When working with multiple windows, it is natural that you might want to pin a window and keep it always on top. This is especially true for small screens with limited screen real-estate.
Generally, some programs have a dedicated option to stay on top of other windows. The Windows 10 Calculator is a good example. It has a dedicated button to pin it on top on top of the other windows. However, most programs don’t have this option and even Windows doesn’t provide one. The good thing is, you can create your own option to force a window to be always on top. It doesn’t matter if you want to keep Chrome always on top, or the sticky notes always on top.
All you have to do is toggle the option and the window will be pinned to on top of other windows.
How do I Keep a Window Always on Top
With AutoHotKey, you can assign the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Space to keep a window always on top. Let me show you how.
- Download and install AutoHotKey.
- On the desktop, right-click and select “New → Text document”.
- Name the file as “alwayOnTop.ahk”. It is important that you replace the .txt extension with .ahk.
- Right-click on the file and select “Edit”.
- In the file, copy and paste the below script.
;Always on Top (Shift + Ctrl + Space) ^+SPACE:: Winset, Alwaysontop, , A Return
- Press Ctrl + S keyboard shortcut to save the file.
- Close the file.
Now, double-click on the file to run the script. As long as the script is running in the background, you can set any window on top by press the Ctrl + Shift + Space keyboard shortcut. To normalize the window behavior, select the window and press the same keyboard shortcut again.
If you want to customize the keyboard shortcut, here’s a helpful page you can follow.
Use WindowTop Toolbar to Pin Windows
WindowTop is a simple and portable software to pin any window on top of the other windows. What’s special about WindowTop is that it has a few other interesting features like the ability to change the opacity of a target window and enable dark mode. If you don’t like dealing with scripts then WindowTop is a pretty good choice. These additional features are available only to pro users though.
1. First download WindowTop, extract it, go to the Portable folder in it, and double click on the “WindowTop.exe” file.
2. As soon as you open the application, all windows will have a new drop-down menu that appears when you hover over the title bar.
3. Expand the drop-down menu and select the “Set Top” option to keep a window always on top.
To reset the window, click on the “Set Top” option again.
Use TurboTop Taskbar Icon to Make a Window Stay on Top
If you are looking for a much simpler software then TurboTop is the one. Just go here, download TurboTo and install like any other software. Once installed, launch TurboTop from the start menu and click on the taskbar icon.
You will see a list of all the available app windows you can set on top. Just select the window you want to pin on top.
That is it. It is that simple to keep a window on top.
If you like this article then you might also like to how to change mouse pointer color and size.
thank u very much the AHK script work well ????❤️
AHK script working flawlessly! tyty
AHK Great just what I needed thanks, works well but you missed an instruction. The file needs to be right clicked and set to “open with AutoHotKey”. Otherwise the text editor just opens.
Hi David, thanks for your input. However, AutoHotKey should automatically associate with the .ahk file extension. That’s the reason why you can simply double-click on it.
In your case, the extension might be associated with a text editor. That might be the reason why you needed to select ‘Open with AutoHotKey.’
works great, thanks!