• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 04:23
CEST 10:23
KST 17:23
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash8[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy16ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book20
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 23-29): herO takes triple6Aligulac acquired by REPLAYMAN.com/Stego Research8Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool49Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win4
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy Aligulac acquired by REPLAYMAN.com/Stego Research Weekly Cups (March 23-29): herO takes triple What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2) herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Season 4 announced for March-April StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) WardiTV Mondays World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open
Strategy
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Frigid Storage Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
Mutation # 519 Inner Power The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Behind the scenes footage of ASL21 Group E A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group F [ASL21] Ro24 Group E Azhi's Colosseum - Foreign KCM 🌍 Weekly Foreign Showmatches
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game General RTS Discussion Thread Darkest Dungeon
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Games Industry And ATVI European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 12903 users

Do you ever use the "Tab" key?

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Normal
People_0f_Color
Profile Joined August 2010
177 Posts
December 07 2010 06:13 GMT
#1
I know it cycles through species when you have a control group, but in what circumstances is this actually useful? Is it only good when you need to cycle between different spellcasters that are in the same group?

Just wondering, because i'm considering changing tab to my home center camera key.
darkevilxe
Profile Joined August 2007
Canada346 Posts
December 07 2010 06:14 GMT
#2
i used to, but since then i just use hotkeys for different spellcasters. in a battle it's too cumbersome to mash tab to find the right group when you need attention spent elsewhere.
greycubed
Profile Joined May 2010
United States615 Posts
December 07 2010 06:17 GMT
#3
I keep all my tech buildings on 9 and my production facilities (when I'm toss or terran) on 7. Then I tab through to find what I want.
http://i.imgur.com/N3ujB.png
krell
Profile Joined July 2010
United States109 Posts
December 07 2010 06:19 GMT
#4
Kind of a useless post. But I use them all the time to cycle through my army comp, production facilities, and command centers. (2200 T)
"you've got to change the world and use this time to be heard"
pieisamazing
Profile Joined May 2009
United States1234 Posts
December 07 2010 06:19 GMT
#5
I might if someone explained what criteria are used to determine which unit is first in the group, etc. Still, it's probably easier just to have separate control groups.
connoisseur
GildedAdonis
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States70 Posts
December 07 2010 06:22 GMT
#6
The problem with that is that it is impossible to set different rally points for any of the buildings on the hotkey. A workaround for this problem is to continue to have each type of production facility (Barracks, Fact, Starport, etc) bound both to all on one key (say, 4 for example with 5 for your worker buildings) for production and individual keys as well as a key for each individual type (Rax 6, Fact 7, Starport 8) so that you can reassign individual rally points while still having the advantage of more accessible macro by having all of your structures on a single key.
Jonoman92
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
United States9107 Posts
December 07 2010 06:24 GMT
#7
I use the tab key every game for sure. Very helpful when I have different building add-ons or unit types in the same control group.
GildedAdonis
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States70 Posts
December 07 2010 06:25 GMT
#8
On December 07 2010 15:19 pieisamazing wrote:
I might if someone explained what criteria are used to determine which unit is first in the group, etc. Still, it's probably easier just to have separate control groups.


I believe that the lower grade of structure (Barracks<Factory<Starport) is always prioritized, although it may be by ordering on the unit menu at the middle bottom of your screen. You can reorder them as you like with the shift button by removing and adding buildings in the order you would like to tab to them.

Normally, you would add them in the order that they are built (Barracks --> Factory --> Starport) and that's the order I always cycle in so that's probably how it always works, I just don't have the 100% answer for you about what happens in situations where you add things in odd orders.
wongfeihung
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States763 Posts
December 07 2010 06:26 GMT
#9
I put Stalkers and Sentries in the same control group. So, yes, I use the Tab key whenever I need to Blink my Stalkers (just one example). But of course, to each his own. Just remember to customize your hotkeys to fit your own play style.
Reason.SC2
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1047 Posts
December 07 2010 06:28 GMT
#10
Yeah I use it to cycle through casters whenever my hotkeys don't have them separated. If i box a queen with some infester for example and need to cast a fungal, i tab to the infester (or just click them, but tabbing is faster).

