Continuing... to select more points or items in illustrator with click shift and drag?

Question

OK,
here is the dilemma, and i bet there is a nifty shortcut to it.
We all know how to continue select say object or points within illustrator yes, in saying this we will select one point, and then use thte mouse to select more points by covering space over a document, whilst holding shift(multiple itmes etc.)
As i am trying to select more points, but say, they are scattered small individual shapes, like say little specks of small shapes, but countless, millions, but at the same time i have other shapes which i dont want to select, but, i want to continue selecting shapes thouhgh whilst holding down shift, i dont want to reverse the procedure, i want to select more and more tiny dots, even if i click and drag over the already selected dots.
Now, how do i go about saying holding down an extra key, lets just say, the letter h for example on the keyboard, and it will activate the whole click drag and shift procedure but to not deselect the points i already i have selected..
If this does not make sense let us know, but i was wondering for what i am doing, i want to be able to continue working my way up with selecting a whole array of tiny shapes, but select more and more as i work my way up or down.
If you dont understand try it in illustrator first and see what i mean, then get back to us, as for what i am doing i need a shortcut, along with the shift key and click drag.
Thanks.
GaNa85

Answer 1

Short answer.. You can't. Shift-clicking is a toggle. It selects or deselects based on the current selection state. If you shift-click or shift-click-drag over a selected object, it will become deslected in all cases.
Long answer... Probects invoving intricate objects are generally best handled by good layer management. Setting up a project using layers as you construct can make selections much, much, easier in the long run. Of course, if something is already created it may not be an easy task to rethink layers. There's also the little known "Save Selection" item in the Select menu. This will allow you to save something you already have selected and reslect it later. You might find that you can shift-select an area, save that selection, then start selecting another areas. This doesn't really address your initial issue since you can't shift-load a selection to add it to the existing selection. But it may help with getting some things selected, then reselected easily.
You can also shift-click the selection circle next to an object in the Layers Panel. This avoids mis-clicks or accidentally selecting something you already had selected.