SOURCE:    Vacation Tracker
TITLE:     How Do I Set Holidays?
URL:       https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-set-holidays/
LANG:      en
PUBLISHED: 2020-12-29
UPDATED:   2026-10-07
READING:   5 min
SUMMARY:   How Do I Set Holidays?
How Do I Set Holidays?
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Last updated on October 7, 2026

How Do I Set Holidays?

Each Location in Vacation Tracker gets its own holiday calendar. Public holidays are imported automatically when you create a Location. You can import more by country and region, or build your own list of custom holidays, including recurring ones, multi-day observances, and half-day cutoffs.

Import Holidays pulls in a curated list for a specific country and year, good for bank holidays and public observances. Add a Holiday lets you create a custom one (name, date, recurrence rules, duration) for anything that isn't in the standard list.

Getting to the Holidays Tab

  1. Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io.
  2. In the left-hand menu, expand Leave Setup and click Locations.
  3. Click the Location card, then switch to the Holidays tab.

You'll see three tabs, Holidays for [current year], Holidays for [next year], and Past holidays, plus two action buttons at the top right: Import Holidays and Add a Holiday. Each holiday in the list is tagged Imported or Custom.

Holidays tab showing year tabs, Import Holidays and Add a Holiday buttons, and the holiday list with Holiday name / Date(s) / Day(s) / Recurring columns

Holidays Added When You Create a Location

When you create a Location, Vacation Tracker imports the public holidays for the Country you select, plus the regional holidays if you pick a State, Province, or Nation. They show up on the Holidays tab with the Imported tag. If you later change the Location's Country or region on the General tab, you can choose to replace its holidays with the new set. See How Do I Edit a Location? for how that works.

Option 1: Import Holidays

Use this when you want to add or update the standard set of public holidays for a country or region. Import Holidays is a 3-step wizard with visual progress indicators at the top (Select country → Select holidays → Confirm).

  1. Click Import Holidays at the top right of the Holidays tab. You'll land on Step 1.
  2. Select country: The year (defaults to the current year), country, and state, province, or nation are filled in from the Location's settings. Change them if needed and click Next.
  3. Select holidays: A list of holidays for that country appears with some pre-selected. Use the Filter by holiday type option (Observance / Public) to narrow things down. Check or uncheck so only the holidays your organization observes stay selected. Click Next.
  4. Confirm: Review the final list of holidays you're about to import. Under Do you want to import selected holidays for future years automatically? choose Yes if you want Vacation Tracker to handle the rollover, or No. Click Import [number] selected holidays to finish.

The holidays are added to the Location and every user in that Location gets them. Use the Back button in the wizard at any time to revisit earlier steps; no import happens until you click the import button on the final step.

Importing overwrites existing holidays
The Confirm step warns that importing overwrites any previously added holidays, and that this may affect the leave balances of some users, who will have additional day(s) added to their quota. For some countries, automatic import for future years isn't supported yet, so you'll need to re-import manually each year.
Editing imported holidays
Once a holiday is imported, you can only edit its name. The date comes from the curated list and stays fixed. If you need a holiday on a different date, delete the imported one and add a custom one instead.

Option 2: Add a Custom Holiday

Use this for company-specific observances, floating holidays, or anything that isn't in the standard country list.

  1. Click Add a Holiday at the top right of the Holidays tab.
  2. Fill in the form. See the field reference below.
  3. Click Save.

Add a Holiday: Field Reference

Name

The display name for the holiday (e.g., "Company Founding Day").

Assign to Locations

The Location this holiday applies to. It's set to the Location you opened the form from and can't be changed here.

Recurring holiday?

Yes / No. Set to Yes if this holiday repeats every year; No for a one-off. Yes reveals additional recurrence fields.

Holiday type

Three options: Single-day holiday, Multi-day holiday, or Half-day holiday. Pick Single-day for normal holidays, Multi-day for observances spanning several consecutive days, Half-day for early closures. See How Do I Enable Half-Day Holidays? for that flow.

Date

Present when Recurring = No. Pick the exact date (or date range, for Multi-day).

Recurrence type (when Recurring = Yes)

Two options:

  • Every year on the exact date: same month and day every year (e.g., January 1).
  • Every year on specific days: floating rule like "first Monday of September" for Labor Day-style observances.

Starts on (optional)

Month and Day pickers for the recurring holiday's anchor date.

Transfer to the next working day when fall on weekends

Yes / No. If Yes, a holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday automatically shifts to the next working day. Matches how many "substitute day" rules work for public holidays.

Live preview
As you fill in the recurrence fields, Vacation Tracker shows a Recurrence Summary at the bottom of the form, for example "Repeats every year on January 1. Next: Fri Jan 01 2027." Use this to sanity-check your rule before saving.

What Happens After You Save

Holidays you set up (imported or custom) behave like non-working days for everyone in the Location:

  • They appear on the Calendar view for all users in that Location.
  • Leave requests that cross a holiday don't deduct that day from the user's balance.
  • Holidays are included in notifications and out-of-office messaging.
  • You can later edit or delete holidays from the Holidays tab. Imported ones allow name-only edits, custom ones can be fully edited.

Common Questions

Yes. Holidays live inside a Location, so you need to create the Location first. Its public holidays are imported when you create it. See How Do I Create a Location?

No. When you add a holiday from a Location's Holidays tab, Assign to Locations is set to that Location. If you have the same holiday across several Locations, add or import it separately for each.

The curated list labels each holiday by type. Public holidays are statutory days off; Observance holidays are culturally recognized but not mandated. Use the Filter by holiday type option to show only one category at a time. Most teams import just the Public ones.

What's Next?

How Do I Enable Half-Day Holidays? How Do I Create a Location? How Do I Edit a Location?
Need help?
Contact our Support team via email or chat, Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.

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