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How to Pin a Document in Word

Pinning Word documents has evolved into a helpful task. It helps you focus and make you productive.

How to Pin a Document in Word

If you have documents you often use, you can pin them in the “Recent list” and find them quickly. Here’s how to pin a document in Word.

Note: Instructions in this article apply to Word 2021, Word 2021 for Mac, Word 2019, Word 2019 for Mac, Word 2016, Word 2016 for Mac, Word for Microsoft 365, and Word for Mac.

Pin a document to the top of your list

Here’s how to pin a Word document to the top.

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Click on File > Open > Recent.
  3. In the list of documents on the right, hover over a document you’d like to pin.
  4. Click the “Pin” icon.
  5. Now the Word document will move to the “Pinned” list at the top. You can easily find it later. Or, you can “right-click” on any document and select “Pin to list.”

Tip: On a smartphone, tap the More icon next to the Word file and choose “Pin to list.”

Pin a document to your home screen

If you’re using the Word application on a mobile device, you can pin your document to the home screen in a few steps. Here’s how.

  1. Open your Word application. Tap on the Word app to open it on your phone.
  2. Tap on Open > Recent.
  3. From the list of documents, tap the More menu next to the document you’d like to pin.
  4. Choose “Add to Home screen.”
  5. You’ll see your Word document on the home screen of your smartphone or tablet.

Where do Pinned Documents appear?

A pinned document in Word appears at the top of the Recent Documents list under the Pinned section. Documents that aren’t pinned appear below the Recent list.

Unpinned documents are listed chronologically, while pinned documents appear in alphabetical order.

How to Unpin a Document in Word

If you no longer need a document pinned to the top, you can unpin it from the list. Here’s how.

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Click Open > Recent.
  3. Under the “Pinned” section, hover over a document you want to unpin from the list.
  4. Click the “Unpin” icon. You can still access the file, but it will no longer appear in the pinned documents. Or, you can “right-click” on any pinned document and select “Unpin from list.”

Tip: On a smartphone, tap the More icon next to the Pinned file and choose “Unpin from list.”

Reference:

  1. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pin-frequently-used-files-8e3919e3-60f1-41a9-b4fa-ebc182c6ec9d