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If you use a computer, and I’m guessing you do, there will be times when you want to keep a window on top. Let’s say you’re watching a video as you’re working on a document, or you’re chatting with a friend on Facebook or Google Talk as you search the web.
Switching back and forth between windows is inefficient and few of us have enough screen space to keep windows open side by side. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pin a window so it always stays on top of other windows?
Good news: you can do that! DeskPins is a handy, free app for Windows computers that lets you pin a window so it stays on top of other open windows, no matter which window you click on.
Whether you’re a multi-tasker who likes to have multiple windows open at all times or you participate in events such as Twitter chats where you want to keep one eye on Twitter and the other eye on another window, DeskPins can come in quite handy.
To use DeskPins for Windows, download the free program from Softonic. DeskPins is also available as a free app for Windows 8 from the Windows 8 Appstore.
Using DeskPins
After you download the software and restart your computer, a pin will appear on the toolbar (a/k/a the taskbar) at the bottom of your screen. Before you pin a window, you need to make that window the size you want it.
[note]Once you pin a window using DeskPins, you can’t change the size or the placement of the window.[/note]
To change the size of the window, put your cursor on the bottom right corner of the window and drag it down to the smallest useful size for you. If you don’t want the window to be a square, put your cursor on the edge and drag just that side smaller. Click the window and hold the mouse button down to drag the window off to the side so it doesn’t block all of the other windows.
When you want to use DeskPins to keep a window open on top of the other windows, click the pin icon on the bottom toolbar and then click on the window you want to keep on top. A push pin will appear on that window, indicating that the window will always stay on top.
When you want to un-pin the window, click on the pin on the pinned open window. An “X” will appear. Click on that X and the window will be unpinned and no longer stay on top.
DeskPins has some settings for advanced users, but you don’t need to set up anything after you load the software to begin using DeskPins to keep a window on top.
Mac users should check out Afloat, a free software tool for Mac (Snow Leopard and later) that offers similar functions to DeskPins for Windows.
Your Thoughts
Have you ever wanted to keep a window on top? What would you use DeskPins for? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Carolyn is currently on vacation from multi-tasking and will respond to comments when she returns. Articles about fun and useful personal technology will continue to be published at The Wonder of Tech in her absence.
Hi Carolyn,
Deskpins sounds interesting indeed 🙂
Yes, there are times when you wish that you needn’t have to open so many windows altogether or that you just had some way to manage the work you are doing alongside the other social media you need to attend to side by side, but that doesn’t always happen.
Deskpins would the ideal solution I’m sure, though I hope it doesn’t occupy too much of place and make the browser heavy, which is always my concern. Nevertheless, it’s worth trying out for sure.
Thanks for sharing, and hope you are having a nice time on your vacation. 🙂
Hi Harleena, Good point. I suppose the drag on your computer would depend on the window you pinned open. I tend to pin windows that don’t tax my system, such as chats, pages for research, etc. if you pinned a streaming video window open, that might be very different.
If I add the deskpin to the Pinterest, will I pin the pin? 🙂
Jokes apart – its a nifty tool (though ONLY for windows, so no I cannot use). I remember using a similar feature on Unix (Sun Solaris) a long long time ago (I am exposing my age here) …
Hi iRewardChart, Yes, you can pin the pin, lol! 😀
I wish this handy tool would come to Macs as I am a multi-tasker myself. You’re right, once you’ve used this, you do miss it when it’s not around.
Perhaps some enterprising developer will bring it to Macs!
Hi Carolyn – this is very interesting, but I don’t think I’d use it – I prefer to keep things simple and just flick back and forth between tabs, and try not to keep too many open at once. I’m also trying not to do so much multi-tasking when I’m online, because I think it makes me very inefficient!
Thanks for the share, though – I’ll certainly share it with others who may be interested 🙂
Sue
Hi Sue, You’re right, focusing on one thing at a time can be very efficient for many tasks. But sometimes when you’re researching for an article, you want to keep a window open as you’re writing so you can refer back to the other website without having to switch windows.
Even though you don’t think it’s a great fit for you, I do appreciate you sharing this, Sue! 🙂
Great product very easy and so efficient Thanks for the programmer if there is any donating ID on paypal I’d be very pleased to help. Great. Thank you for that.
Hi Samir, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you enjoy DeskPins. I agree, this is a very helpful tool and how great that it’s free! Great idea for the developer to have a Donate on PayPal button. Once you see how useful it is, you can definitely see the value in DeskPins.
Hi Carolyn,
Useful tools, I think scenario often happened when you want to keep open one specific window all the time, but you really don’t know how to do it. Now you made it possible really interesting and useful post. Great work Carolyn, I’m going to download it right away.
Hi Rocky, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you found this helpful. Yes, this tool can come in very handy when you need to keep a window on top, such as when you’re watching a video, doing research, chatting with someone on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Enjoy DeskPins, Rocky!
Wow….it looks great….I’m always one of the top most fans of Pinterest…..I love using it, and now there is a similar tool for my windows too….wicked…..
Hi Aditya, Well, DeskPins is quite different from Pinterest because when you pin a window to your computer screen it stays on top of all the other windows. When you pin something to Pinterest, you are showing it to the world!
Hi Carolyn !
Thanks for sharing this software with us .. I’ve downloaded this free software and would be trying this out ..It would be interesting to see how pins look on my desktop .
-Pramod
Hi Pramod, I’m so glad you downloaded DeskPins. I hope you’re enjoying it!
Thanks for sharing some interesting tip. I was unaware of this pin tool .I found it useful and am just doing the software.This would be very useful when working with lot so programs at a time.Thanks again howdy for sharing !
Hi Nithin, Yes, I’ve been using this tool for years. When I start using a Windows computer, it’s one of the first things I download.
I hope you enjoy using it!
Pretty cool, I can easily see how useful this can be. I always have to alt-tab between my applications and sometimes I have so many windows open that I have to tab so many times to reach the desired one ( of course I am not much of a mouse person)
Yes, i will definitely try this out. Thanks for sharing Carolyn.
Hi Praveen, Yes, you wouldn’t want to pin too many windows on your screen. I usually just pin one to keep it open and on top. I resize it to small and then drag it to where it will be out of the way.
I hope you find it useful, Praveen!
I can’t wait to get home and give this a try. I have three monitors, but still there are times where I want something to stay on top. Great find!
Hi Brian, Yes, I use two monitors sometimes but it’s still handy to have DeskPins to let me have a small window open in the corner sometimes!
Happy pinning!
A very simple idea yet works beautifully , Ive downloaded it and its great . I dont have Win 7 myself but one wonders why MS dont implement this as par for the course .
Hi Stu, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m glad you like DeskPins. You’re right, it would be great for Microsoft and Apple to include DeskPins’ functionality in their operating systems.
Sounds like a really good application. Time to download and try it out . Thanks for sharing it.
Hi Johan, Great! I hope you enjoy your DeskPins, Johan. 🙂
I can’t seem to find deskpins on the Windows 8 Appstore. any tips for finding it?
Hi Philip, It looks like DeskPins isn’t currently available in the Windows 8 Appstore and I have no idea why. You can try to download the software from the link in the article, that should work with Windows 8 but I can’t guarantee that because I don’t have Windows 8 to test that. Please let us know if that works for you. If not, I will try to find another source for you.