Blackberry Tips and Tricks 850, 857, 950, and 957 models.

Note: (*) denotes shortcuts that work only on the 850, 857, 950, and 957 models.

General tips:

Hold ALT while rolling the trackwheel in a field to cycle field values.
Hold the CAP key while rolling the trackwheel to select multiple items in a list.
Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.
To move an icon on the Home screen, press and hold ALT and click the trackwheel to select an icon. Click the trackwheel again to select Move icon, then roll the trackwheel to relocate the icon. Click the trackwheel to drop it into the new position.
The BlackBerry display can be backlit to let you work in low light conditions. To get the light to come on, press and hold ALT and press the power key. The light goes out automatically after a few seconds of inactivity.
Press C to compose a new message while on the Home screen or in the Messages or Saved Messages applications.
Press ALT and roll the trackwheel to scroll horizontally in any application in which you can type or view text.
After five incorrect attempts at typing your password, the password starts echoing. After 10 attempts, almost all data is cleared except for the Memo database, which is retained and visible.
To support more than one signature, from the Redirector in the Desktop Manager, wipe out your auto signature and use AutoText to configure alternate signatures.
To password protect your BlackBerry, from the Options menu, select Security, set the desired time-out time, then enable and set your password. You should also enter your personal information (e.g., name, phone number) in the Owner option; when the timeout is reached and the BlackBerry is password-locked, this is what displays.
When coverage is spotty and you’ve lost signal, turn the radio off and on. You can also go into the network settings and select Register Now. If you have a phone Blackberry, you may be able to go into the network settings and select Scan for Networks, choose the network you’re on, then select Save. Afterward, the radio will reset and you may receive a “Register” message and a new service book. To accept the new service book, from Options, click Service Book, choose the service book, then click Accept.
The largest battery draws are the transmitter, the backlight, and being in fringe or no-coverage areas. If you’re in an out-of-range area, turn the radio off manually. Alternatively, from Options, choose Auto On/Off.

  • On the Home screen, press and hold ALT and type DBON to change the display of consecutive bars for signal strength and battery power to numeric values. Press and hold ALT and type DBOF to change them back.
  • Press ALT-CAP-B to show the “Device Status” screen. Roll and click the trackwheel on one of the status items to see details for that item.
  • Press ALT-CAP-S to see a list of running tasks. Roll and click the trackwheel on one of the tasks to switch to that task.
  • Press ALT-CAP-BACKSPACE to reboot your BlackBerry.

In the Address Book:

To find a specific contact on the “To:” screen, type the first letters of the name, or the initials separated by a space.
At Indiana University, you can search for names in the Exchange Global Address List (GAL) by using Remote Address Lookup. For more information, see the Knowledge Base document With a BlackBerry at IU, how do I search for an address in the Exchange GAL?

While reading a message:

Press R to reply to sender with quoted text.
Press F to forward the message.
Press G to return to the last cursor position.
Press ENTER to page down.
Press ALT-ENTER to page up.
Press N to go to the next message.
Press P to go to the previous message.
Press B to go to the bottom of the message
Press T to go to the top of the message.
In OS v2.1, to select message text, click the trackwheel and from the resulting menu, choose Select. Scroll to select the line, then click the trackwheel again and choose Copy. To paste the selection, click the trackwheel, choose Cut Selection or Copy Selection, open a new message, click the trackwheel, and choose Paste Selection.

  • Press A to reply to all with quoted text.
  • Press ALT-SPACE to bring up a symbol table. Select a symbol with the trackwheel (on voice models this pages down).

While composing a message:

Press SPACE to insert the @ and . characters in an email address composition field.
Press ALT-CAP, which functions like the Caps Lock key on a computer keyboard. Press SHIFT again to turn this mode off.
Press ALT-NUM to access the alternate symbol on each key. Press NUM or ALT again to turn it off.
Press B , then R , then SPACE to type an opening parenthesis.
Press R , then B , then SPACE to type a closing parenthesis.
Press SPACE twice to insert a period when typing text. The letter that follows the period will be capitalized automatically.
Press and hold a letter key to capitalize it. You must have Key Rate enabled for this to work.
Press and hold a letter key and roll the trackwheel to scroll through the symbols associated with that key. To select a symbol, release the key.
Press L , then D , then SPACE to enter the current date.
Press L , then T , then SPACE to enter the current time.

  • Press and hold G and roll the trackwheel to scroll through available currency symbols.

While browsing messages:

Press C to compose a new message.
Press N to go to the next day’s messages.
Press P to go to the previous day’s messages.
Press U to go to the next unread message.
Press ALT-I to show only incoming mail.
Press ALT-O to show only outgoing mail.
Press B to go to the bottom of the list.
Press T to go to the top of the list.
To delete multiple messages by date, highlight a date in the message list, press the trackwheel and select Delete prior.

In the Calendar:

Press C to create a new appointment.
Press D to switch to Day view. In Day view, to switch to another view you must click the trackwheel and select the view from the menu.
Press S to scroll through all the calendar views. In Day view, to switch to another view you must click the trackwheel and select the view from the menu.
Press and hold SHIFT while rolling the trackwheel to select more than one appointment.
Press ALT and roll the trackwheel in Day view to view the next or previous day.
Press T to go to the Today view.
Press G to go to a specific date.
To change the default range for Calendar synchronization in the Desktop Manager, while configuring Calendar synchronization, click Advanced and specify the desired range.

  • Press W to switch to Week view. Press W again to go to previous view.
  • Press M to switch to Month view. Press M again to go to previous view.
  • Press A to switch to Agenda view. Press A again to go to previous view.

In Tasks:

  • Press M to mark a task complete. This will also toggle it back to incomplete.
  • Press C to create a new task.
  • Press B to go to the bottom task in the list.
  • Press T to go to the top task in the list.

Geek tips:

Rather than displaying bars, you can change the signal strength to display numerically. To do so, from the Home screen (ribbon), hold down the ALT key and type NMLL . This will also toggle the display back to bars.
If your signal strength is around -100 dBm, you will transmit at maximum power. Since coverage is sporadic at this low signal strength, there may be many attempts at transmission before it is successful, which will have a negative impact on battery life.
To bring up the events log (where you can view, copy, and clear events to free memory), from the Home screen, hold down the ALT key and type LGLG .