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Blackberry Tips and Tricks

Quote:

Originally Posted by New Version, for modern BlackBerry Devices

BlackBerry Tips, Tricks, and Keypress Shortcuts

Credits

Gerald W. Gaston updated his list for the 7230 and also for the 7730. Here is his post with the updated information (and a few additions I added at the end). This list was combined with some from PDA Prophet, others from the BBUsers egroup mail list, and a few by forum member 'qubit', 'kirson' and 'Mark Rejhon'. This list was edited by Mark Rejhon to add formatting, graphics icons, and corrections.

Important Keys

ALT key = :alt: has half moon on top of it. left side of keyboard below the A.
CAP key = :cap: bottom right key (AKA SHIFT key)

In General

Hold the :alt: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.
Hold the :alt: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through a field to view options.
Hold the :cap: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to select multiple items in a list.
:alt:+Escape - Allows multitasking, brings up Taskbar on any screen. Similiar to Windows ALT+TAB
:alt:+:cap: - Turns on CAPS lock. Hold :alt: first then press :cap: . An oval with an up arrow shows up in the upper right corner of the screen.
:cap:+:alt: - Turns on NUM lock. Hold :cap: first then press :alt: . A # sign shows up in the oval in the upper right corner of the screen)
Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.
Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a :space: to find a contact in the Address Book screen.
Press C to compose a new message from the home screen or within Messages. (If this does not work, make sure Phone->Options->"Dial From Home Screen" is turned off. This re-enables keypress shortcuts for icons from the home screen.)
Press :alt:+:enter: to keylock your BlackBerry quickly from the home screen. (Alternate keypress is just press K, but this only works if "Dial From Home Screen" is disabled)
Rearrange the ribbon: In the Home screen (ribbon), hold the :alt: key and click the thumb-wheel to bring up a menu. You can then select Move Icon, Hide Icon, or Show All. If you hide an icon, to show it again click Show all and it will appear with an X over it, bring up the menu on it and uncheck hide icon.
The Blackberry display can be backlit to allow reading messages in the dark. To get the light to come on, hit the backlight button usually in the lower right of the keyboard. Hopefully you have a backlit keyboard as well so you can type in the dark.
Turning the radio off and back on when coverage is spotty and you've lost signal seems to help. Also going into network and selecting register now will help. And if you have a phone/combo BB then on some you can go into network and select Scan for networks. then select the network you are on, for example T-mobile, then save. After doing this the radio will reset and you may receive a register message and a new service book, which you can accept from the service book menu in options.
Password protect your BB. To set a password, go to the Options menu to the Security item. Set the desired timeout (I use 15 minutes) and enable/set a password. In conjunction with this, you should also go to the Options menu to the Owner item, and enter your name, phone number, etc. When the password protection kicks in, this is what is displayed on the screen.
After five incorrect attempts at typing in your password, the password starts echoing (figuring you really need all the help you can get). After ten attempts, it performs a lobotomy on itself and almost all data is cleared. The Memo database, however, is retained and visible.
To support more than one signature. Wipe out your auto-signature in the Redirector of the Desktop Software and just use 'AutoText' to configure alternate sigs.

In the Message List

(Some of these work in tasks, memos, and appointments also)

Sorting:

:alt:+I - show only incoming mail
:alt:+O - show only outgoing mail (messages you have sent - i.e. checkmark icon)
:alt:+P - show phone log messages
:alt:+S - show SMS messages
:alt:+V - show VoiceMail messages

Navigating:

T - go to top of message listing
B - go to end/bottom of message listing
:del: - close message listing and return to home screen (ribbon)
:space: - pagedown
:cap:+:space: - pageup

Deleting multiple messages at once:

Highlight a date (i.e. Fri, Oct 05,2001) in the message list, hit the thumb-wheel and select delete prior. All messages prior to that date will be deleted.
Hold down the :cap: key and use the thumb-wheel to scroll up or down to select messages. Click the thumb-wheel and select 'Delete Messages'. Combine this with a sorting tip to make it even more useful (i.e. To delete the last 5 messages that you have sent (checkmarks), press :alt: then the letter 'O' (for outgoing) this will show all of your sent messages, then per this tip scroll down and select the last five.

