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Keep mail from the people who matter at the top of the list

5 October 2026 · searched as pin emails from one sender to top of inbox

Some senders should never sink below the newsletters. A focus rule pins their mail to a strip at the top of whatever folder you open — without moving it, marking it or labelling it.

How to do it

Open Settings ▸ Rules & Auto-Reply and click + Add Rule.
Give it a name, and under Actions change Apply label to Show in Focus area.
Under Conditions, choose From (email) contains and type the address. Add more people with + Add Condition and any condition (OR).
Click Save →. Their mail now sits under // FOCUS above the list, in every folder you open.

MailCode: A focus rule for one sender: their mail pinned above the list. — A focus rule for one sender: their mail pinned above the list.

With Show in Focus area as the only action, the conditions also offer Flag, Due date and Label — a focus strip of everything overdue, say. Click the strip’s header to fold it to one line. The mail stays in the list below as well; a focus rule lives on this computer and is never written to the mail server. Settings ▸ Appearance ▸ Focus area rows sets how tall the strip grows before it scrolls.

MailCode is a mail client for Mac and Windows that keeps your mail in a searchable archive on your own disk. Free for 14 days.

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