Editing and managing automatic approval rules for time off requests

<body>
<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Time off rules in Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) automatically approve agents' time off requests when specified criteria are met. After a rule iscreated, you update, activate, deactivate, and delete it.</p>
<div class="article-banners">
<div id="docs-wmp-link">
<a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5411234991258-plan" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What's my plan?</a>
</div>

<div class="article-banner" id="addon_wfm">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Add-on</strong>
</td>
<td>Workforce Management (WFM) or Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>

</div>
<div id="docs-ai-summary">
<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Summary: <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">You can manage automatic approval rules for time off requests by editing, activating, deactivating, or deleting them. These rules help automatically approve requests based on set criteria, saving you time in scheduling and workforce management. Adjust rule settings, toggle their active status, or remove rules you no longer need to keep your time off approvals aligned with your team's needs.</p>
</div>

<div class="body">

<p class="p">Time off rules in Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) automatically approve agents' time
off requests when specified criteria are met. After a rule is <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7274654710042" target="_blank">created</a>, you update, activate, deactivate, and delete it. </p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic_sjx_ns2_m2c__ul_vjt_zs2_m2c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_jqy_st2_m2c">Editing automatic approval rules</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_stf_fw2_m2c">Activating automatic approval rules</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_e52_hw2_m2c">Deactivating automatic approval rules</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_nhr_hw2_m2c">Deleting automatic approval rules</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_jqy_st2_m2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Editing automatic approval rules</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can edit a rules name and settings.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To edit an automatic approval rule</strong><ol class="ol" id="topic_jqy_st2_m2c__ol_rhm_p52_m2c">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Workforce management</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_jqy_st2_m2c__d8e336" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_calendar.png" width="16">
<strong class="ph b">Scheduling</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Time off</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the settings icon (<img class="image" id="topic_jqy_st2_m2c__image_kfs_qx1_lbc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_settings_icon.png" width="16">).</li>
<li class="li">Locate the rule you want to edit, and modify it as needed.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_stf_fw2_m2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Activating automatic approval rules</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you have deactived an automatic approval rule and want to resume using it again,
you can reactivate it.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To activate an automatic approval rule</strong><ol class="ol" id="topic_stf_fw2_m2c__ol_ttf_fw2_m2c">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Workforce management</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_stf_fw2_m2c__d8e336" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_calendar.png" width="16">
<strong class="ph b">Scheduling</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Time off</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the settings icon (<img class="image" id="topic_stf_fw2_m2c__image_ur3_mj1_n3c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_settings_icon.png" width="16">).</li>
<li class="li">Locate the rule you want to activate.</li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">Automatically approve time off</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_e52_hw2_m2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Deactivating automatic approval rules</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you need to temporarily stop using an automatic approval rule, you can deactivate
it.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To deactivate an automatic approval rule</strong><ol class="ol" id="topic_e52_hw2_m2c__ol_cqq_3ys_rgc">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Workforce management</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_e52_hw2_m2c__d8e336" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_calendar.png" width="16">
<strong class="ph b">Scheduling</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Time off</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the settings icon (<img class="image" id="topic_e52_hw2_m2c__image_i32_1k1_n3c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_settings_icon.png" width="16">).</li>
<li class="li">Locate the rule you want to deactivate.</li>
<li class="li">Deselect <strong class="ph b">Automatically approve time off</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_nhr_hw2_m2c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Deleting automatic approval rules</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you no longer need an automatic approval rule, you can delete it.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To delete an automatic approval rule</strong><ol class="ol" id="topic_nhr_hw2_m2c__ol_ohr_hw2_m2c">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838272410" target="_blank">Workforce management</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_nhr_hw2_m2c__d8e336" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_calendar.png" width="16">
<strong class="ph b">Scheduling</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Time off</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the settings icon (<img class="image" id="topic_nhr_hw2_m2c__image_rvv_2k1_n3c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_settings_icon.png" width="16">).</li>
<li class="li">Locate the rule you want to delete.</li>
<li class="li">Click the menu icon (<img class="image" id="topic_nhr_hw2_m2c__image_mnn_2z1_lbc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/sell_icon_menu_horizontal.png" width="16">) next to the rule's name and select <strong class="ph b">Delete</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_nhr_hw2_m2c__image_pyx_yy1_lbc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/wfm_timeoff_autorule_delete.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<script id="docs-schema-markup" type="application/ld+json">{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9730423133210-Editing-and-managing-automatic-approval-rules-for-time-off-requests",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9730423133210-Editing-and-managing-automatic-approval-rules-for-time-off-requests",
"headline": "Editing and managing automatic approval rules for time off requests",
"description": "You can manage automatic approval rules for time off requests by editing, activating, deactivating, or deleting them through the scheduling settings in Workforce Management.",
"articleSection": "Setting up workforce management (WFM add-on)",
"datePublished": "2025-09-18T17:10:45+00:00",
"dateModified": "2026-04-20T08:40:06.787916+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en-US",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9730423133210-Editing-and-managing-automatic-approval-rules-for-time-off-requests"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"url": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk"
},
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "WebSite",
"name": "Zendesk Help",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us"
},
"about": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Zendesk"
}
}</script><script id="ai-summary-script">
//<![CDATA[
const ai_summary_style = document.createElement('style');
ai_summary_style.innerHTML = `#styled-article-body{padding:0 0 0}#article-body #docs-ai-summary{background-color:#f3f3f3;border:1px solid #d3d3d3;padding:10px 10px 6px;margin-bottom:16px}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle{font-size:.9em;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:4px;cursor:pointer;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle #up-triangle{margin-left:auto;padding-right:10px;display:none}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle #down-triangle{margin-left:auto;padding-right:10px}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-content{font-size:.9em;padding-left:25px;padding-right:25px;margin-bottom:12px}`;
document.head.appendChild(ai_summary_style);

const toggleAISummary = () => {
const summary = document.getElementById("docs-ai-summary-content");
const upTriangle = document.getElementById("up-triangle");
const downTriangle = document.getElementById("down-triangle");
if (summary.style.display === "none") {
summary.style.display = "block";
upTriangle.style.display = "none";
downTriangle.style.display = "inline";
} else {
summary.style.display = "none";
upTriangle.style.display = "inline";
downTriangle.style.display = "none";
}
};

document.getElementById("docs-ai-summary-toggle").addEventListener("click", toggleAISummary);
//]]>
</script>
</body>