While In A Message

Navigating:

:enter: or :space: - scroll down a page/screen at a time
:alt:+:enter: or :alt:+:space: - scroll back a page/screen at a time
B - scroll to end of page
T - scroll to top of page
U - jump to closest unread message
N - jump to next message
P - jump to previous message
:del: - close message and return to message listing

Reply-to/Forward:

R - reply to or answer this message
F - forward this message

Select Text (OS v2.1+):

Press the :cap: key and then scroll the thumb-wheel to select. If you release the :cap: key and scroll the thumb-wheel you will select entire lines. Press the :cap: key again at any time to start selecting by character again.
Hold down :alt: key + CLICK the thumb-wheel (click it don't hold it down), release the thumb-wheel and then use it to scroll whole lines. You can press and hold the :alt: key at anytime to start selecting by character again.
Click scroll wheel and select SELECT from the menu. scroll wheel to select entire line. click scroll wheel again and select copy.

With either method, click the thumb-wheel and select 'Cut Selection' or 'Copy Selection'... to paste, open a new message or whatever, click the thumb-wheel, and then select 'Paste Selection'.

Composing Message

Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).
Press the :space: key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.
Press the :space: key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field. Backspace and type again to over-ride this like you would with AutoText.
Press and hold a letter key and roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through international/accent characters, equation symbols and other marks.

Calendar (from Agenda screen)

Press T to go to "Today" in the Calendar screen.
Press G to go to a specific date in the Calendar screen.
The default date range for Calendar synchronization in Desktop Manager may not suit most people. While configuring the Calendar synchronization, click the Advanced button and specify the desired range.

Battery

The largest draw on battery life is the transmitter, so if you are transmitting a lot, you can expect reduced battery life. And the backlight.
Being in fringe or no coverage areas will eat up your battery as it attempts to transmit. If you're in an area that is out of range, turn your BB's radio off manually or use Options / Auto On Off to conserve battery life.

Geek Tips

Rather than looking at the bars, you can change the display of the 'signal strength' to read in real numbers.
While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon :alt: key while you type NMLL. The bars should change to read numbers. For the 'signal strength', if you are in the 100 area (that means -100 dBm), you will be transmitting at maximum power (2 Watts), and since coverage is hit and miss at this weak a signal, you may end up transmitting many times before the packets make it through. This might help explain any poorer than normal battery life. I consider anything at -90 to -50 excellent.
To get the bars back: While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon :alt: key while you type NMLL again.
Hold down the half moon :alt: key -AND- the :cap: key at the same time, then the letter 'H'. This brings up the "Help Me!" screen that lists version, app version, pin, imei, uptime, signal strength, batterylevel, file free, and file total.
Hold down the half moon :alt: while you type LGLG. This brings up the event log where you can clear events (frees some memory) or view them or copy the contents to mail to someone.
:alt:+:cap:+:del: will reboot your BB.
If you would like to have delivery confirmation for your regular outgoing emails on your BlackBerry, add "<confirm>" to the beginning of your subject line. You must include the brackets. You will get an email back confirming delivery of your message.

Other Tips

A user by the name of Sanderson on the Rim Road forums added:
Instead of having your one auto sig set up for you, try this for multiple sigs:
1. Delete your existing auto sig.
2. Make an autotext entry where:
when I type: zz (or any irregular 2 letter combo like zx)
replace it with:
Your Name
Your Company
Your phone extension etc.
autotext entries can really hold a lot. give it a try..I have zz as my "professional" signature and xc as my "casual" sign off.
once you get used to it, you don't even notice that you're entering 2 extra letters @ the end of a message

Final Note

You can find more general usage tips in the User's Guide.
Gerald W. Gaston

Last edited by qubit on 07-28-2004 at 09:24 AM
Last edited by Mark Rejhon on 02-09-2005 at 12:59 AM
[Edited by Mark Rejhon to insert the new version of tips]
[Edited by Mark Rejhon to add UBB formatting]
[Edited by Mark Rejhon to rearrange text]
[Edited by Mark Rejhon to BlackBerryForums.com key icons]

* * * * * * * * PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE * * * * * * * *

To add to #4 from the Geek tips (the bottom one in the above post) when in the radio status screen typing R E J (each letter seperatly not together at once) will force the BB to try and connect to another Base.

