Tracking employee vacation time doesn't have to be complicated. A well-designed Excel spreadsheet can handle everything a small team needs: recording requests, calculating remaining balances, and showing who's out when.
In this guide, we'll walk you through building a complete vacation tracker in Excel. You'll get the exact structure, formulas, and formatting to create a professional tracking system in under 30 minutes.
Whether you're using Microsoft Excel or the free alternative (Google Sheets works too), this template will help you stay organized and avoid the common headaches of manual vacation tracking.
Why Use Excel for Vacation Tracking?
Excel remains one of the most popular tools for vacation tracking, especially among small businesses. Here's why it works:
Most businesses already have Excel. No new subscriptions or software purchases needed.
Add columns, change formulas, adjust colors—make it work exactly how you want.
Your team already knows how to use Excel. No training or onboarding required.
Access and update your tracker without an internet connection.
Vacation Tracker Template Overview
Our Excel vacation tracker template includes four main worksheets, each serving a specific purpose:
Employee Dashboard
At-a-glance view of all employees with their vacation allowance, days used, and remaining balance.
Vacation Log
Detailed record of every vacation request with dates, duration, status, and approval notes.
Team Calendar
Visual monthly calendar showing who's out and when, helping you spot coverage gaps.
Settings
Configure your company's vacation policy, holidays, and default allowances.
Sheet 1: Employee Dashboard
This is your main control panel. Set it up with these columns:
| Employee ID | Name | Department | Start Date | Allowance | Used | Pending | Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E001 | Sarah Johnson | Marketing | 2023-03-15 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 |
| E002 | Mike Chen | Engineering | 2022-01-10 | 18 | 15 | 0 | 3 |
| E003 | Lisa Park | Sales | 2024-06-01 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Key Formulas for the Dashboard
The "Used", "Pending", and "Remaining" columns should calculate automatically from your Vacation Log:
// Days Used (approved vacations from log):
=SUMIFS(VacationLog!E:E, VacationLog!A:A, A2, VacationLog!F:F, "Approved")
// Days Pending (pending requests):
=SUMIFS(VacationLog!E:E, VacationLog!A:A, A2, VacationLog!F:F, "Pending")
// Days Remaining:
=E2 - F2 - G2
Conditional Formatting Tips
Make your dashboard easier to scan with color-coded remaining days:
- Green when remaining days are 5 or more
- Yellow when remaining days are 2-4
- Red when remaining days are 1 or less
Sheet 2: Vacation Log
This sheet records every vacation request. Include these columns:
| Employee ID | Employee Name | Start Date | End Date | Days | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E001 | Sarah Johnson | 2025-02-10 | 2025-02-14 | 5 | Approved | Family vacation |
| E003 | Lisa Park | 2025-03-01 | 2025-03-07 | 5 | Pending | Spring break trip |
Calculating Vacation Days Automatically
Use this formula to calculate business days between two dates (excluding weekends):
// Business days between start and end date:
=NETWORKDAYS(C2, D2)
// To exclude company holidays, add a reference to your holidays list:
=NETWORKDAYS(C2, D2, Settings!$A$2:$A$20)
Data Validation for Status
Create a dropdown for the Status column to ensure consistency. In Excel, select the Status column, go to Data → Data Validation, and set the source to: Pending,Approved,Denied,Cancelled
Sheet 3: Team Calendar View
A visual calendar helps managers quickly see team availability. Create a monthly grid with employee names as rows and dates as columns:
| Employee | Mon 10 | Tue 11 | Wed 12 | Thu 13 | Fri 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah J. | 🏖️ | 🏖️ | 🏖️ | 🏖️ | 🏖️ |
| Mike C. | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lisa P. | - | - | ? | ? | - |
Color coding: Green with 🏖️ for approved vacation, yellow with ? for pending requests, and empty for regular work days.
Sheet 4: Settings & Configuration
Keep your configuration in one place for easy updates:
Company Holidays
- 2025-01-01 - New Year's Day
- 2025-05-26 - Memorial Day
- 2025-07-04 - Independence Day
- 2025-09-01 - Labor Day
- 2025-11-27 - Thanksgiving
- 2025-12-25 - Christmas
Default Settings
- Default Annual Allowance: 15 days
- Year 1-2 Allowance: 15 days
- Year 3-5 Allowance: 18 days
- Year 6+ Allowance: 20 days
- Carryover Limit: 5 days
Common Issues with Excel Vacation Trackers
While Excel is great for getting started, be aware of these limitations as your team grows:
Version Conflicts
When multiple people edit the file simultaneously, changes can be overwritten or lost.
No Automatic Notifications
Managers don't get alerts about new requests. Employees don't know when requests are approved.
Formula Errors
Accidentally deleting a row or copying incorrectly can break formulas throughout the sheet.
Manual Updates
Every request, approval, and status change requires someone to manually update the spreadsheet.
Best Practices for Excel Vacation Tracking
- Assign one owner. One person should be responsible for maintaining the spreadsheet and ensuring data accuracy.
- Protect formulas. Lock cells containing formulas so they can't be accidentally changed.
- Back up weekly. Save dated copies of your tracker to recover from accidental deletions.
- Use OneDrive or SharePoint. Store your file in the cloud for real-time collaboration and automatic saving.
- Review monthly. Check balances and catch any discrepancies before they become bigger problems.
Conclusion
An Excel vacation tracker is a solid solution for small teams who want something simple and free. The template structure in this guide gives you everything you need to track employee time off, calculate balances automatically, and visualize team availability.
Start with this template, customize it to match your company's policies, and you'll have a working vacation tracker in under an hour. As your team grows beyond 15-20 people, you may find that the manual work and limitations become frustrating—that's when it's worth exploring dedicated PTO software.
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