Keep any window always on top on Windows 11 & 10 — instantly, with a global hotkey.

Press Win+Ctrl+T and the focused window stays on top of everything else. Slide its opacity down to see through it. Restart your PC and PinIt re-pins it automatically. A single-purpose alternative to installing a whole utility suite — written in native C++ with Qt, talking directly to the Windows API.

Pin a window, fade it, and keep working — all from one hotkey

Download

⬇ Download the latest release — Windows 10 & 11, free.

File	What it is
PinIt_x.y.z_x64-setup.exe	Installer (recommended) — Start Menu shortcut + uninstaller
PinIt-portable-x64.zip	Portable — unzip and run, no installation

Note: The installers are not yet code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway. PinIt is fully open source (Apache 2.0) — audit the code or build it yourself from this repository.

Features

• Global hotkey pinning — Win+Ctrl+T pins/unpins the focused window, with a brief outline around it so you see it happen. No clicking through menus.
• Per-window transparency — make any pinned window see-through with Win+Ctrl+= / Win+Ctrl+- or a slider. Great for reference docs, video calls, or notes over your work.
• Pins survive restarts — PinIt remembers what you pinned (and its opacity). After a restart it pins each window again as soon as that window is open.
• Windows 11 topmost re-enforcement — Win11's compositor sometimes strips the always-on-top flag; PinIt re-applies it automatically.
• Click-through — let mouse clicks pass through a faded window to whatever is behind it.
• System tray app — closes to the tray and stays out of your way; the tray menu lists your pinned windows. Optional start-with-Windows.
• Light and dark — follows your Windows colour mode.
• Tiny and fast — native C++/Qt talking directly to the Windows API. Minimal RAM, instant response.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Default shortcut
Pin / unpin focused window	Win + Ctrl + T
Increase opacity	Win + Ctrl + =
Decrease opacity	Win + Ctrl + -
Show / hide PinIt	Win + Ctrl + P

How PinIt compares

PowerToys is great when you want twenty utilities. PinIt is for when you want exactly one, done properly:

Feature	PinIt	PowerToys Always On Top module	DeskPins classic freeware
Price	✅ Free	✅ Free	✅ Free
Single-purpose, lightweight	✅ Yes	❌ Full utility suite	✅ Yes
Global hotkey to pin	✅ Win+Ctrl+T	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
True per-window transparency	✅ 20 to 100%	❌ No ¹	❌ No
Pins persist across restarts	✅ Automatic	❌ Forgets on reboot	❌ No
Actively maintained	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ Last release 2018

The short version: if pinning is all you need, PinIt is the smallest tool that does all of it, and the only one that remembers your pins after a reboot.

¹ PowerToys' "Opacity" setting changes the highlight border around pinned windows, not the window content itself. True window transparency is a long-standing open feature request (#26049).

FAQ

How do I keep a window always on top in Windows 11?

Windows has no built-in always-on-top button. Install PinIt, click the window you want to keep visible, and press Win+Ctrl+T — it stays on top of every other window until you unpin it.

What is the keyboard shortcut to pin a window on top?

PinIt's default is Win+Ctrl+T to toggle pinning.

Can I make a window transparent / see-through on Windows?

Yes — pin a window with PinIt, then press Win+Ctrl+- to fade it (down to 20% opacity) or Win+Ctrl+= to make it solid again. Each pinned window keeps its own opacity level.

Do my pinned windows stay on top after I restart?

Yes. PinIt saves your pins (app, window title and opacity) to %LOCALAPPDATA%\PinIt. After a restart, each saved window is pinned again as soon as it is open with the same title — windows that aren't open yet are listed as "Waiting" in PinIt until they are. Quitting PinIt yourself (tray → Quit) unpins everything and clears the list. Neither PowerToys nor DeskPins remembers pins at all.

Does it work with apps running as administrator?

Windows security (UIPI) prevents normal apps from modifying elevated windows. To pin a window that's running as administrator, run PinIt as administrator too.

Is PinIt free and open source?

Yes — PinIt is completely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. Use it, modify it, and redistribute it, including commercially.

Building from source

Prerequisites

• Qt 6.5 or newer (Widgets) with a C++17 compiler (MinGW or MSVC)
• CMake 3.21+

Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Razee4315/Pin-It.git
cd Pin-It

# Configure and build (point CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH at your Qt install)
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<path-to-Qt>
cmake --build build

The executable is build/PinIt.exe. To run it standalone, bundle the Qt runtime with windeployqt (the exact flags are in .github/workflows/build.yml). To produce the installer, run the Inno Setup script at installer/PinIt.iss.

Every push is built automatically by GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/build.yml), which produces the installer and a portable ZIP. Pushing a v* tag publishes them to a GitHub Release.

Why PinIt?

As a developer moving between Linux and Windows, I always missed the native ability to keep any window on top. While Linux desktop environments often have this built-in, Windows options were limited.

The most common solution, Microsoft PowerToys, comes bundled with dozens of other utilities I didn't need. I wanted a lightweight, singular-purpose tool that does one thing and does it well — without the bloat. PinIt was born from the desire for a clean, simple, and resource-efficient alternative that feels like a native part of the system.

Tech Stack

• Language: C++17
• UI: Qt 6 (Widgets), direct Windows API
• Build: CMake + Inno Setup

Originally built with Rust + Tauri (v1.x). The previous implementation is preserved on the legacy-tauri branch.

License

PinIt is open source under the Apache License 2.0 — free to use, modify, and redistribute, including for commercial purposes.

Author

Saqlain Abbas Email: saqlainrazee@gmail.com

GitHub: @Razee4315