Good to use if you are having poor/weak signal

edit: edit ** 2

I know this works on the 7280 and the 7780 - other than that I'm not sure.

ALT - Cancel (or back button, whatever it's called - the one under the scroll wheel). This is the same as ALT - TAB on your computer. It let's you navigate between open windows.

I think this list is for the old 957 devices...many of the tips and tricks still work in the Java devices, but many don't. There is an updated list floating around that deals specifically with the newer devices...I'll try to get hold of it and post it later today...

Quote:

3) Generally speaking (you can get higher rated ones) rechargeable batteries only last about half as long as standard alkaline battery.
4) Energizer e2 Photo Lithium batteries tend to last the longest for me. However, they are more expensive and when they finally start to go, have another on hand because they drain quickly at that point.

Just to point out to those people who might be confused by this -- This only applies to the RIM 850 and 950 which used an AA battery -- all the newer Blackberries use rechargeables, and uses lithium-ion which are usually superior to alkaline nowadays.

[Edit by Mark Rejhon: This is just a note to indicate that an even newer version of the article, than this one, has now been inserted in the first post at the top.]

Gerald W. Gaston updated his list for the 7230 and also for the 7730. Here is his post with the updated information (and a few additions I added at the end):

Quote:

* * * * * * * * BY GERALD W. GASTON * * * * * * * *

Message:
I combined your list with some from PDA Prophet, others from the BBUsers egroup mail list, and a few of my own:

ALT key = has half moon on top of it. left side of keyboard below the A.
CAP key = bottom right key (AKA SHIFT key)

In General
-----------
1) Hold the ALT key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.

2) Hold the ALT key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through a field to view options.

3) Hold the CAP key while you roll the thumb-wheel to select multiple items in a list.

4) Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.

5) Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a space to find a contact in the Address Book screen.

6) Press C to compose a new message from the home screen or within Messages

7) Rearrange the ribbon: In the Home screen (ribbon), hold the ALT key and click the thumb-wheel to bring up a menu. You can then select Move Icon, Hide Icon, or Show All. If you hide an icon, to show it again click Show all and it will appear with an X over it, bring up the menu on it and uncheck hide icon.

8) The Blackberry display can be backlit to allow reading messages in the dark. To get the light to come on, hit the backlight button usually in the lower right of the keyboard. Hopefully you have a backlit keyboard as well so you can type in the dark.

9) Turning the radio off and back on when coverage is spotty and you've lost signal seems to help. Also going into network and selecting register now will help. And if you have a phone/combo BB then on some you can go into network and select Scan for networks. then select the network you are on, for example T-mobile, then save. After doing this the radio will reset and you may receive a register message and a new service book, which you can accept from the service book menu in options.

10) Password protect your BB. To set a password, go to the Options menu to the Security item. Set the desired timeout (I use 15 minutes) and enable/set a password. In conjunction with this, you should also go to the Options menu to the Owner item, and enter your name, phone number, etc. When the password protection kicks in, this is what is displayed on the screen.

11) After five incorrect attempts at typing in your password, the password starts echoing (figuring you really need all the help you can get). After ten attempts, it performs a lobotomy on itself and almost all data is cleared. The Memo database, however, is retained and visible.

12) To support more than one signature. Wipe out your auto-signature in the Redirector of the Desktop Software and just use 'AutoText' to configure alternate sigs.

In the Message List
-------------------
(Some of these work in tasks, memos, and appointments also)

Sorting:
1) ALT-i: show only incoming mail

2) ALT-o: show only outgoing mail (messages you have sent - i.e. checkmark icon)

3) ALT-p: show phone log messages

4) ALT-s: show SMS messages

5) ALT-v: show VoiceMail messages

Navigating:
1) t: go to top of message listing

2) b: go to end/bottom of message listing

3) backspace: close message listing and return to home screen (ribbon)

4) spacebar: pagedown

5) cap + spacebar: pageup

Deleting multiple messages at once:
1) Highlight a date (i.e. Fri, Oct 05,2001) in the message list, hit the thumb-wheel and select delete prior. All messages prior to that date will be deleted.

