Searching Messages and Senders

If you access the menu from the Messages folder, you’ll see that you also have the option to search messages and senders. The BlackBerry also contains a Search icon on your Home screen; and I’ll discuss these search features a little later in “Searching Messages.” For now, however, note that you can search for particular messages and even all messages from a particular sender directly from the Messages and Saved Messages folders, just as you can choose to compose messages directly from these locations. These menu features allow you quick access to tasks that you need to perform without having to exit and open different applications over and over again.

Message Menu Items

You can open and read any message that appears in your Messages and Saved Messages folders. Once you open a message and read it, you can click the trackwheel to see a message menu that provides you with a number of message-specific options. The following list describes these features:

· Mark, Save, and Delete The Mark, Save, and Delete features are available within the message menu just as they are on the Message folder menu. This feature saves you time so you can manage messages as you read them (save the good stuff, delete the junk). These three features work in exactly the same way as from the folder menu, so refer to the previous sections for more information.

· Previous Item and Next Item Use these options to view the previous or next message in the message list.

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Make the Mark Message Feature Count

The usefulness of each option or application provided on the BlackBerry, depends on you—after all, e-mail itself isn’t very useful if you do not read it! This is especially true of the Mark Message feature. The best method to keep track of your messages is to mark as unread those messages that you have not finished reading or have not responded to. For example, let’s say you’re skimming your messages during a cab ride. You read an important message, but you do not have time to respond. One way to recall your attention to this message is to mark it Unread. When you access your Messages folder again, you will remember the message, open it, and have an opportunity to respond. If you receive 50+ messages per day, the Mark Messages feature can really come in handy!

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Editing or Resending a Message

Messages that you send appear in the Messages folder, and even though these messages have been sent, you can still open them and edit and/or resend the message if necessary. This feature is very helpful if you make a mistake or need to send additional information. Also, if you try to send a message when you are in a place where connectivity isn’t so great, such as a parking garage, you may need to resend the message when you have good connectivity. To edit and resend a message, in the Messages folder, simply open the message and click the trackwheel to access the message menu. Click the Edit Message option, and your cursor appears in the message so that you can make changes as needed. When you’re done, click the trackwheel to access the message menu and then click Resend Message to resend the message.

Opening Attachments

If a received message contains an address book entry attachment (as mentioned in Chapter 6, the only kind of attachment you can receive on your BlackBerry), you can choose to open and view that attachment and add the attachment to your address book. To do this, follow the steps in “How to…Open and Save a Viewable Attachment.”

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Open and Save a Viewable Attachment

If a received message has an attachment in the form of an address book entry, follow these steps to read the attachment and save it to your address book.

1. Open the message that has the attachment.

2. Using your trackwheel, scroll to the attachment so that your cursor is placed somewhere on the name of the attachment.

3. Click the trackwheel to see the message menu and click View Address to view the attachment contact information.

If you want to save the attachment, click the trackwheel to see the message menu and then click Save Address.

Tip: If you need more power with attachment handling, there are several third-party applications that can help you out. See Chapter 14 to find out more.

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Inserting Symbols into E-mail Messages

The BlackBerry provides a simple menu, called the Symbols menu, that you can use when creating new messages (or replying or forwarding messages) so that you can easily insert common symbols into your e-mails. The Symbols menu provides you with typical desktop keyboard symbols that do not appear on your BlackBerry keyboard.

To access the Symbols screen, just press SYM. You’ll see the Symbols screen appear, as shown in Figure 7-2.

Figure 2:


Press the SYM key on your keyboard.

Use the trackwheel to select the symbol you want to include and click the trackwheel to insert the symbol into the e-mail. You can also use the keyboard hot key that appears directly below the symbol to which it corresponds. For example, if you want to insert < (less than sign), just press < W on the keyboard.

Inserting Accent and International Characters

In addition to the Symbols screen, you can insert accent characters and international symbols. When you are typing, hold down the desired key on the keyboard and roll the trackwheel to see various accent/character options you can choose.

Tip: You can also capitalize any letter by holding down the key and rolling the trackwheel.

Quick Message Keyboard Tips

You may also find these additional keyboard shortcuts helpful:

· Use ALT-U to toggle between marking a message read or unread.

· Use the trackwheel to select a date in the Messages folder, and then press the DEL key to delete all messages prior to the date.

Tip: Be careful! Make sure you want to delete all messages prior to the selected date before you press DEL. Deleted messages cannot be recovered.

· View all received messages in either Messages or Saved Messages by pressing ALT-I.

· Use ALT-O to view all sent messages in the Messages folder.

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