Imo if you're going to remap a key like tab make it something more useful than base camera... you already can remap F2-F4 for that sort of stuff.. plus how often do you need to rush back into your base and why dont you already have it hotkeyed?
greycubed
Profile Joined May 2010
United States615 Posts
December 07 2010 06:29 GMT
#11
On December 07 2010 15:22 GildedAdonis wrote:
The problem with that is that it is impossible to set different rally points for any of the buildings on the hotkey.
Not at all impossible. Hit 7- ctrl click starport icons- set rally point.
http://i.imgur.com/N3ujB.png
kinetic_skink
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Australia125 Posts
December 07 2010 06:31 GMT
#12
I use tab to change who I am talking to in in-game chat.
Day[9] (Aus): http://freezone.iinet.net.au/channels/freezone/gaming/day9-webcasts
klmklm17
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada85 Posts
December 07 2010 06:32 GMT
#13
love to use it as of right now! if you get really used to it it does become easier to use and quick. I find it quicker than hotkeys (just personally)
the extent of all evil is the limit of all good
JiYan
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
United States3668 Posts
December 07 2010 06:35 GMT
#14
only for force fields and storm
Obscura.304
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
150 Posts
December 07 2010 06:41 GMT
#15
On December 07 2010 15:28 Reason.SC2 wrote:
Yeah I use it to cycle through casters whenever my hotkeys don't have them separated. If i box a queen with some infester for example and need to cast a fungal, i tab to the infester (or just click them, but tabbing is faster).

Imo if you're going to remap a key like tab make it something more useful than base camera... you already can remap F2-F4 for that sort of stuff.. plus how often do you need to rush back into your base and why dont you already have it hotkeyed?

Putting tab as base-camera would let you do the "backspace inject trick" with tab instead of backspace.
onmach
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States1241 Posts
December 07 2010 06:56 GMT
#16
I don't use it as a habit, but when you need it, there is no alternative. If you accidentally got say, a queen mixed in with your drones, you can't tell the drones to make a spine crawler until you press tab. Or if you got larvae mixxed in with hatches, you have to redo your hotkeys entirely before you can build units unless you tab to the hatcheries as a short term solution.

That's not to say I wouldn't like to steal it for something else, but it is pretty important.
undyinglight
Profile Joined December 2008
United States611 Posts
December 07 2010 07:15 GMT
#17
Warcraft 3 players often used Tab, those who made the switch use it in Starcraft 2.
Rise Up!
Arcanne
Profile Joined August 2010
United States1519 Posts
December 07 2010 07:20 GMT
#18
Production buildings
Professional tech investor, part time DotA scrub | Follow @AllMeasures on Twitter
QQmonster
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada240 Posts
December 07 2010 07:22 GMT
#19
I put all my Command centeres in the same hotkey, so I have to tab through the orbital commands to get to the planetary fortresses. I also use all 10 hotkeys, and if theres not enough room to fit everything I want in those 10 hotkeys I will group things together and tab through them for example, vikings and ravens go together in TvT if i have no other hotkeys available.
EX-top 10 guildwars player yeye XD
Deleted User 101379
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
4849 Posts
December 07 2010 07:24 GMT
#20
For some reason i don't use it and instead tend to ctrl-click the units i want to use. Bad habit, i guess.
Kyhol
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Canada2575 Posts
December 07 2010 07:25 GMT
#21
I mastered the Tab key earlier, i knew how important it would be to my play. It's actually a great tool. It has won me many battles.
Wishing you well.
doubled
Profile Joined July 2010
Sweden111 Posts
December 07 2010 07:26 GMT
#22
On December 07 2010 15:25 GildedAdonis wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 07 2010 15:19 pieisamazing wrote:
I might if someone explained what criteria are used to determine which unit is first in the group, etc. Still, it's probably easier just to have separate control groups.


I believe that the lower grade of structure (Barracks<Factory<Starport) is always prioritized, although it may be by ordering on the unit menu at the middle bottom of your screen. You can reorder them as you like with the shift button by removing and adding buildings in the order you would like to tab to them.

Normally, you would add them in the order that they are built (Barracks --> Factory --> Starport) and that's the order I always cycle in so that's probably how it always works, I just don't have the 100% answer for you about what happens in situations where you add things in odd orders.

Given that description, it might j ust as well be alphabetical.
Acayex
Profile Joined December 2010
United States26 Posts
December 07 2010 07:29 GMT
#23
Only really use tab when building from different Terran structures under 1 control group. Casters I tend to place in a separate control group since under 1 control group, attacking likes to make my casters run to the front like idiots.
mardi
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States1164 Posts
December 07 2010 07:31 GMT
#24
i only use it when i play as protoss. They have a bunch of spellcasters so i guess its more useful for that race.
TheEmulator
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
28100 Posts
December 07 2010 07:32 GMT
#25
I just learned now that the tab key actually is used in starcraft. Maybe I should try it out.
Administrator
Koshi
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Belgium38799 Posts
December 07 2010 07:33 GMT
#26
I rarely use tab. Is there a possibility to select a group of the same units while tabbing through your units?
If you have 10 zerglings and 10 ultras. Can you select all, press tab and then press a key to select only the 10 zerglings?