2) Hold down the CAP key and use the thumb-wheel to scroll up or down to select messages. Click the thumb-wheel and select 'Delete Messages'. Combine this with a sorting tip to make it even more useful (i.e. To delete the last 5 messages that you have sent (checkmarks), press 'ALT' then the letter 'o' (for outgoing) this will show all of your sent messages, then per this tip scroll down and select the last five.

While In A Message
------------------
Navigating:
1) enter or spacebar: scroll down a page/screen at a time

2) ALT-enter or spacebar: scroll back a page/screen at a time

3) b: scroll to end of page

4) t: scroll to top of page

5) u: jump to closest unread message

6) n: jump to next message

7) p: jump to previous message

8) backspace: close message and return to message listing

Reply-to/Forward:
1) r: reply to or answer this message

2) f: forward this message

Select Text (OS v2.1+):
1) Press the CAP key and then scroll the thumb-wheel to select. If you release the CAP key and scroll the thumb-wheel you will select entire lines. Press the CAP key again at any time to start selecting by character again.

2) Hold down ALT key + CLICK the thumb-wheel (click it don't hold it down), release the thumb-wheel and then use it to scroll whole lines. You can press and hold the ALT key at anytime to start selecting by character again.

3) Click scroll wheel and select SELECT from the menu. scroll wheel to select entire line. click scroll wheel again and select copy.

With either method, click the thumb-wheel and select 'Cut Selection' or 'Copy Selection'... to paste, open a new message or whatever, click the thumb-wheel, and then select 'Paste Selection'.

Composing Message
-----------------
1) Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).

2) Press the SPACE key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.

3) Press the SPACE key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field. Backspace and type again to over-ride this like you would with AutoText.

4) Press and hold a letter key and roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through international/accent characters, equation symbols and other marks.

Calendar (from Agenda screen)
--------
1) Press T to go to "Today" in the Calendar screen.

2) Press G to go to a specific date in the Calendar screen.

3) The default date range for Calendar synchronization in Desktop Manager may not suit most people. While configuring the Calendar synchronization, click the Advanced button and specify the desired range.

Battery
-------
1) The largest draw on battery life is the transmitter, so if you are transmitting a lot, you can expect reduced battery life. And the backlight.

2) Being in fringe or no coverage areas will eat up your battery as it attempts to transmit. If you're in an area that is out of range, turn your BB's radio off manually or use Options / Auto On Off to conserve battery life.

Geek Tips
---------
1) Rather than looking at the bars, you can change the display of the 'signal strength' to read in real numbers. While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon ALT key while you type NMLL. The bars should change to read numbers. For the 'signal strength', if you are in the 100 area (that means -100 dBm), you will be transmitting at maximum power (2 Watts), and since coverage is hit and miss at this weak a signal, you may end up transmitting many times before the packets make it through. This might help explain any poorer than normal battery life. I consider anything at -90 to -50 excellent.

2) To get the bars back: While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon ALT key while you type NMLL again.

3) Hold down the half moon ALT key -AND- the CAP key at the same time, then the letter 'h'. This brings up the "Help Me!" screen that lists version, app version, pin, imei, uptime, signal strength, batterylevel, file free, and file total.

4) Hold down the half moon ALT while you type LGLG. This brings up the event log where you can clear events (frees some memory) or view them or copy the contents to mail to someone.

5) ALT-CAP-Backspace will reboot your BB.

You can find more general usage tips in the User's Guide.

