Below are a series of tips and tricks to help you "advance your BlackBerry handheld skills" posted on RIM's Web site. We list the first ten, after which you can head over here for just as many more.
1. Hold the ALT key while you roll the trackwheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.
2. Hold the ALT key while you roll the trackwheel to scroll through a field to view options.
3. Hold the SHIFT key while you roll the trackwheel to select multiple items in a list.
4. Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.
5. Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a space to find a contact in the Address Book screen.
6. To cut and paste text, hold the ALT key and click the trackwheel, then roll the trackwheel to highlight text. Click and scroll to Cut Selection or Copy Selection. To paste the selected text, place the cursor in an editable field and click. Scroll to Paste Selection and click.
7. Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).
8. Press the SPACE key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.
9. Press the SPACE key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field.
10. Press and hold a letter key and roll the trackwheel to scroll through international characters, equation symbols and other marks.
Tip: How to Wipe Your BlackBerry Clean
A Member of the BlackBerryToday forums recently upgraded from a BlackBerry 7100 to a Pearl. He wanted to know if there was any special steps to take to wipe the 7100's memory clean, so as to make sure the next owner doesn't have access to his personal information.
The following advice from a Senior Member did the trick:
—Enter your password incorrectly ten times (plus "blackberry") to clear the BlackBerry.
Tip: Idokorro Mobile Desktop 2.0 - Remote Control From BlackBerry
Idokorro Mobile recently released a major update to their Mobile Desktop software for the BlackBerry. Previous versions of Mobile Desktop have been able to use the VNC protocol to connect to VNC servers.
Version 2.0 now introduces the ability to connect to another computer using the RDP protocol, the protocol used by Windows Terminal Services. Because Terminal Services is installed by default on Windows Server versions 2000 and beyond, this major improvement allows Windows Server administrators to remotely manage computers using only a BlackBerry handheld.
With Mobile Desktop you can create connections to a remote computer (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Solaris, Novell Netware, QNX, OS/2 platforms and more), then view the screen and even control the keyboard or mouse of the remote computer.
We briefly tested Mobile Desktop and found the response time to be surprisingly good. It's easy to use the "mouse" by scrolling the trackwheel, for example. There are convenient shortcut keys for left clicks, right clicks, double-clicks - just about anything you'd need to use on a desktop. There's also a zoom function so you can overcome the relatively small screen size of a BlackBerry device.
Mobile Desktop can be used on any color BlackBerry with a wireless data plan and v4.0 or higher of the BlackBerry system software. On BlackBerrys with 64 MB of memory or more, in addition to the regular suite of features, Mobile Desktop allows you to zoom in and out on the screen you are viewing, and also caches screen image data for optimal viewing and scrolling.
It sells for $45 each for 1 to 4 licenses, with discounts available for those who purchase more.
View the Event Log
Your device has a hidden Event Log that can be viewed using a certain key combination.
Similar to the event log on a Windows computer, there is an Event Log on your BlackBerry device where applications and the BlackBerry operating system itself can log information. Not only does this provide a central place to view all events from the system and applications, but it allows application developers to use an easy and consistent API for logging events so that each developer doesn't have to create his own.
You can view the Event Log on your device and even filter certain events, copy them to the clipboard—even email the entire log to someone. You won't find an icon for the Event Log viewer program. You'll have to enter a "secret" key combination to get it to appear.
View the Log
From your Home screen, type the following key sequence: Alt-L,G,L,G. This should bring up the Event Log viewer as shown in Figure 1-19.
Figure 1-19. The Event Log program
From within the Event Log, you can view the details of each event by pressing the Enter key. Figure 1-20 shows the details of an event.
You can copy specific events to the clipboard on your device by clicking the trackwheel when viewing the details of an event and selecting Copy Event. From the main viewer, you can copy a summary of the current day's events to the clipboard by using the trackwheel to access the menu and selecting Copy Today's Contents. Once the summary is on your clipboard, you can paste it into any other program, including in a new message, by using the trackwheel menu and choosing Paste.
Figure 1-20. The details of a particular event
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When you access the Event Log, the program reads the current events and displays them on the screen. As you are viewing the events, additional events may have been logged since you started the program. Choose Refresh from the trackwheel menu to reread the events to make sure you're displaying the most recent events.
Customize Event Log Options
You can use a number of options to filter the events or even expand your view to include events that have a lower severity. To access the filter options, click on the trackwheel and choose Options from the menu. By default, the Event Log displays events with a severity of Warning. You can change the Minimum Log Level setting in your Event Log as shown in Figure 1-21.
Figure 1-21. Changing the minimum log level
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Modifying the Minimum Log Level changes the threshold for any events that get logged after you make the change. So you cannot change the level from Warning to Information or Debug and expect to see additional events retroactively—only new events will be affected by your change. Also, consider the impact of setting the threshold to Debug Info: as with debugging logs on any platform, they can quickly fill and consume system resources.
You can also control which applications' events show up in the Event Log. By default, the events from all applications are displayed in the Event Log. To modify which program events appear, uncheck the checkbox beside the applications you'd like to not appear in the log. Be sure and save your changes after you make modifications to the Options screen. This is useful for troubleshooting a specific application you're having problems with.
The Event Log program also gives you the ability to clear the log. Choose Clear Log from the trackwheel menu to purge all entries in the Event Log as shown in Figure 1-22 to start from scratch when troubleshooting a problem.
Figure 1-22. Clear the Event Log
Put Notes in the Call Log
Save notes from your phone calls and recall that information when you need it.
While you are on an active call with your BlackBerry, press in the trackwheel and choose "Notes" from the menu. You will be greeted with a nice
clean slate of text input, ready to accept your notes, as shown in Figure 1-56.
Figure 1-56. Adding call notes to the current call
This will, of course, be most convenient when you're using a headset or speakerphone. The way I use this feature is that I jot down notes relevant to that call such as confirmation numbers or meeting notes, and save them. I can return to the Messages application, find the call in the list of calls I've placed, and find my notes there. From here, you can also copy text and put it into its final destination, whether an email, task, or appointment.
If you don't remember to take notes during your call, don't fret: you can add notes to a previous call by opening the call in the Messages list and selecting "Add Notes" from the menu. If you have decided to not show calls in your Messages list, you can magically make them appear by pressing Alt-P [Hack #24]. You can then surf your messages list and get these useful little pieces of metadata and put them to use. If you discussed a budget, an invoice, or something else that you may need to reference later, make a note of it in the call and you can find this information later. If you need to remember what you talked about last time you spoke to Client X, the notes will be right there in the call detail!
You can also highlight a phone call that has notes, click the trackwheel, and select Forward (see Figure 1-57) to forward it (notes and all) to an email address.
Figure 1-57. Forwarding your call notes
This lets you quickly shove the notes from that important conference call to your helpless subordinates.
—R. Emory Lundberg
