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The Microsoft Shifts integration writes approved absences into a Microsoft Teams Shifts schedule. Shift planners and colleagues then see who is off in the timeline, without entering the time off by hand. The sync is one-way: absentify updates Shifts. Time off that someone enters in Shifts does not become a leave request in absentify.

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Prerequisites

  1. Plan: Microsoft Shifts synchronization is part of the Essentials and Plus plans. Without those plans, the list shows Upgrade instead of Connect a team. See the plan feature matrix.
  2. A Microsoft Tenant Administrator must turn on Microsoft Shifts synchronization under Settings > Microsoft. See the Shifts synchronization permissions guide.
  3. Shifts in Teams: For time off to be written, Shifts must be switched on for the connected team. Open Shifts in Teams once for that team. absentify does not switch Shifts on for you. You can still save the connection beforehand.
  4. Linked Microsoft accounts: Users whose absences should sync must have their Microsoft account linked in absentify.
  5. Working schedule: The workspace needs a working schedule. Without it, absences are not written to Shifts.

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Set up the integration

1

Open Microsoft Shifts

Go to Settings > Integrations > Microsoft Shifts. The page heading is Microsoft Shifts synchronization.
2

Connect a team

Select Connect a team. A new page opens. It starts with a short intro: absentify writes approved absences as time off into Shifts, one way only.
3

Choose the Microsoft Team

Select the Microsoft Team whose Shifts schedule should receive the time off. Each team can be connected only once. Teams that are already connected do not appear in the list. After you remove a connection, that team can appear again. If you connect it while absentify is still removing time off from Shifts, you see: This team is still being removed. Try again in a few minutes. If no teams appear, absentify tells you that no Microsoft Teams are available and links to Microsoft settings.
4

Select departments

Choose the Departments to include. Only approved absences of users in those departments are written to Shifts. Each of those users needs a linked Microsoft account and must be a member of this team in Teams.If a selected department is set to Only managers and approvers, absentify warns you: the absences are still published to Shifts. See Absence privacy.
5

Select leave types

Choose the Leave types to include. For each selected leave type you can set Time-off reason in Shifts. On a wider screen the columns are Leave type in absentify and Time-off reason in Shifts. Selecting a leave type fills the reason with the leave type name, or Absent when the leave type hides its name.
6

Name (optional)

Enter Name (optional). The name is shown only in the list in absentify. If you leave it empty, absentify uses the team name.
7

Description (optional)

You can add Description (optional). You see the description again when you select Edit.
8

Save

Select Save. absentify returns you to the list. See How the synchronization works below for what happens next.Cancel or the back arrow returns without saving.If a time-off reason name could not be saved in Shifts yet, absentify shows: We could not save the name in Shifts for: . We will try again later. The existing reason in Shifts stays as it is.

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How the synchronization works

  • Only approved absences are written to Shifts. Pending and declined requests are not.
  • Only the leave types you selected for this connection are written.
  • After you save, absentify writes matching approved absences that already exist, when Shifts is switched on for the team. It then keeps Shifts up to date when a request is approved, changed, canceled, declined, or deleted, and when a user’s working schedule changes.
  • Approved absences are written when they fall in the last 30 days through the next 365 days.
  • The time-off period follows the user’s absentify working schedule, not their Shifts shift assignments. The entry in Shifts then matches the deduction in absentify.
  • If a user’s Microsoft account is not linked, their absences wait until they link it.
  • If you archive a user, or you remove them from the selected departments, their time-off entries are removed from Shifts.

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Manage connections

Each connection on Microsoft Shifts synchronization shows the connection name, the Microsoft Team, and how many departments and leave types you selected. While status is loading, the card shows Checking the status…. After that you see a badge (Synchronized, Waiting, Needs your attention, or Not switched on) and a counts line, for example 3 synchronized, 1 waiting, 2 need your attention. When Shifts is switched on for the team, the badge stays Waiting until absentify finishes the first sync for that team, even when there are no absences yet. If Shifts is not switched on yet, the badge shows Not switched on instead. In the counts line, waiting counts only absences still being sent. When a change has been sent, the card also shows Last change sent to Shifts: . If Shifts is not switched on for the team, the card shows: Shifts is not switched on for this team yet. Open Shifts in Teams once, then it works. Time off is written after Shifts is on. If absentify can no longer write to Shifts, the card shows: absentify is not allowed to write to Shifts anymore. Renew the permission in the Microsoft settings. Select Microsoft settings to renew it.

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Edit

Select Edit. A new page opens with the current values. The page title is the connection name; on wider screens, Edit this sync also appears in the header. It starts with the same one-way intro. You can change Departments, Leave types, Time-off reason in Shifts, Name (optional), and Description (optional). The Microsoft Team cannot be changed here. To use another team, remove this sync and connect the other team. Select Save to apply the changes. After you save, absentify updates Shifts in the background. This can take a few minutes. Absences of departments or leave types you removed are deleted from Shifts. New ones are added. Cancel or the back arrow returns to the list without saving.

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Sync now

Select Sync now to send matching absences again. absentify shows Sync started. It can take a few minutes. If you select Sync now again too soon, you see: You just started a sync. Please wait a minute and try again.

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Show problems

When absences need your attention, Show problems appears on the card. It lists the absences that are not in the Shifts schedule yet, and the reason. Fix the reason. The absences are sent again on their own. If Microsoft returned extra detail, open Show the Microsoft message.

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Remove

Select Remove. Confirm with Confirm. If absentify can still write to Shifts, the confirmation says already-synced time off will be removed from the schedule. If write permission was revoked, it says absences already in Shifts are removed as soon as absentify may write to Shifts again. The connection leaves the list right away. Time off is still removed from the Shifts schedule in the background, which can take a few minutes. If absentify cannot write to Shifts, the time off is removed once it may write again.

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Troubleshooting

Start on the card. When a connection Needs your attention, open Show problems and fix the reason shown there:
  • This person is not a member of the team in Teams. Add them to the team.
  • Shifts is not switched on for this team yet. Open Shifts in Teams once, then it works.
  • absentify is not allowed to write to Shifts anymore. Renew the permission in the Microsoft settings.
  • absentify cannot find this team in Shifts anymore. Check the team in Teams or connect a different team.
  • Microsoft did not allow absentify to write to this team. Check the team’s Shifts settings.
  • Microsoft could not save this absence. We will try again.
For the full history, open the Microsoft sync logs. Go to Settings > Microsoft, select View Sync Logs, and filter by Microsoft Shifts syncs. Successful writes appear as Create Microsoft Shifts time off, Update Microsoft Shifts time off, or Delete Microsoft Shifts time off. Sync Microsoft Shifts absences appears only when Shifts consent is lost. If a Microsoft account is not linked, you may not see a log row until a sync is attempted after linking. Leave types you did not select do not appear in the logs. Recoverable Microsoft errors are retried in the background, so you do not see a row for every attempt.