I don't think tab is very useful for zerg. But I might be doing it wrong.
I had a good night of sleep.
Deleted User 101379
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
4849 Posts
December 07 2010 07:44 GMT
#27
On December 07 2010 16:33 Koshi wrote:
I rarely use tab. Is there a possibility to select a group of the same units while tabbing through your units?
If you have 10 zerglings and 10 ultras. Can you select all, press tab and then press a key to select only the 10 zerglings?

I don't think tab is very useful for zerg. But I might be doing it wrong.


Not a key, but you can ctrl-click on the wireframe of a zergling and it will remove all other unit types from the selection.
dson
Profile Joined April 2010
Switzerland7 Posts
December 07 2010 07:45 GMT
#28
I use TAB all the time. Got used to it during Wc3, but there it was a lot more powerful. You could let units in the Hotkey which you selected via Tab, controll individually using CTRL key. Somehow it doesn't work in SC2 or I didn't manage to find out how to do it, or lets say how to activate it in settings menu. Might need some help there
Conrose
Profile Joined October 2010
437 Posts
December 07 2010 07:53 GMT
#29
So wait... tab does something in this game?
TexSC
Profile Joined June 2010
United States195 Posts
December 07 2010 07:55 GMT
#30
Bind all production buildings to 4, then tab through them to produce. If I need to set a different waypoint, then I just ctrl+click the icon for that type and set it.

I don't like setting control groups more than 5. For me it is usually:
1,2,3 army
4 all production
5 CCs
6 upgrades (rarely used)

If anyone can think of an improvement to this, let me know.
Who is dayvie aka David Kim? find out -> http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/David_Kim
Werk
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States294 Posts
December 07 2010 08:21 GMT
#31
I use tab for blink as the first units selected in a toss army are the sentrys and when i play random i use it a lot for get tanks in seige up tanks
Do Werk Son
Thezzy
Profile Joined October 2010
Netherlands2117 Posts
December 07 2010 09:37 GMT
#32
I've lately been keeping my Tech Labs, Armories and Ebays on 6 and found that tabbing through them works quite nicely for sifting through your upgrades.
Playing Terran is like flying down a MULE drop in a marine suit, firing a Gauss Rifle
pOtentiaLeaver
Profile Joined September 2010
Australia60 Posts
December 07 2010 09:40 GMT
#33
used to use tap a lot in wc3 cos it has subgroup modifier...

not as much now in sc2 but still use it every game though :s
Railxp
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Hong Kong1313 Posts
December 07 2010 09:48 GMT
#34
if i have a nydus i like to group it with my queens and tab to it to slam down worm ways
~\(。◕‿‿◕。)/~,,,,,,,,>
ABAH
Profile Joined October 2010
Australia43 Posts
December 07 2010 10:00 GMT
#35
Use it all the time for army/production facilities. Works really well having all produciton facilities under one hotkey.
reapers still do ~18 dmg per second against light ppl
huyNh
Profile Joined March 2010
Canada366 Posts
December 07 2010 10:02 GMT
#36
All the damn time, I don't know how else you terrans stimpack your entire army. Another hotkey? Pfft, too troublesome.
huyNh.703
cilinder007
Profile Joined August 2010
Slovenia7251 Posts
December 07 2010 10:07 GMT
#37
use it every game lots of times
habbey
Profile Joined September 2010
United States405 Posts
December 07 2010 10:41 GMT
#38
Yes, tab is a must. For me, putting barracks/factory/starport in different hotkeys just seems like such a waste of hotkey space. Only time ever it effects me adversely is accidentaly doing hellion instead of banshee (both e). But this happens maybe once every 20+ games...
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 37m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Codebar 43
ProTech7
StarCraft: Brood War
BeSt 188
Leta 147
Mini 113
Soma 88
Sharp 50
yabsab 26
NotJumperer 19
ajuk12(nOOB) 18
soO 14
Bale 4
Dota 2
XaKoH 314
League of Legends
JimRising 521
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K1139
olofmeister14
Other Games
ceh9525
Happy291
NeuroSwarm112
Fuzer 60
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick764
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 42
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH337
• LUISG 31
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 2
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos805
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
1h 37m
TriGGeR vs Cure
ByuN vs Rogue
Big Brain Bouts
7h 37m
TriGGeR vs Lambo
Replay Cast
15h 37m
RSL Revival
1d 1h
Maru vs MaxPax
BSL
1d 10h
RSL Revival
1d 22h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
BSL
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Wardi Open
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
The PondCast
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
WardiTV Winter 2026
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
ASL Season 21
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
Escore Tournament S2: W1
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026

Upcoming

CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.