Keep any window
on top.
PinToDesktop puts a tiny pin button on every window. Click it, and that window stays above everything you open next — File Explorer, Chrome, Premiere, a PDF, a video, anything.
One button.
A calmer desktop.
Everything happens on the window itself — no menus to hunt for, nothing to configure first. The extras are there when you need them.
The pin button
Appears on whichever window is active, right beside minimize. Grey until you click, orange while pinned. It follows the window when you move, resize or maximize it.
Opacity
Make a pinned window see-through, from 100 % down to 30 %. Read the brief while you design, watch the reference while you cut.
Click-through
The window stays visible, but your mouse passes straight through it. Chat over a game, a checklist over your timeline. The pin turns blue; one click brings it back.
Mini mode
Shrink any window into a corner, like picture-in-picture for everything. Same proportions, out of the way. Click the pin to bring it back at full size.
- Calculator
- Sticky Notes
- Spotify
Auto-pin rules
Tell it "always pin this app" once. Every new Calculator, Sticky Note or music player window opens already pinned.
Hotkeys & settings
Pin, click-through, mini mode and unpin-all from the keyboard — every shortcut rebindable. Button position, size and colour are yours to set. Pins survive a restart.
Made for people
who work in layers.
We built it at PixToMax because we kept losing the reference behind the thing we were making. Turns out everyone has a version of that.
Reference over the timeline
Pin the client's example clip or the storyboard at 60 % opacity above Premiere or Resolve. Cut to it without tabbing away.
The brief, always visible
Brand colours, the mood board, the client's notes — pinned beside your canvas in Photoshop, Illustrator or Figma. Mini mode keeps them small.
Chat you can see, not click
Discord or Twitch chat pinned over a windowed game with click-through on. Your clicks reach the game; you still read every message.
Lecture in the corner
The recording shrinks into a corner with mini mode while your notes take the whole screen. Watch, pause, write.
Docs next to the code
API reference or the ticket, pinned and half-transparent over the editor. Terminal on top while a build runs.
The small windows that keep disappearing
Calculator, Sticky Notes, the music player, a timer. Set an auto-pin rule once and they never hide behind a browser again.
Running in under a minute.
No account, no wizard, nothing to learn. The button explains itself.
Download it
Grab the folder from Google Drive. Run PinToDesktop-Setup.exe, or just open the portable .exe — it runs from anywhere, even a USB stick.
→Click a window
A faint pin appears at the top-right of whatever window is active, next to the minimize button. Point at it and it brightens.
→Click the pin
It turns orange and the window stays on top of everything. Click again to release. Right-click the pin for opacity, click-through, mini mode and rules.
Take it. It's yours.
PinToDesktop is our gift to the creator community. No sign-up, no email, no upsell. If it saves you a few alt-tabs a day, that's the deal.
Download PinToDesktopFirst run: Windows shows “Windows protected your PC” because the file isn't code-signed yet. Click More info → Run anyway. That's the only hoop.
- EXEPinToDesktop-Setup.exeInstaller with Start Menu entry, optional start-with-Windows, and an uninstaller.
- ZIPPortable versionThe bare program plus its own Uninstall.exe. Run from any folder.
- PDFUser guideNine illustrated pages. You probably won't need them.
- SRCSource codePlain C, no dependencies. Read it, build it, change it.
Things people ask first.
Is it really free?
Yes. PinToDesktop is a PixToMax community tool — no trial, no locked features, no newsletter. Share it with whoever needs it.
Does it work on File Explorer, Chrome and other tabbed windows?
That's exactly why it exists. Most “always on top” tools rely on the window's title bar, which modern apps replaced with tabs. PinToDesktop attaches its pin button to the window itself, so Explorer, Chrome, Edge, Electron apps and Office all work.
Why does Windows warn me when I run it?
Because the file isn't digitally signed (a certificate costs several hundred dollars a year). Click “More info”, then “Run anyway”. The full source code is in the download, so you can read exactly what it does — there is no network code at all.
Can I uninstall it cleanly?
Completely. Use Settings → Apps, the Start Menu shortcut, the tray icon's “Uninstall” entry, or the Uninstall.exe in the portable folder. It closes the program, releases every pinned window, and removes all files, shortcuts and settings.
Does it work with two monitors and different scaling?
Yes — the button scales with each monitor's DPI and follows the window across screens.
What can't it do?
Windows running as Administrator (Task Manager, some installers) can only be pinned if you run PinToDesktop as Administrator too — that's a Windows security rule. A few GPU-rendered apps ignore the opacity setting.