Gerald W. Gaston

qubit for java edited (specifically 7230)

Last edited by qubit on 07-28-2004 at 09:24 AM

* * * * * * * * AND HERE ARE A FEW I ADDED * * * * * * * *

ALT-Escape - Brings up Taskbar on any screen

ALT-CAP turns on CAPS lock (an oval with an up arrow shows up in the upper right corner of the screen)

CAP-ALT turns on NUM lock (a # sign shows up in the oval in the upper right corner of the screen)

A user by the name of Sanderson on the Rim Road forums added:
Instead of having your one auto sig set up for you, try this for multiple sigs:
1. Delete your existing auto sig.
2.make an autotext entry where:
when I type: zz (or any irregular 2 letter combo like zx)
replace it with:
Your Name
Your Company
Your phone extension etc.
autotext entries can really hold a lot. give it a try..I have zz as my "professional" signature and xc as my "casual" sign off.
once you get used to it, you don't even notice that you're entering 2 extra letters @ the end of a message

* * * * * * * *PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE * * * * * * * *

Ian
[Edit by Mark Rejhon: This is just a note to indicate that an even newer version of the article, than this one, has now been inserted in the first post at the top.]

Thanks!

I have inserted the updated list into Guess' original post.
I have now added this link to my BlackBerry FAQ thread.

New tip:

How to dial alphanumeric phone numbers
Hold down the ALT key while typing the letters of the letters portion of the phone number.

I just received a PDF file for the 7100t. Anyhow, here's the contents:

NAVIGATING SCREENS

Move cursor --> Roll Trackwheel
Exit a screen or dialog box --> Press Escape
Click an icon or menu item --> Roll Trackwheel to select item; Click Trackwheel
Select multiple items or characters --> Hold Shift and roll Trackwheel
Move to top of screen --> Press 1
Move to bottom of screen --> Press 7

ATTACHMENTS
Pan horizontally across an image --> Hold Alt key and roll Trackwheel
Zoom in on an image --> Press 3. To continue zooming, hold Shift and roll Trackwheel
Zoom out of an image --> Press 9. To continue zooming, hold Shift and roll Trackwheel
Rotate an image --> Press Period (.) key

GENERAL TIPS
Reboot --> Remove Battery
Save battery --> Turn off BlackBerry handset in fringe or no-coverage areas

CALENDAR
For these tips to work in Day view, in the calendar options, set Enable Quick Entry field to No
Create an appointment --> Press Period (.) key
Move to next day, week or month --> Press 6
Move to previous day, week or month --> Press 4
Move cursor horizontally in Week view --> Hold Alt and roll Trackwheel
Move cursor vertically in Month view --> Hold Alt and roll Trackwheel

BROWSER
Open browser and display list of bookmarks made available by service provider --> Press Convenience Key
Edit web address in Go To dialog box --> Hold Alt and roll Trackwheel. Select address. Edit text. Click Trackwheel
Move down a page --> Press 9
Move up a page --> Press 3
Move between full-screen mode and normal mode --> Press Exclamation Point (!) key

ON THE HOME SCREEN
Return to Home screen from any other screen --> Press End
Lock the keyboard --> Hold (*) or click Keyboard Lock
Unlock the keyboard --> Press Send + (*) or double click Trackwheel
Switch between Default and Vibrate notification profiles --> Hold #
Switch to another application --> Hold Alt. Press Escape. Continue to hold Alt. Select application. Release Alt to switch to that application

PHONE
Open phone --> Press Send
End call --> Press End
Call selected name or phone number --> Press Send
Call a speed dial number --> Hold assigned number key
Type an extension --> Press ZX. Type extension number
Call your voice mail access number --> Hold 1
Type a letter in a number field --> Hold Alt and press letter key
Type the first letter on a key --> Press once. To type second letter, press twice
Turn mute on/off during call --> Press Exclamation Point (!) key
Switch between the speaker and earpiece during call --> Press Period (.) key
Change volume during call --> Roll Trackwheel

MESSAGES
Open the selected message --> Press Enter
Compose message from messages list --> Press Comma (,) key
Reply to message --> Press Exclamation Point (!) key
Forward message --> Press Period (.) key
Reply to all --> Press Question Mark (?) key
View received messages --> Press Alt + 3
View SMS messages --> Press Alt + Question Mark (?) key
View MMS messages --> Press Alt + 9
View phone call logs --> Press Alt + Period (.) key
View voice mail messages --> Press Alt + 7

