Blackberry Tips and Tricks
Saturday, October 18th, 2008http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/PubArticleFriendlyLT.jsp?id=1202425326884
Keyboard Shortcuts to Keep Your BlackBerrys Ripe
Donna Payne
Law Technology News
October 17, 2008
So everybody assumed I’d be standing in line for the iPhone from Apple Inc. Um, hello, I don’t do lines — and I have a perfectly good BlackBerry (from Research in Motion Ltd., with phone service from T-Mobile), that serves the same purpose.
Like an old, worn pair of pajamas, there is something comforting about being able to deftly answer the phone, call up messages, e-mail or text message, and even load pictures of the twins — all with the same device and without having to learn a new user interface.
Plus, there are some really useful, if not obscure, keyboard shortcuts that make using the BlackBerry even easier.
So for everyone like me who is perfectly content with their BlackBerry, this one’s for you.
EDITING A MESSAGE
Although I try to proofread my outgoing messages, my typing is not the best on the BlackBerry’s small keyboard. Plus, I don’t have the time or patience to hunt around for keys such as periods or the capitalization (Shift). For this reason, the following secrets are my lifeline to sanity when composing messages:
• Press Space twice: This adds a period and capitalizes the next letter.
• Hold the letter longer and it will capitalize.
• Shift (Num) key and scroll button — selects text.
• Alt + Scroll to move to the left or right within the text without selecting.
AUTOTEXT
BlackBerrys have integrated AutoText, so you can type a couple of keystrokes and have it automatically correct text, or convert the typing to a previously created entry once you’ve pressed Space.
I use AutoText extensively — even for signatures closing my messages.
To create an AutoText entry, go into Options (my icon is of a wrench), then click AutoText.
To create a new AutoText entry, click and choose New. In the Replace field, type the text you’d like to replace (such as “sig” to replace with a full signature that you’ll create).
In the With field, type what you would like to appear instead of the typed text. Now when you compose a message and type your predefined AutoText name (in my case, “sig”), followed by a space, the full signature is inserted.
NAVIGATE WITHIN A MESSAGE
With an e-mail message open/active, you can use the following keystrokes to navigate. My favorite is how to move to the first unread message, but there are other useful shortcuts for accessing e-mail.
U — Go to the nearest unread/unopened message.
N — Go to next message.
P — Go to previous message.
T — Go to the beginning (top) of the message.
B — Go to the bottom of the message.
R — Reply to the current message.
F — Forward the current message.
IN THE MESSAGE/MAIL LIST
With the e-mail message list displayed, but no message open, you can use the following keystrokes.
• Alt+Space: Move through the list one page at a time.
• Alt+V: Show voice mail messages.
There are a few more that some of the people in our company have used (such as Alt+S to show your SMS messages) but because they don’t work on my particular BlackBerry configuration, I’m not including them. However, the truth is, there are many hidden gems that can help us be more productive.
SUPER GEEK TIPS
While I might not be willing to invest time in standing in line for a new PDA, I am not above learning as many geeky shortcuts as I can get my hands on. Here are some more:
Change the Configuration
You can apply different themes to your BlackBerry and change the defaults. For example, if you are working with the calendar most often, set the default side button to display the calendar (instead of the message list).
You can change many of the defaults by just going into Options, finding what you’d like to change — in this case Screen/Keyboard — and then setting specific options to work better for your needs.
The scenario of wanting the side button to display the calendar is accomplished by selecting the calendar option for Side Convenience Key Opens. The same is true for the option Front Convenience Key Opens.
Tower Strength
The signal strength, by default, shows in bars. One bar (tower) is weak, while five towers means you are receiving a strong signal and shouldn’t have any difficulty using the device.
But if you want to see the signal reflected in a number instead of towers, all you have to do is press Alt+NMLL. This works as a toggle so just type the combination again to return the display to the tower bars.
While this is a cool feature, and you can win in BlackBerry trivia with your friends and co-workers, the bar/tower system is a heck of a lot easier to understand.
Event Logging
If you’d like to see (or clear) the event log, just press Alt and type LGLG (Alt+LGLG). To clear the event log, click on any of the entries and choose Clear Log.
Help Me!
Press Alt+Caps Lock+H — and the Help Me! screen displays. Some of the information you’ll find here is the vendor ID, platform, application version, Uptime, Signal Strength and … wait for it … exact battery level (such as 55 percent instead of three bars — SCORE!).
DROWNED BLACKBERRY
On a recent vacation from hell, my two-year-old daughter decided to give my BlackBerry a bath. If you submerge your BlackBerry, take out the battery and let the device and the battery dry completely (in my case several days). Mine came back to life when, immediately post-swim, it wouldn’t even turn on. And consider insurance. Two colleagues have lost PDAs to liquid under the most bizarre circumstances — including one whose device fell into the loo on a plane. Another phone made a precise dive bomb right into a full cup of beer at the Minneapolis Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome when its owner, Teri “Jersey Girl” McCarron, jumped up to applaud an A-Rod homerun. The Miller-Lite-loving PDA was replaced the next day for $50 because it was insured.
WEB SITES AND LINKS
Whether you use your BlackBerry solely to check e-mail, or you use it as a full-functioning PDA, there are tips, shortcuts and things that you can do to make the experience better.
These are just a few of the many shortcuts available — there are different ones for each of the models on the market. If you want to get the most from your investment, visit the BlackBerry 101 tips page. Also, check out Crackberry Addict — another source for information. And if you are using other PDAs, there are similar shortcuts. Just check the manufacturer’s Web site or do a quick Google search.
I can’t promise that I won’t ever get an iPhone — because frankly, they look pretty awesome. Maybe when the lines aren’t so long. But for now, my BlackBerry works just fine.
Donna Payne is CEO of Payne Consulting Group, based in Seattle