When working on a single monitor, juggling multiple windows can be a massive drain on your productivity. If you are referencing data from a small calculator, taking notes from a video, or monitoring a chat app, you constantly have to click back and forth to keep the app visible. To solve this, you need to know how to keep a window always on top in Windows 11.
While Windows does not offer this functionality natively out of the box, Microsoft provides an official suite of advanced tools called PowerToys, which includes a brilliant “Always on Top” utility.
Installing Microsoft PowerToys
PowerToys is a free software suite developed by Microsoft designed for power users to streamline their Windows experience.
- Open the Microsoft Store app on your Windows 11 computer.
- Search for PowerToys in the top search bar.
- Look for the app published by Microsoft Corporation and click Install.
- Once installed, launch the PowerToys application from your Start menu.
How to Pin a Window to the Top
With PowerToys running in the background, pinning an application so it never hides behind other windows is incredibly simple.
- Open the application you want to keep visible (e.g., the Calculator app or a Notepad window).
- Click anywhere on that window to make sure it is actively selected.
- Press the keyboard shortcut: Windows Key + Ctrl + T.
- You will immediately hear a sound chime, and a bold coloured border will appear around the window, indicating that it is now pinned on top.
You can now open any other application, maximise your web browser, or click away freely—your pinned window will firmly stay hovering above everything else.
How to Unpin the Window
When you are finished with your task and want the window to behave normally again, simply select the window and press the exact same shortcut (Windows Key + Ctrl + T) to toggle the feature off. The coloured border will disappear.
Customising the Always on Top Settings
If you dislike the coloured border or the sound effect, you can customise the utility to your liking.
- Open the PowerToys Settings app.
- Click on Always on Top in the left sidebar.
- Here, you can change the activation shortcut, disable the sound alert entirely, or change the colour and thickness of the highlight border.
Learning how to keep a window always on top fundamentally changes how you multitask on a single screen. By leveraging Microsoft PowerToys, you can eliminate the frustration of endlessly resizing windows and keep your most critical information constantly in view.
