Always on Top: Keep Any Window Visible Always

You are checking your emails in Google Chrome and simultaneously watching a YouTube video in VLC on your laptop. The problem is that if you switch to Gmail in the brower, the media player window moves to the background and vice-versa.

If you would like to prevent that video window from hiding even while you bring the browser to the foreground, you may download “Always on Top” – a free utility that will “stick” any program window to the foreground of your desktop with a simple keyboard shortcut. Some examples:

chrome-vlc Browser running in the foreground but QuickTime is always visible

calculator excel Keep the notepad or calculator handy while using an Excel Spreadsheet

To get started, download the Always On Top utility from labnol.org (~200k) and run it. Then select the window you like to keep on top and press the Ctrl+Space shortcut to stick that window in the front.

You no longer have to worry about arranging windows side-by-side to copy-paste information from one window to another. If you like to disable sticking and restore the default window behavior, just press the same Ctrl+Space shortcut again.

Source Code

The program is written in Autohotkey with a single line of code:

 ^SPACE::  Winset, Alwaysontop, , A

Video Demo - Always on Top Utility

Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

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Awards & Titles

Digital Inspiration has won several awards since it's launch in 2004.

Google Developer Expert

Google Developer Expert

Google awarded us the Google Developer Expert award recogizing our work in Google Workspace.

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

Our Gmail tool won the Lifehack of the Year award at ProductHunt Golden Kitty Awards in 2017.

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft awarded us the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) title for 5 years in a row.

Google Cloud Champion

Google Cloud Champion

Google awarded us the Champion Innovator title recognizing our technical skill and expertise.

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