Learning the hotkeys in Age of Empires IV can make it much easier to coordinate your army and keep track of your empire. These are extremely helpful at any part of the game, especially when you’re battling on one side of the map and maneuvering troops elsewhere. In this guide, we cover all hotkeys you can use in Age of Empires IV.
All Age of Empires IV hotkeys
These are all of the standard hotkeys you’ll be using in Age of Empires IV. We recommend jumping into an AI game to have access to all of them in your options menu and modifying them there before jumping into a multiplayer match.
Camera
These are all of the hotkeys you can use for your camera.
| Hotkey | Secondary hotkey | Description |
| ALT and move mouse | Caps Lock | Rotate camera (hold the key) |
| [ | Num 6 | Rotate Camera 45 degrees counter-clockwise |
| ] | Num 4 | Rotate Camera 45 degrees clockwise |
| Backspace | Num 0 | First click resets camera, second click resets Zoom |
| F5 | None | Focus on the selected unit |
| Home | None | Follow the selected unit |
| < | ALT+A | Pan Camera Left |
| > | ALT+D | Pan Camera Right |
| /\ (up arrow key) | ALT+W | Pan Camera Up |
| \/ (down arrow key) | ALT+S | Pan Camera Down |
Communication
These are all of the hotkeys you can use for communication.
| Hotkey | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
| Shift+Enter | \ | Global Chat |
| Enter | / | Team Chat |
| Enter with chat open | None | Send chat message |
| Tab with chat open | None | Swap between Global and Team chat |
| Page up | Shift+> | Scroll chat messages (up) |
| Page down | Shift+< | Scroll chat messages (down) |
| F6 | Ctrl+F | Toggle players and tribute panel |
| Spacebar | Num Enter | Focus on last event – focus on last notification |
| Control+E followed by left click | Ctrl+P | Notify ping |
| Control+R followed by left click | None | Attack ping |
| Control+T followed by left click | Ctrl+D | Defend ping |
Controls
These are all of the control hotkeys.
| Hotkey | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
| Control+A | Ctrl+K | Select all units on screen |
| Control+Shift+A | Ctrl+Shift+K | Select all units |
| Y with a unit selected | Ctrl+Y | Access secondary UI Panel |
Default keys
These are all of the default keys you’ll be using while playing Age of Empires 4.
| Hotkey | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
| Left-click a unit | None | Select the unit |
| Double left-click a unit | Control + Left click unit | Select all visible units of that same type |
| Shift + Left click unit | None | Add or remove the unit from selection |
| Left-click ground | None | Confirm building or ability placement |
| Left-click ground + drag mouse | None | Bandbox select group of units |
| Shift and Left-click ground | None | Queue building or ability placement |
| Right-click ground, or have units selected | None | Issue contextual order to unit |
| Right-click ground + drag mouse with units | None | Issue facing move order |
| ESC | None | Cancel or deselect units; game menu |
Game
These are all of the hotkeys you can do while playing in the middle of an Age of Empires 4 game.
| Hotkey | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
| F10 | None | Game Menu |
| F11 | Ctrl+T | Game Time display |
Single-player
These are the hotkeys you can use while playing a single-player game in Ages of Empires 4.
| Hotkey | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
| ESC | ` | Pause Game |
| Pause | None | Pause simulation |
| F8 | Ctrl+Q | Quick Save |
| F9 | Ctrl+L | Quick Load |
Unit Management
These are all of the hotkeys you can use while managing your units.
| Hotkey | Secondary Hotkey | Description |
| Tab | Right arrow | Cycle through selected units |
| Control+Tab | Left arrow | Cycle through selected units (backward) |
| 0 to 9 | Num (x1) | Select control group X; 1x selects group, 2x selects and centers on a group |
| Control + 0 to 9 | Num X (x1) | Set control group to select units |
| Shift + 0 to 9 | None | Shift: Add selected units to a group |
| F1 | M | Select all Military Production buildings |
| F2 | K | Select all Economy Buildings |
| F3 | O | Select all Research Buildings |
| F4 | P | Select all Capital Town Centers, Landmarks, and Wonders |
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| F5 | J | Focus on Selected Unit |
| H | L | Cycle through Town Centers |
| Control+H | Ctrl+L | Focus on Capital Town Center |
| ‘ (Apostrophe) | ] | Cycle through Individual Monk units |
| / | [ | Cycle through individual Scout units |
| . (Period) | N | Cycle through Idle economy units |
| Control + . (Period) | Ctrl+ Up arrow | Select all Idle Villagers |
| Control+Shift+V | Up Arrow | Select all Villages |
| Control+Shift+R | Page Up | Return all Villagers to work |
| , (Comma) | Down Arrow | Cycle through idle Military units |
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| Control + , (Comma) | Ctrl+Down arrow | Select all idle Military Units |
| Control+Shift+C | Ctrl+M | Select all Military units |
| Control+F | Ctrl+V | Cycle through Villagers gathering Food |
| Control+W | Ctrl+B | Cycle through Villagers gathering Wood |
| Control+G | Ctrl+J | Cycle through Villagers gathering Gold |
| Control+S | Ctrl+K | Cycle through Villagers gathering Stone |
| Shift and (unit production key) or click button | None | Queue production of five units of that type |
| Delete (hold) with the selected unit | Ctrl+ = | Delete unit or building |
| Insert | Ctrl+ – | Toggle team-based or unique player colors |
