# About the new select all on screen hotkeys **URL:** \ **Category:** IV - Discussion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/about-the-new-select-all-on-screen-hotkeys/273902 "2025-04-24T20:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ArdeiGras1576](https://forums.ageofempires.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@ArdeiGras1576](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/ArdeiGras1576)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/about-the-new-select-all-on-screen-hotkeys/273902/1 "2025-04-24T20:12:38Z")
In theory they’re great if you have your army split into multiple places, which is where “select all of X type” was falling short, but in practice they don’t allow you to also switch between those armies. You would still need to use control groups for that. Another thing that the new hotkeys allow is for you to leave units on the map without being worried that you’ll call them somewhere by mistake. For instance it allows you to leave a small army home to defend. But the new hotkeys fall short in certain situations: 1. When I want to return to my active army. 2. When I want to call my active army somewhere, for instance if I spot a big push and my army is not on the screen right now, but I want it there asap. The feeling I’m getting is that we having a lot of hotkeys now, but none can replace control groups, which is a pity since these hotkeys are a lot more convenient due to not having to set them up. And using all these in conjunction with control groups is not ideal since there’s only so much space on the keyboard. If anyone has a system that can replace control groups by using these hotkeys, and fix the above shortcomings, please let me know. ---
**Author:** ![Jodet](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/jodet/32/186560_2.png) [@Jodet](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Jodet)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/about-the-new-select-all-on-screen-hotkeys/273902/2 "2025-04-24T20:18:09Z")
A ‘cycle between armies’ key would be good. Like the ‘cycle between scouts’ key. I just found that one recently and it’s very handy. ---
**Author:** ![ArdeiGras1576](https://forums.ageofempires.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@ArdeiGras1576](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/ArdeiGras1576)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/about-the-new-select-all-on-screen-hotkeys/273902/3 "2025-04-24T20:27:21Z")
> [@Jodet](#): > > A ‘cycle between armies’ key would be good. Sure, but how do you define an army? ---
**Author:** ![HasanIchess](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/hasanichess/32/103811_2.png) [@HasanIchess](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/HasanIchess)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/about-the-new-select-all-on-screen-hotkeys/273902/4 "2025-04-24T20:38:38Z")
> [@20 Groups of control is possible](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/20-groups-of-control-is-possible/212119): > > aoe2 has 20 control groups, for aoe4 the configuration could be the following for groups from 11 to 20 Select control group Alt+1 Alt+2 etc Focus of control group Alt+1 (x2) Alt+2 (x2) etc Set control group Shift+Alt+1 Shift+Alt+2 etc Add to control group Shift+Ctrl+1 Shift+Ctrl+2 etc Remove of control group Shift+Ctrl+Alt+1 Shift+Ctrl+Alt+2 etc Note: the hotkeys are long but this is how I practice to use: rem… ---
**Author:** ![ArdeiGras1576](https://forums.ageofempires.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@ArdeiGras1576](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/ArdeiGras1576)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/about-the-new-select-all-on-screen-hotkeys/273902/5 "2025-04-24T20:44:57Z")
I appreciate the enthusiasm but pressing Shift+Ctrl+Alt+1 wasn’t on my to-do list. What I’m trying to do is find a way to completely remove the use of control groups by using these more modern hotkeys. Until now I’ve been using “select all units of X type” hotkeys, together with “select all military units” and it had its shortcomings, like inadvertently calling units from other places on the map. Now that they’ve introduced these new hotkeys, I’m somewhat confused as to how to use them. Using them on their own feels like I’m gonna lose a lot of units on the map. The way I did it before with the “select all units of X type” is I replaced 1-4 with “select all melee infantry / ranged infantry / cavalry / siege”, respectively. And the ~ key was used for selecting all military units. 1-4 were still assigned to control groups, so if I assigned a control group to 4, it would replace the functionality of “select all siege” until I released that control group. Now I’m thinking how I can devise a system to include those new hotkeys as well. But it doesn’t feel like I can just replace the old “select all units of X type”. I tried it and I ran into the previously mentioned problems.