See the idea
Total allowance or remaining balance?
Annual plan uses a shared total allowance. If your annual total is 15 days and 3 working days are already booked, enter 15 and add those 3 booked dates. The remaining budget for new suggestions is 12.
Entering 12 and also adding the 3 booked dates would leave only 9 for new suggestions. Check whether the balance shown by your employer already subtracts those bookings.
| Your situation | Enter in Annual plan |
|---|---|
| 15 total; 3 working days already booked | Allowance 15 + all 3 booked dates |
| 12 remaining; 3 working days booked from this year’s allowance | Reconstruct total 15 + the 3 booked dates |
| A booked date falls on a selected holiday | It stays booked but does not consume a workday of PTO |
Put fixed commitments in first
Choose Annual plan, then add each already booked date. Duplicate dates count once. Booked dates remain fixed; the planner does not move an approved trip to improve a score.
A booked date that is also a blackout is a conflict to resolve. Dates from another year and bookings that exceed the total allowance produce an explanation instead of a misleading plan.
- Select the year and total PTO allowance.
- Add already booked dates, including past bookings that used this year’s allowance.
- Review your workweek, observed holidays, company days, and blackouts.
- Read booked PTO, new PTO, and remaining PTO together.
Understand what this version optimizes
New suggestions use a balanced pattern: 3–15 consecutive days per break, with at least 21 clear days between suggested breaks and around fixed breaks. Existing bookings can be longer.
The total days-off figure counts days inside the selected breaks. It does not add every unrelated weekend in the year. New suggestions do not start in the past, but past booked leave still counts against the allowance.
This is a calendar-year planner. A fiscal-year reset, rolling allowance, half-day leave, or different break-spacing strategy needs separate manual review; it is not silently modeled.
Request the new dates, keep the full plan
Copy the request list for the new PTO dates. The annual calendar export includes the planned breaks; distinguish already booked time from new suggestions before sending an approval request.
Changing the allowance or adding a company day automatically recalculates suggestions. Saved plans and calendar files are snapshots; reopen and export again when your inputs change.
Questions, answered
Why is some PTO left over?
The remaining days may not fit the allowed break lengths, spacing, fixed bookings, and blackouts. Unspent leave is shown rather than forced into an unsuitable window.
Can the annual planner move an approved holiday?
No. Already booked dates stay fixed. Resolve conflicting inputs yourself; the planner will explain the conflict.
Scope & reference
Written for the current DateXLife controls and calculation rules. Illustrations explain the idea; your result depends on your inputs and the available data. Recheck important dates before booking.