# Vacation and Absence Calendar

Source: [https://docs.virtosoftware.com/docs/virto-shared-calendar/templates/vacation-and-absence-calendar/](https://docs.virtosoftware.com/docs/virto-shared-calendar/templates/vacation-and-absence-calendar/)
Product: Virto Shared Calendar
Updated: 2026-10-22


Everyone on the team adds their own vacation, time off and business trips, and the whole team sees who is out. Public holidays come in from a holiday feed, so nobody types them in.

This calendar shows who is away. It does not count leave balances or approve requests: see [When you need approvals or Outlook](#when-you-need-approvals-or-outlook) at the end of this page.

## What you set up

| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Calendar name | Your team's name, for example "Support team: who is out" |
| Categories | Vacation, Out of office, Business trip, Training |
| Permissions | **Restricted**: the team lead is an owner, the team are members |
| External calendar | Public holidays of your country |
| Views | **Month** for this month, **Flat year** for planning the summer |
| Share link | Optional: view-only, for contractors who plan around your team |

## 1. Create the calendar

Create a calendar and give it your team's name.

[Open the interactive demo](https://app.storylane.io/demo/sozznxkowpzf)

**Interactive demo walkthrough**
1. How to create a new calendar in Virto Shared Calendar
2. Let's begin by exploring our calendar management system.
3. Click on "Add new calendar"
4. Name your calendar to reflect its purpose or team.
5. Customize your calendar's appearance and functionality.
6. Choose events background color to enhance calendar visualization.
7. Choose events font color.
8. Choose from versatile view options to match your planning style.
9. Save your customized view settings.
10. Choose the default calendar view that will open when you access the calendar.
11. Adjust date display formats for regional preferences.
12. Select your preferred date format for consistency.
13. Customize how time appears on your calendar events.
14. Apply your personalized calendar display settings.
15. Thanks for exploring! — Ready to see how this can work for you?

Then click the calendar name to open its settings:

- On the **General** tab, set **Default calendar view** to **Month**.
- On the **Calendar** tab, set **Week start day** to **Monday** if your week starts on Monday. A new calendar starts the week on Sunday.

## 2. Add the categories

On the **Categories** tab, remove the default categories you will not use and add these:

| Category | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Vacation | Planned time off |
| Out of office | Every other absence, sick days included. The name says that the person is away, not why. |
| Business trip | Travel for work |
| Training | Courses and conferences |

Add **Remote work** only if the team really needs to know who works from home. Give each category a clearly different color; a dark background with white text stays readable.

[Open the interactive demo](https://app.storylane.io/demo/expnscwfy7jr)

**Interactive demo walkthrough**
1. How to create categories in Virto Shared Calendar
2. Click the calendar name to open settings
3. Click on "Categories"
4. Create new category to classify different activities
5. New category will appear at the bottom
6. Add color-coding to visually distinguish the category
7. Name your category to reflect specific activities
8. Save your changes
9. Let's schedule a marketing activity and see how categories work. Click the date
10. Enter the event title
11. Choose a category we've just created
12. Save the event
13. The event is created and color-coded with yellow color, the color of a new category
14. Thanks for watching! — Start using a forever free calendar option now! Or upgrade for the unlimited tire.

## 3. Keep the reason for an absence out of the calendar

A shared calendar is the wrong place for health information. Under the GDPR, data about someone's health belongs to the special categories of personal data, and a team calendar is seen by the whole team and possibly by anyone with a share link.

- Name the category **Out of office**, not "Sick leave".
- Write only the person's name in the subject. Leave the reason out of the subject and the description.
- Leave **Attendees** empty on absence entries. A share link shows the attendees of every entry, with their e-mail addresses.

The person's manager and HR keep the reason where it belongs, in your HR process.

## 4. Choose who can edit

On the **Permissions** tab:

1. Leave **Private calendar** unticked, so the team can see the calendar.
2. Set **Permission mode** to **Restricted**.
3. In **Calendar owners**, add the team lead and a deputy. Owners can change the calendar settings.
4. In **Calendar members**, add everyone who will add their own time off. Members can add and edit entries.

Everyone else in your organization can view the calendar. Members can change any entry, not only their own, so agree in the team that everyone edits only their own time off.

Do not leave the **Default** mode on a team calendar: in that mode everyone in your organization who uses the app is an owner and can change the settings or delete the calendar.

## 5. Add public holidays

On the **External calendars** tab, click **Add ICal source**, paste the holiday link of your country, give it a name such as "Public holidays" and a color, and save. The links for more than 30 countries are on the [External Calendars](https://docs.virtosoftware.com/docs/virto-shared-calendar/calendar-settings/external-calendars/index.md#public-holiday-calendars-by-country) page. A team spread over several countries adds one source per country.

Holidays from a feed are read-only, show in their own color and do not count toward the 15 entries of the free plan.

## 6. Add time off

1. In the **Month** view, click the first day of the absence. The **Create event** panel opens.
2. Type the person's name in **Subject**, for example "Anna Keller".
3. Tick **All day** and set **Date start** and **Date end** to the first and the last day away.
4. Choose the category and save.

[Open the interactive demo](https://app.storylane.io/demo/akmrrmpot7su)

**Interactive demo walkthrough**
1. How to create an event in Virto Shared Calendar — Step by step instructions on how to create an event
2. Click the desired date on the calendar to begin scheduling your event.
3. Enter your meeting title in this field.
4. Choose meeting category/categories.
5. Choose a date of the event.
6. Set your event time.
7. Select "Don't repeat" for one-time meetings or special discussions.
8. Set a weekly cadence to establish regular team touchpoints.
9. Specify when the recurring meeting series should conclude.
10. Begin adding team members who need to participate in the event.
11. Create an agenda if needed.
12. Explore formatting options to structure your content.
13. Add a virtual meeting link for participants to join seamlessly.
14. Finalize your meeting setup and send invitations to all attendees.
15. Open your meeting when it's time to connect with your team.
16. Start your virtual meeting with one click when it's time to collaborate.
17. Thanks for exploring! — Ready to see how this can work for you? Start using a forever free calendar option now! Or upgrade for the unlimited tire.

To see only one kind of absence, open **Categories** in the toolbar and pick it. To find one person's entries, type their name in **Search**.

**About the free plan.** Every absence is a separate entry, and a team of ten can fill the 15 entries of the free plan in a month or two. When the limit is reached, only licensed creators and editors can add more entries. See [Subscription](/docs/virto-shared-calendar/working-with-calendar/subscription/).

## 7. Show it in Teams and share it

- Add the calendar as a tab to your team's channel, so everyone checks it where they already work.
- To let a contractor or an agency see when your team is out, publish a view-only link on the **Sharings** tab and send it to them. They need no Microsoft account. The link shows every entry with its subject, dates and description; **Unpublish** turns it off at once. See [Sharings](https://docs.virtosoftware.com/docs/virto-shared-calendar/calendar-settings/sharings/index.md).

## When you need approvals or Outlook

Virto Shared Calendar holds the entries your team types in. Two jobs belong to other tools:

- **Collecting absences from Outlook calendars or a SharePoint list automatically, and approving requests.** That is Virto Calendar App: see [Approve or reject vacation requests](https://docs.virtosoftware.com/docs/calendar-overlay-pro/working-with-virto-calendar/use-case-approve-reject-vacation-requests/index.md).
- **Leave balances, accruals and payroll.** Keep them in your HR system.