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When I open several application simultaneously, there is necessity to switch between one application to another. But when I place mouse pointer on top of window of some application, then window of other application will close immediately. I need to maintain some window always on top whether I place mouse pointer on it or not.

In Windows, I can doing this with turbo TOP, but I can not discover the same way to doing this in Linux, especially in Linux Mint.

http://www.savardsoftware.com/turbotop/

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  • 4
    If you right-click the window's title bar there should be an option Always on Top.
    – PM 2Ring
    Jan 24, 2015 at 6:44

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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On Linux, with a window manager that follows the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) you can do this by setting the above property.

Linux Mint Cinnameon and Mate desktop environments both incorporate elements in the stack that handle the EWMH functionality. What you can do using the window title is use the following command:

 wmctrl -r :SELECT: -b add,above

and then click in the window that you want to have at the top. You can also replace :SELECT: by a substring of a window title (this better be unique as the first match found is used).

Alternatively, at least in Cinnamon, you can right click in the title-bar of the window you want to have permanently on top, and select Always on Top

enter image description here

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  • I had to go into gnome-tweak-tool to make the window menu accessible with right-click on title bar. Not sure why that was not my default.
    – stevesliva
    May 25, 2018 at 18:53
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    As a small addition, :ACTIVE: may be used instead of :SELECT: to target the currently focused window, and toggle instead of add will toggle the property. At least in Mint/Cinnamon one can easily create a custom shortcut with the command wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b toggle,above from that :)
    – Siphalor
    Jun 9, 2022 at 10:22
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For those landing here searching for a solution for Google Chrome, @Anthon's options won't be visible until you right-click an empty area in the tabs name row and click "use system title bar and borders"

Now you can have your Chrome (or any other application that allows for this option) on top, and best of all, you can hide again the title bar and borders and still have it always visible!

Also, you can press Alt + Space to bring up the window manager right-click menu, then you can click "Always on Top". This saves a click to "use system title bar and borders".

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  • Thanks. In case it's not obvious, to hide the system title bar again, you have to click on (an empty area in) the tabs bar, not the title bar.
    – ShreevatsaR
    Sep 25, 2018 at 18:28

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