BlackBerry Shortcuts

There are many different shortcuts you can use to make your BlackBerry experience better. I have classified these into a few different categories: Home Screen, Applications and Advanced shortcuts. Please notice that these shortcuts are based on a full QWERTY BlackBerry and the shortcuts for the Sure Type devices can be found at Discover Blackberry or Stinsondogg's Tips (If you use any of these documents, please make a small donation. I do not want to have to get up on my soapbox about Quid Pro Quo).

This post contains a lot of information and is really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to shortcuts. Here is a real world example of how I integrate shortcuts:

I open a message, read it, then process it which typically involves a response and/or scheduled appointment or task. I take the relative action, then choose 'I' to file the message into its appropriate folder. When you do this, the message remains open. I then use the 'N' key to move to the next message in my list. This is great because you do not have to open/close each message, etc. I rarely use the track-ball when processing email.

Home Screen Shortcuts
The home screen shortcuts will unfortunately only work if you have a full QWERTY keyboard device (one key per letter). The Sure Type devices (2 letters per key) do have shortcuts for the applications, but do not have home screen shortcuts. The first step to being able to use home screen keyboard shortcuts is to set your device up to not dial from the home screen. To do this, go to Phone>Options>General Settings> and set the value for 'Dial From Home Screen:' to "No". See the screen shot below:

Once you have done this, you will notice something different about the names (bottom of the screen when you have an icon highlighted). For certain icons/applications, one letter in the name of the icon/application will be underlined. This is how you know what the shortcut key is to launch that application.

In this screenshot, you see that the Messages icon is selected, and the letter 'M' is underlined. So, from anywhere on your home screen you can click the 'M' key and this will launch the Messages/Inbox. Here is a list of other common home screen shortcuts:

• L = Calendar
• A= Address Book
• B= Browser
• N= BlackBerry Messenger
  
• T= Tasks
• O= Options
• U= Calculator
• C= Compose
• V= Save Messages
• R= Alarm
• K= Lock Keypad

Keep in mind that some 3rd Party Applications also have Keyboard Shortcuts (examples include: i=IdeaMatrix, x= Windows Live Messenger).

Application Specific Shortcuts
There are many shortcuts you can use while working within a particular application (like Messages, Calendar, etc.). First, here are a few shortcuts that are common among all native applications and most 3rd Party Applications:

• T= Top - this takes you to the top of the page/document/list
  
• B= Bottom - this takes you to the top of the page/document/list
  
• Space Bar = Page Down
  
• N= Next Item
  
• P= Previous Item
  

Text Input

• Push and Hold a letter to capitalize (Keyrate set to Normal in Options>Screen/Keyboard)
• Space Key twice, enters a period
• Space Key in an email field populates the '@' symbol and period
• Space Key when entering a web address places a period (aka "dot")
  

Messages

• U= Jump to the 1st Unread message in the list
• N= when you have a message open, it will open he next message; when you're viewing the messages list, this will jump to the next date header chronologically
• P= when you have a message open, it will open he previous message; when you're viewing the messages list, this will jump to the previous date header chronologically
• I= File Message to a Folder (will open a list of folders you have to file into -- requires BES)
  
• R= Reply To
• L= Reply All
• F= Forward
• Alt-P= filters message list to show Phone Logs only
• Alt-S= filters message list to show SMS messages only
• Alt-I= filters message list to show only Incoming Messages
• Alt-O= filters message list to show only Outgoing Messages
  

Browser

• A= Add Bookmark
• K= Open Bookmark List
• G= Open the 'Go To' command to allow you enter a URL
• H= Jump to your designated Home Page
• Del key= functions like a back page button
  

Advanced Shortcuts
Alt + Escape Key = Application Switcher


The Alt key will open and options menu when that field is selected and allow you to scroll through the list of options.


I= Zoom in on a Map (like Google Maps)
O= Zoom out on a Map (like Google Maps)

Hold the Alt key, then press the CAP key and the 'H' key. This will pull up what is referred to as the Help Me! screen, and has network diagnostic info, as well as device details that can help you when you have to call into tech support.



Hold the Alt key and type 'LGLG'. This will pull up an event/error log. If you are having memory challenges, you can delete the entries in this log, which will free up a little memory.



Hold the Alt key an type 'NMLL'. This will change the signal strength indicator from bars to a numerical value.


Once you realize the value of using shortcuts, you will save time while processing from your BlackBerry, and thus attain a higher level awareness and balance.
Feel free to add any of your favorite keyboard shortcuts in the comments.