TYPING
To type words quickly using SureType™ --> Press keys one time for one letter. Type entire word before attempting to make a correction
Scroll across list that appears when you type --> Press Next or roll Trackwheel
Choose selected item in list that appears when you type --> Press Enter or click Trackwheel
Insert a period --> Press Space twice. Next letter is capitalized
Capitalize a letter --> Hold the letter key until capitalized letter appears
Type alternate character on a key --> Press Alt and press the character key
Type a symbol --> Press Alt + Symbol. Press Symbol again to view more symbols. Type letter shown below symbol
Type an accent or special character --> Hold letter key and roll Trackwheel. Click selected character
To insert @ and periods in an email field --> Press Space
Turn on NUM lock --> Press Shift + Alt
Turn off NUM lock --> Press Alt
To switch between SureType and multi-tap input methods in a text field --> Hold *

Important note on 7100:

Quote:

Unlock the keyboard --> Press Send + (*) or double click Trackwheel

I am observing that I can just begin typing my password and it will bring the Unlock prompt up, I am not having to press any key sequence to get the Unlock prompt. Which is HUGE, I do alot of unlocking. If I was forced to Press Send + * or double the Trackwheel I would be off-the-hook grouchy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by buckZor

Important note on 7100:

Quote:

Unlock the keyboard --> Press Send + (*) or double click Trackwheel

This happens on my 6230 too.

thanks for some great new tips!

Quote:

This is a huge plus when your company locks down your BBs.

How do I enter a lower case letter in the beginning of the word? I have been doubling the letter and then going back to delete the capital one. Reason I ask is all of my user names are lower case to start.

Along those same lines on the 7290 when I try to login onto wap.blackberryclub.com when I enter my password it does not show me what I am typing. I know I have entered it correctly, but it says that it is wrong. So I went to memo pad and typed it out and copied and pasted it in the field and it worked. It would be nice to be able to see what I have entered. Is that possible?

For password fields, some versions of BlackBerryOS automatically capitalize the first letter of the password. But other versions of BlackBerryOS do not.

So try both methods -- try typing the password normally -- If not, then try typing the first letter of the password and backspacing, then typing the password.

My 4.0.0.185 BlackBerry does it properly -- it avoids capitalizing the first letter of a password field. That's the way it should be for password fields!

Give Your BB a Tiny Font

I couldn't find a post anywhere regarding font sizes, so I'll add my 2 cents here. Maybe someone will find it useful.

On my old 7230 I used a font size of 5 and found it greatly improved screen real estate. I just got my 7100t and it only allows fonts as small as 7. However when I restored from my old backup it kept the font size of 5. I was happy with that. After playing around with my new toy for a while, I decided to play with the theme. Since themes change fonts and sizes I lost my adjustment and had to figure out a way to change it without restoring from backup. This I give to you.

Using the Desktop Manager, go to Backup/Restore's Advanced mode to export individual DBs. Export the Options DB and Save As a file of your choosing. Load this file up in a hex editor and change bytes 44h & 45h. I wasn't able to discern a pattern using multiple exports (LSB maybe?) so I don't know what size 6 would be, but I can tell you size 5 is F0 01. Save that file and export it back in. The change wasn't apparent immediately, but after unhooking the USB cable and plugging it back in (or maybe just waiting) my font was back to the nice tiny size 5. The Screen/Keyboard settings will still show a 7, but it's clearly 5.

Hope this helps someone (with good eyes).

P.S. I've found BBMillbankTall to be the best font for squeezing as much on the screen as possible, but you already knew that, didn't you?

does anyone know if i can send messages with a read receipt I know I can get a delivery receipt when i send to another blackberry user but not to another outlook account.

I have now updated this Tips and Tricks article with a new version, containing the new BlackBerryForums.com graphical icons.

On the 7800, the Alt + nmll switches the signal strength meter from bars to a db level. Is there a similar combo that will display the battery strength in % rather than bars? There was on the 857.

Lots of good info here, THANKS