When I first enabled Always On Top, I assumed it could pin only one app at a time. I never dug past that, so whenever I needed the feature, I only used it for the most important app at the time. But when I started needing more than one app visible, I thought, “Oh wait, don’t tell me I could’ve pinned more than one app!?” After kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner, I saw that I could have my usual apps such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Google Docs open without them getting lost. After that, Always On Top started to make more sense and was something I knew I would use more often.

I stopped pinning just one app with Always On Top

Claude and ChatGPT both stayed put while I took notes

When I figured out I could pin more than one, I went a little overboard testing it. I pinned three apps at once just to see how many I’d actually use. What made it even better was that I could resize them and move them around at any time.

I thought that if I clicked on one app and then the other, I would lose the one I had just selected. That didn’t happen, and this was the best part of the feature for me. This setup helped me avoid losing the apps I needed whenever I opened other apps, even if only for a moment. This also stopped me from pressing Win + Tab just to try to find the app that somehow got lost among all the others.

A setup I found useful was pinning Claude and ChatGPT to two smaller windows on my laptop’s main screen. That way, I would avoid having to regularly move my head to the side, which at first might not seem like much, but something my neck is going to appreciate at the end of the day.

My reference app finally stopped blocking my view

I kept Claude pinned and read right through it

Pinning the app made it easier to keep from losing it, but the issue was that it would cover parts of other apps I needed to see. When I have my larger monitor connected, it’s easier, but when I’m only working on my laptop, space is limited. I would try a temporary solution, like moving the apps around to see which ones I needed at the time, but I wanted a real solution.

That’s when I went to the PowerToys settings for Always On Top and saw that I could adjust the transparency. I could either go with the default keyboard settings or add my own. Now I can keep Claude pinned with just the right level of transparency, so I can read Claude and my notes at the same time. I can customize things a little further by deciding whether to avoid turning on Always On Top when Game Mode is on or to always show it in the title bar context menu. Now multitasking on one screen doesn’t mean fighting my own windows.

Now it behaves the way I want it to, not the other way around

It only pins the app I actually chose

At first, I would pin the wrong app, thinking I had chosen another one. Then, when I would press the keyboard shortcut, the wrong app would be pinned, and I would waste more time starting over. Worse, the default borderline was blue, so the pinned app wouldn’t stand out much. All of this led me to second-guess whether the keyboard combination had worked.

Good thing I only had to go to PowerToys and in the features settings, make a few changes here and there. I changed the border to red, a color that made it clear which app I had pinned. I also added Excel, an app that never gets pinned, to the excluded app section. If I ever change my mind, I can always go back and remove it from the list. By not pinning the wrong app anymore, I can spend more time getting work done than undoing the pin and choosing the right one.

I wish it could tell when I’m trying to reach the app underneath

The top app’s empty space still steals my clicks

When I don’t have much space to spare, making the app transparent is a huge help. I can see both apps at the same time, but one thing I wish Always On Top would fix is detecting when I’m trying to reach the app underneath.

For example, I had the Perplexity app on top of Google Docs, and when I tried to click on Google Docs while the other app was on top, it didn’t work. I hoped that since I was clicking on an empty space in the Perplexity app, but not in the Google Docs app, it would give me access. But that’s not how it worked. Since Perplexity was still the top window, I had to move it out of the way just to click the part of Google Docs I needed. If I only had to do that once every blue moon, that’s fine, but I found myself doing that more often than I liked.

I still keep Always On Top enabled

Moving one window beats losing my reference apps

Not being able to click through doesn’t happen too often, since I try to use a setup that’ll avoid it. If and when I come across that issue again, I don’t mind moving the window to get to the option I need. I also don’t mind making certain windows smaller, so I have access to the features I think I’ll use. For times when I know I’m going to need multiple apps open, I even connect my laptop to my smart TV, and in that case, I know space won't be an issue.

I don’t multitask without it anymore

Missing out on a feature happens when you don’t dig deep enough into it. It happened to me, but I hope it doesn’t happen to you. Always On Top is a feature that’s made it to my top five for daily use, and at least for now, I have no plans to leave it behind.