History
Restore closed pins, set their restore order and history limit, resume unclosed pins on startup, and distinguish hiding, closing, and deleting.
Closed a reference image and need another look? Press Ctrl+3⌃ Control+3 to restore the last closed pin. History keeps closed pins for reuse, with an adjustable limit and restore order.
Restore a recently closed pin
If you use several pin groups, switch to the group that originally contained the pin first.
Press Ctrl+3⌃ Control+3, or choose “Restore last closed” in the PixPin icon menu. By default, this restores the most recently closed pin in the current group.
If you have not found what you need, leave the restored pins open and press the shortcut again to recover earlier pins.
Do not close each pin as you restore it: with the default closure-time order, it becomes the most recently closed pin again.
Right-click the tray icon on Windows or click the menu bar icon on macOS to open the menu. The shortcut above is global and also works while you are in another app.
Hiding, closing, and destroying pins
| Operation | Result | Use again |
|---|---|---|
| Hide | Temporarily invisible; the pin remains unclosed | Use “Hide/Show all pin windows” |
| Close | Puts away the pin and keeps a record according to history rules | Use “Restore last closed” |
| Destroy | Deletes the pin and its historical data | Cannot be restored from pin history |
“Close” and “Destroy” in the context menu are different operations. To put a reference away, choose “Close.” If it only obstructs your work temporarily, hide it first.
Choose the restore order
Find “Order of restore pin” on the “Pin” settings page:
- Sort by closure time: The default. Restores the last closed pin first, useful after accidentally closing something.
- Sort by creation time: Restores the most recently created pin that is currently closed, useful for revisiting recent references.
For example, create A, then B, and close B followed by A. Closure-time order restores A first; creation-time order restores B first.
The restore order only determines which pin returns first. When the history limit is exceeded, PixPin still removes the records closed earlier first.
Adjust the history limit
“Number of historical pins retained” on the “Pin” settings page defaults to 100 and accepts 0–99999. This limit applies to closed pins in each group. Unclosed pins do not count toward it.
When a pin closes, PixPin checks the current group's history and removes old records above the limit. Changing the limit also checks the current group immediately.
Lowering the limit may immediately delete old history in the current group. Setting it to 0 stops retaining history when pins close. Increasing the limit cannot bring back records already removed. Save images as files to keep them long term.
Resume your previous pins on startup
“Restore unclosed pins on startup,” on the “Pin” settings page, is enabled by default. It loads the current group's previously unclosed pins when PixPin restarts.
This does not reopen every historical pin. Restore pins you deliberately closed with the restore shortcut.
If you disable this setting, the current group's previously unclosed pins become closed on the next startup. You can restore them manually while their records remain retained.
Clear records you no longer need
Open the PixPin icon menu and choose “Clear records.”
Check “Clear pin history.” To clear only old history, leave “Clear pins on screen” unchecked.
Review the checked options, click “Clear,” and wait for the success message.
“Clear pin history” deletes closed pin records in all groups. “Clear screenshot history” and “Clear screenshot range history” in the same window manage screenshot content and selections separately; they are not pin history.
Clearing records cannot be undone. “Clear pins on screen” deletes pins; it does not hide them. To handle just one group, see Clear or delete a group.
Check these points if a pin is missing
- The right group: Restoring searches the current group. Return to the original group first.
- Hidden rather than closed: A hidden pin is still unclosed; use the show operation.
- History limit: Old records may have been removed. A limit of 0 also prevents recovery after closing.
- Destroyed or cleared: Destroying pins, clearing history, and clearing group pins delete the relevant records.
- Window pins: Live window pins on Windows are not saved in history. Convert to an image pin first to keep the image.
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