Calendar page. It shows a table of every existing connection (yours and any external calendars currently being shared with you), plus a Connect Calendar button at the top-left for creating a new one. ![Sync Your Team Calendar page with Connect Calendar button, Filter by chips at the top-right, and a table of existing connections (columns: Type, Locations, Departments, Labels, Created by, Name)](https://cms.vacationtracker.io/uploads/helpdesk_artikal_connecting_to_a_shared_existing_calendar_second_image_place_0c1353bb96.png) ## Create a New Connection - Click Connect Calendar. A small menu opens with three provider options: - Google calendar — connect to an existing Google Calendar - Outlook calendar — connect to an existing Outlook / Office 365 calendar - Any calendar (via iCal link) — generate a brand new calendar feed instead of connecting to one that exists. That flow is covered in Adding a New Calendar (Using iCal Connection) (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/adding-a-new-calendar-using-ical-connection/). - Pick the provider for the shared calendar you already have. From here the flow splits by provider. Pick the one you're connecting to: ### Google Calendar Connecting to Google Calendar pushes Vacation Tracker leaves into an existing Google Calendar. You need to either own that calendar or have it shared with you with edit permissions. (Need a brand new calendar instead? Use the iCal option (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/adding-a-new-calendar-using-ical-connection/).) - Click Connect your Google Calendar. - Sign in with your Google credentials and approve the requested permissions. - Back in Vacation Tracker, the connection screen shows a Filter By row — optionally narrow the leaves that get synced by Locations, Departments, or Labels. Leave it blank to sync everything. - Use the Select: dropdown to choose which existing Google Calendar to push leaves into. If the calendar you want isn't listed, click the refresh button next to the dropdown to pull a fresh list. If it lives in a different Google Workspace account, you can sign in with that other account to access its calendars. - Click Create Calendar Sync. You'll see a confirmation when the connection is live. ### Outlook Calendar Same pattern, with Microsoft instead of Google. The shared/existing Outlook calendar must already exist; for a brand new one, use the iCal option (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/adding-a-new-calendar-using-ical-connection/). - Click Connect your Outlook Calendar. - Sign in with your Microsoft credentials and approve the requested permissions. - Apply Filter By preferences (Locations, Departments, Labels) — optional. - Pick the destination calendar from the Select: dropdown. - Click Create calendar sync. Multiple Outlook destinations Outlook lets you connect Vacation Tracker to more than one shared calendar at the same time. Run the flow once per destination, and each appears as a separate row on the Sync Your Team Calendar page. The same page also lists external calendars that other people have shared with you for visibility. ## Filter By: What It Does The optional Filter By step lets you scope which leaves go to a given calendar. You can mix and match these dimensions on the same connection: #### Locations Only sync leaves from Users assigned to specific Locations. Useful when one shared calendar covers a single office. #### Departments Only sync leaves from Users in specific Departments. Common for Department-specific calendars (e.g. Engineering's "Out of Office" calendar should only show Engineering leaves). #### Labels Only sync leaves from Users carrying the labels you pick (e.g. Full-Time, Contractor, Manager). Lets you slice across Departments and Locations. Leaving every Filter By field empty means the connection syncs every approved leave from every User. If you want different views — e.g. one calendar per Department — create one connection per filter combination. ## Manage and Disconnect Existing Syncs Every connection on the Sync Your Team Calendar page is a row in the table with these columns: - Type — google, outlook, or ical - Locations, Departments, Labels — the filter scope (or "All" if none was set) - Created by — the User who set the connection up - Name — the destination calendar's name (or, for iCal, the feed URL with a copy button) - Trash icon — disconnect this row To remove a connection, click the trash icon on the right-hand side of its row. Only the User who originally created the connection can fully disconnect it — when the creator removes it, Vacation Tracker stops pushing new events and removes all the leaves it had previously added to that calendar. If a different User deletes the connection If anyone other than the original creator deletes the connection, the previously-pushed leave events stay on the calendar as static events. They won't be updated going forward and new leaves won't sync — but the existing entries aren't cleaned up. To fully remove past events, the original creator has to be the one disconnecting (or you'll need to delete the orphaned events from the calendar manually). Important When you connect to a shared calendar, Vacation Tracker only pushes current and upcoming approved leaves. Past leaves stay where they are — they're not back-filled. So if you connect today, you'll see future events appear, not last quarter's vacations. ## Common Questions What's the difference between this and the Personal Calendar Connection? They solve different problems. Shared / Existing Calendar (this article) is a view-only push from Vacation Tracker into a team calendar — leaves appear as events for anyone subscribed to that calendar. Personal Calendar Connection blocks time on the requesting User's own calendar so meeting tools see them as out of office. See How Do I Connect My Personal Calendar to Vacation Tracker? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-connect-my-personal-calendar-to-vacation-tracker/) How long does sync take? Within a couple of minutes. New approvals, edits, and cancellations on the Vacation Tracker side flow through to the shared calendar that quickly. There's no scheduled delay or daily batch. My shared calendar isn't in the Select dropdown — what do I do? Two things to try, in order: 1) Hit the refresh button next to the dropdown — it re-fetches the list immediately. New shares often need a refresh before they show up. 2) If the calendar lives in a different account (e.g. a Google Workspace different from the one you signed in with), the dropdown gives you the option to sign in with that other account to access the calendars there. Use that, then pick the shared calendar from the refreshed list. ### What's Next? Adding a New Calendar (Using iCal Connection) (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/adding-a-new-calendar-using-ical-connection/) How Do I Connect My Personal Calendar to Vacation Tracker? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-connect-my-personal-calendar-to-vacation-tracker/) Guide: How Do I Sync My Calendar with Vacation Tracker? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/guide-how-do-i-sync-my-calendar-with-vacation-tracker/) Need help? Contact our Support team via email (mailto:hello@vacationtracker.io) or chat (#), Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.