** Tips and Tricks for BlackBerry **

Important Keys
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ALT Key = :alt: has half moon on top of it. Left side of keyboard below A.

(New BlackBerry devices have "ALT" spelled out on the key)

CAP key = :cap: bottom right key (AKA Shift Key)

IN General
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Hold the :alt: key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can center 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-wheelto select multiple items in the list:

alt:+Escape - Allows multitasking, brings up Taskbar on any screen.Similar to Windows ALT+TAB

alt:+:cap: - Turns on CAPS lock.Hold :alt: first thenpress :cap:. An oval with an up arrow screen 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 option list or menu to jump directly to that item.

Type the first letter of a name or initials separated by a :space: to find a contact in the Address Book screen.

Press C to compose a new message from the ho,e screen or within Messages. (If this does not work, ensure Phone>Options>"Dial From Home Screen" is turned off.This re-enables key press 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'll 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've a backlit keyboard as well as 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've a phone/combo BalckBerry then on some you can go into network and select Scan for networks. Then select the network you're 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 BlackBerry. To set a password, go to the Options menu to the Security item. Set the desired timeout (atleast 15 mins) and enable a password. In conjunction with this, you should also go to the Options menu to the Owneritem, and enter your name, phone number, etc. When the password protection kicks in, this is what is displayed on the screen.

After 5 incorrect attempts in typing in your password, the password starts echoing. After 10 attempts, it performs a lobotomy on itself and almost all data is ckeared. 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 signature.

In the message list
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Sorting:

alt:+I - show only incoming mail

alt:+0 - show only outgoing mail (messages you've sent)

alt:+P - show phone log messages

alt:+S - show SMS messages

alt:+V - show VoiceMail messages

Navigating T - go to top message listing

B - Go to the end of message listing

del: - close message listing and return to home screen

space: - pagedown

cap:+:space: - pageup

Deleting multiple messages at one:

Highlight a date in the messages 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 thum-wheel and select 'Delete Messages'. Combine this with a sorting tip to make it even more useful, press :alt: then the letter '0' will show all your sent messages, then per this tip scroll down and select the last 5.

While in a message:

Navigating:

enter: or :space: - scroll down a page at a time

alt:+:enter: - scroll back a page at a time

B - scroll to the end of page

T - scroll to the 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'll 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, 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
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Press and hold a letter to capitalise it (with Key Rate enabled)

Press the :space: key twice to insert a period and capitalise 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
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 synchronisation in Desktop Manager may not suit most people. While configuring the Calendar synchronisation, click the Advanced button and specify the desired range.

Battery
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The largest draw on battery life is the transmitter, so if you're transmitting a lot, you can expext 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 BlackBerry's radio off manually or use Options/Auto On off to conserve battery life.

Geek Tips
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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, hold down the half moon :alt: key while you type NMLL. The bars should change to read numbers. For the 'signal strength', if you're in the 100 area(that means -100 dBm) you'll be transmitting at maximum power(2 watts), and since coverage is hit and miss at this weak 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, 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!" sceen that lists version, appversion, pin, imei, uptime, signal strength, battery level, file free and total file.

Hold down the half :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 rebot your BlackBerry