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How to Approve Leave Requests in Horilla HRMS

May 11, 2026

When leave requests start piling up, especially around holidays or busy periods, HR managers need to be able to act on them quickly and without friction. Horilla HRMS offers more than one way to approve leave requests, depending on how many you need to process and how you prefer to work. You can approve one at a time directly from the list, select specific records for a bulk status update, or use the Actions menu to approve everything in one shot. This post walks through each method.

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Getting to Leave Requests

Navigate to Horilla > Leave > Leave Requests from the sidebar. The page shows all leave requests across employees with columns for Employee, Requested Days, Leave Clash, Status, Comment, Penalties, Options, and Actions. The status legend at the top right shows the four possible states: Rejected, Cancelled, Approved, and Requested. Each row also has a colored strip on the left edge that visually reflects the current status at a glance.

Method 1: Inline Approval on Each Row

The quickest way to approve an individual leave request is directly from the list. Each row in the Leave Requests table has two action buttons in the Actions column on the right: one to approve and one to reject or cancel.

For a pending request showing status “Requested,” clicking the approve button on that row immediately changes the status to Approved. The row’s status color strip updates at the same time, giving instant visual confirmation that the action went through.

This method works best when you are reviewing requests one by one and making case-by-case decisions — for example, when you want to check the Leave Clash value before approving, or when you need to review the employee’s comment first.

Method 2: Select and Bulk Update

When you have multiple requests to act on but not all of them, the select-and-update method gives you precise control.

Click the checkbox on the left of each row you want to update. You can select one or several rows independently.

Once at least one row is selected, a bulk action bar appears at the top of the list showing buttons for Select All, Unselect, Export, Update, and Filter — each with a count showing how many records are currently selected, for example, “Update (1)” or “Export (1).”

Click the Update button.

A modal titled “Bulk Update (N Records)” opens. This modal has a single Status dropdown where you select the new status to apply to all selected records — Approved, Rejected, or Cancelled. Choose the status you want, then click Save. The update applies to all selected rows at once, and the list refreshes to reflect the new statuses.

This method is useful when you are processing a batch of requests that all need the same outcome. For example, if three employees submitted requests for the same team offsite and all three should be approved together, you select those three rows and update them in one step rather than clicking approve on each one separately.

The Actions button at the top right of the Leave Requests page opens a dropdown with three options: Bulk Approve, Export, and Delete.

Bulk Approve is the fastest way to approve multiple requests at once. First select the records you want to approve using the checkboxes, then click Actions and choose Bulk Approve. The selected requests are approved immediately without an additional confirmation modal — it is a direct one-click action once records are selected.

This is the most efficient method when you need to clear a queue of pending requests quickly. If your team submits several requests that you have already mentally reviewed and decided to approve, selecting them and hitting Bulk Approve gets it done in two steps.

The difference between Update and Bulk Approve is worth noting. Update opens a modal where you choose the new status — which means you can also use it to reject or cancel selected records, not just approve. Bulk Approve is approval-specific and skips the modal entirely, making it faster when you already know the outcome.

Which Method to Use

All three methods update the same data and produce the same result — an approved leave record with a date-stamped status change. The choice comes down to context:

Use the inline action button when you are reviewing requests individually and want to check details before acting. Use Select and Update when you need to apply a status other than Approved to a specific group, or when you want the flexibility of the modal. Use Bulk Approve from the Actions menu when you have a clear list of pending requests that all need to be approved and you want to process them as fast as possible.

Horilla HRMS does not lock you into a single approval workflow. Whether you are handling one leave request or clearing a backlog of twenty, there is a method that fits the situation. The inline buttons keep individual approvals fast, the Update flow gives you flexibility for mixed-status batches, and Bulk Approve makes mass processing straightforward. Knowing all three means you can manage leave approvals efficiently.

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Horilla HR Editorial Team Author

Horilla HR Editorial Team is a group of experienced HR professionals, HRIS consultants, and technical writers who are passionate about HR software. We have deep, hands-on understanding of the HR landscape — from hiring and onboarding to payroll compliance and workforce analytics — and are committed to providing our readers with the most up-to-date and accurate content. We have written extensively on a variety of HR software topics, including applicant tracking systems, performance management software, employee engagement tools, and payroll software. Our content is reviewed against real product capabilities and current compliance standards. We are always looking for new ways to share our knowledge with the HR community. If you have a question about HR software, please don't hesitate to contact us.