Can Em All vacuum controls use exactly two inputs: the left mouse button, which is the same button your weapons use, and the scroll wheel, which switches the vacuum between collecting bodies and collecting cans. There is no separate vacuum key, and there is no tutorial telling you this, which is why the wheel is easy to miss for hours.

Can Em All vacuum controls: two modes, one button

  • Left mouse button — fires the vacuum. Same button as firing a weapon.
  • Scroll wheel — switches between the two collection modes: bodies and cans.
  • Right-side panel — shows the two counters and an arrow marking the mode you are currently in.

The active mode is the one with the arrow next to its icon on the right of the screen. If the vacuum seems to collect the wrong thing, that is the first thing to check.

Firing the vacuum without shooting your own creatures

The one real trap is trigger discipline.

  1. Release the left mouse button before switching to the vacuum.
  2. If you keep the button held while you change tools, you fire the moment the vacuum comes up — and you shoot your own animals.
  3. Tap the button to suck something up, then let go before you switch back to a weapon.

This is the classic first-day mistake, because the game accepts the click as a shot in the new tool without any warning.

Switching between bodies and cans

The mode matters more than it looks, because the two counters fill independently.

  1. Scroll the wheel to cycle between body mode and can mode.
  2. Watch the arrow next to the body icon and the can icon on the right of the panel.
  3. Collect creatures in body mode, then switch to can mode and collect the finished cans.

Each mode has its own capacity limit, so a full body counter does not stop you collecting cans and the other way round. It is easy to waste a trip by filling the wrong side. How that affects the rate the factory runs at is in the production guide.

What you can still do after the timer runs out

You can still collect and sell cans once the day has ended — but only in can mode.

  1. When the shift timer runs out, the game does not stop you entirely.
  2. Scroll the wheel until the can counter is the active one.
  3. Keep collecting and selling cans.

If the vacuum refuses to pick anything up after the timer, you are almost certainly still in body mode. The full shift cycle, including what the night period changes, is in the day length guide.

Two mistakes that waste your time

Holding the button across a tool switch. Covered above, and it is the one that hurts most because it looks like the game is broken.

Collecting in the wrong mode all shift. If your bodies counter sits at capacity while the can counter stays empty, you are one wasted trip per truck behind where you could be.

Killing what you meant to carry. The vacuum does not damage what it holds, but your weapons do, so a creature that arrives already dead is no use to the crusher. That matters more than it sounds when you are chasing a specific achievement, and the Fresh Meat guide covers exactly which kills do and do not count.