Manually Pin Emails in Outlook
Pinning keeps a message above all newer mail, so a contract, travel confirmation, or thread you keep returning to doesn’t get buried as new emails arrive.
Pinned messages stay at the top only while the folder is sorted by date.
On the Web
The Outlook app for the web, also known as Outlook.com, can be accessed from any web browser, and it provides a simplified interface for managing your emails. Here’s how to manually pin messages in it:
- Log in to your inbox at https://outlook.live.com/.
- Locate the message you want to pin and hover your mouse cursor over it.
- Click the Pin icon in the top-right corner of the message preview. Alternatively, you can open the message and click the Pin / Unpin button in the ribbon.
💡 Tip: If a pinned email doesn’t appear at the top, check how your inbox is sorted. Select Filter above the message list and sort by Date, because pinned messages aren’t shown at the top under any other sort order.
On Desktop
Pinning on desktop requires the new Outlook for Mac or Windows.
Mac
- Launch the new Outlook for Mac.
- Hover your mouse cursor over the email you want to pin to reveal a set of icons.
- Click the Pin icon located in the top-right corner of the email preview to pin it to the top of your inbox. Alternatively, right-click the message and choose Pin.
Windows
- Open the new Outlook for Windows.
- Right-click the email you want to pin.
- Choose Pin. You can also hover over the message and click the Pin icon.
Classic Outlook for Windows has no pin feature. The closest alternative there is to flag the message and filter the list by flagged items, but flagged emails don’t stay above the rest of your inbox.
On Mobile
In the Outlook app for iPhone, iPad, and Android, you pin a message from the message view:
- Launch the Outlook app on your mobile device.
- Find and open the message you want to be pinned.
- Tap the three horizontal dots in the top toolbar.
- Select the Pin option.
Manual pinning works one message at a time. To pin every new email from an important sender, set up automatic pinning instead.
Automatically Pin Emails in Outlook
To automatically pin emails in Outlook, you need to create Outlook rules that tell the email provider how to handle incoming messages. Here's how to do just then in the Outlook web app:
- Log in to your inbox on the web.
- Click the Settings gear icon and select the View all Outlook settings option.
- Navigate to Mail → Rules.
- Click Add new rule.
- Name the new rule and specify the trigger condition.
- Add the Pin to top action.
- Click Save.
At the time of writing this guide, only the web version of Outlook makes it possible to pin emails automatically in Outlook with rules and filters.
If you're using the desktop or mobile version, then we recommend you learn how to pin flagged emails in Outlook and then effortlessly create the necessary filter rules using Clean Email, a third-party inbox organizer that makes it possible to flag (star) all new messages from specific senders automatically with a simple click.
Here's how it works:
- Go to: https://app.clean.email/
- Log in with your Outlook account (the app works with all IMAP-based accounts).
- Select the Senders tool in the left pane.
- Pick the sender whose messages you want to pin automatically.
- Activate the Add Star to New Messages toggle.
From now on, Clean Email will automatically star all future messages from the selected sender.
In addition to preventing important messages from sinking into the depths of your crowded inbox, Clean Email can help you stay organized in a number of different ways. For example, you can use it to unsubscribe from unwanted subscriptions with the Unsubscriber feature, check your email address against known data breaches and security incidents, hold messages from new senders outside of your inbox with Screener, and more.
FAQs
Is it free to automatically mark future emails with a star using Clean Email?
Yes, the free version of Clean Email can be used to automatically mark future emails with a star for up to 14 days.
Can I pin messages marked as important to the top?
Not automatically. Pinning and importance are separate: marking a message as high importance doesn’t pin it. You can sort your inbox by importance to bring those messages to the top, but pinned messages only stay on top while the inbox is sorted by date.
Can I automatically pin emails in Outlook using mobile?
Not from the app itself, because Outlook for iOS and Android can’t create rules. Create the rule in Outlook on the web instead. Rules run on the server, so they apply to new mail no matter which app you use to read it.
