--- title: "How to Request Half a Day Off" description: "Learn how to request half a day or a half-day start and end of a longer absence in Vitextra My Absences: which absence types allow half days, how the two \"midday\" checkboxes work, how half days are counted in working days and balances, and how back-to-back half days avoid overlaps." url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10327 language: en published: 2026-10-28 modified: 2026-10-27 products: - "Absence & Coverage" author: "Vitālijs Kalniņš" tags: ["request half day off", "half-day absence SharePoint", "half day leave request", "starts at midday", "ends at midday", "absence balance half day", "My Absences half day", "Vitextra Absence & Coverage"] --- # How to Request Half a Day Off Learn how to request half a day or a half-day start and end of a longer absence in Vitextra My Absences: which absence types allow half days, how the two "midday" checkboxes work, how half days are counted in working days and balances, and how back-to-back half days avoid overlaps. ## Overview Not every absence takes whole days. A doctor's appointment, a school event or a long journey home may need only the afternoon of one day, or the morning of the last day of a longer holiday. In the **My Absences** web part of Vitextra Absence & Coverage you record this directly in the request: instead of a separate "half-day" absence type, you tick a checkbox and the request counts **0.5** for that day. This article explains which absence types allow half days, how to request one, how the number of days is calculated, and where half days are visible afterwards. 📝 **Note** This article describes the request itself. How the number of working days is derived in general (working week, public holidays) is described in [KB10326. How Working Days Are Calculated in Absence Requests](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10326). --- ## Which absence types allow half days Half days are a property of the **absence type**, not of the employee. Every absence type has an **AllowHalfDay** setting that is switched on by default. In the seven default absence types, half days are allowed for all types except two: | Absence type | Half days | |:---|:---| | Vacation | Allowed | | Sick leave | Allowed | | Personal day | Allowed | | Remote work | Allowed | | Business trip | **Not allowed** | | Unpaid leave | Allowed | | Parental leave | **Not allowed** | When you select a type that does not allow half days, the two checkboxes described below are not shown at all, and any half-day setting is ignored. Your administrator can change this for each type, as described in [KB10352. How to Add and Configure Absence Types](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10352). --- ## How to request half a day 1. Open the page with the **My Absences** web part and select **New request**. The **New absence request** panel opens. 2. In **Absence type**, select a type that allows half days, for example Vacation. 3. Select the **Start date** and the **End date**. When you pick a start date, the end date is filled with the same day automatically. 4. Tick the half-day checkbox that fits your case (see the table below). 5. Check the summary line under the checkboxes. It shows the number of working days, for example *0.5 working day(s)*, and, for types with a balance, *Remaining after this request*. 6. Optionally name a **Substitute** and add a **Comment**, then select **Submit request**. ![The New absence request panel with a single half day](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10327/half-day-panel-en.png) *A single half day in the New absence request panel* ### The two checkboxes | Checkbox | When it is shown | Effect | |:---|:---|:---| | **Starts at midday (the first day counts as half a day)** | Always, for types that allow half days | The first day of the period counts as 0.5 | | **Ends at midday (the last day counts as half a day)** | Only when the start and end dates are different days | The last day of the period counts as 0.5 | For a **single day** there is only one checkbox. If you tick **Starts at midday**, that day counts as **0.5**. There is no separate end checkbox for a one-day request. ❗ **Important** If the first or the last day of your period is not a working day (for example a Saturday, or a public holiday), it is not counted at all, so a half-day checkbox on that day has no effect on the number of days. --- ## How half days are counted The working-day count is calculated from the dates and the checkboxes. The examples assume the default working week, Monday to Friday, and no public holidays in the period. | Request | Checkboxes | Working days | |:---|:---|:---:| | Wed 4 Nov 2026 – Wed 4 Nov 2026 | Starts at midday | 0.5 | | Mon 2 Nov – Wed 4 Nov 2026 | none | 3 | | Mon 2 Nov – Wed 4 Nov 2026 | Starts at midday | 2.5 | | Mon 2 Nov – Wed 4 Nov 2026 | Ends at midday | 2.5 | | Mon 2 Nov – Wed 4 Nov 2026 | Starts and ends at midday | 2 | | Mon 2 Nov – Mon 9 Nov 2026 | Ends at midday | 5.5 | The result is stored with the request. For types with a yearly allowance, half days reduce your **remaining** balance by 0.5 per half day; balances are shown with one decimal, for example **7.5**. See [KB10328. How to Read Your Absence Balances](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10328). --- ## Where half days are shown - **My requests.** In the row of the request, the period is followed by *starts at midday* and/or *ends at midday*, and the number of days is shown as, for example, *0.5 d*. - **Team Absence Calendar, timeline.** The label of the absence bar is followed by **½** when the first or the last day is a half day. - **Balance cards.** Used and pending days include the half days. ![Requests with half days in the My requests list](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10327/half-day-requests-list-en.png) *Half-day requests in the My requests list* --- ## Back-to-back half days A new request may not overlap another request of yours that is *Pending* or *Approved*. There is one exception: two **multi-day** requests may share a day if the first one **ends at midday** on that day and the second one **starts at midday** on the same day. This lets you split a day between two absence types, for example Vacation in the morning and Remote work in the afternoon. Example: Request A is Vacation from Monday 2 November to Wednesday 4 November 2026 with **Ends at midday**. Request B is Remote work from Wednesday 4 November to Friday 6 November 2026 with **Starts at midday**. Both requests can be submitted. If either of the two requests is a single day, the exception does not apply and the overlap message is shown. --- ## Good to know - The **Add to my calendar** file (.ics) contains a normal all-day event. It carries no half-day information, so the event covers the whole day in Outlook or Google Calendar. - Half days are also valid for types that do not need approval. In that case the request is approved immediately. 💡 **Tip** To learn what happens after you submit a request, see [KB10325. How to Request Time Off in My Absences](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10325). To add the absence to your own calendar, see [KB10333. How to Add an Absence to Your Outlook or Google Calendar (.ics File)](https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10333).