No matter the level of Blackberry help or Blackberry support you need, eAccess Solutions can address all of your concerns. Even if you’re just looking for a helpful Blackberry tip, our company can assist as well.

Here are some lesser-known functions that can help make your Blackberry user experience more productive and enjoyable! Use our Blackberry help to get the functionality you’ve been wanting.

For all:
ALT key = Half moon key or (Orange key) on the left side of keyboard below the A
CAP key = bottom right key (a.k.a., SHIFT key)

Version 3.x Shortcuts and Tricks (Many of the 2.x Tricks also apply):

Version 2.x Shortcuts and Tricks:

1. Hold the ALT key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll horizontally in any field where you can enter or view text.
2. Hold the ALT key while you roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through a field to view options.
3. Hold the CAP key while you roll the thumb-wheel 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. Press C to compose a new message from the home screen or within Messages.
7. Rearrange the ribbon (menu): In the Home screen (ribbon), hold the ALT key and click the thumb-wheel to bring up a menu. You can then select Move Icon, Hide Icon, or Show All. If you hide an icon, to show it again click Show all and it will appear with an X over it, bring up the menu on it and uncheck hide icon.
8. The Blackberry display can be backlit to allow reading messages in the dark. To get the light to come on, hit the backlight button usually in the lower right of the keyboard. Hopefully you have a backlit keyboard as well so you can type in the dark.
9. Turning the radio off and back on when coverage is spotty and you've lost signal seems to help. Also going into network and selecting register now will help. And if you have a phone/combo BB then on some you can go into network and select Scan for networks. then select the network you are on, for example T-mobile, then save. After doing this the radio will reset and you may receive a register message and a new service book, which you can accept from the service book menu in options.
10. Password protect your BB. To set a password, go to the Options menu to the Security item. Set the desired timeout (I use 15 minutes) and enable/set a password. In conjunction with this, you should also go to the Options menu to the Owner item, and enter your name, phone number, etc. When the password protection kicks in, this is what is displayed on the screen.
11. After five incorrect attempts at typing in your password, the password starts echoing (figuring you really need all the help you can get). After ten attempts, it performs a lobotomy on itself and almost all data is cleared. The Memo database, however, is retained and visible.
12. To support more than one signature. Wipe out your auto-signature in the Redirector of the Desktop Software and just use 'AutoText' to configure alternate sigs.

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1. Enter or spacebar: scroll down a page/screen at a time
2. ALT-enter or spacebar: scroll back a page/screen at a time
3. b: scroll to end of page
4. t: scroll to top of page
5. u: jump to closest unread message
6. n: jump to next message
7. p: jump to previous message
8. backspace: close message and return to message listing

Reply-to/Forward:

1. r: reply to or answer this message
2. f: forward this message

Select Text:

1. Press the CAP key and then scroll the thumb-wheel to select. If you release the CAP key and scroll the thumb-wheel you will select entire lines. Press the CAP key again at any time to start selecting by character again.
2. Hold down ALT key + CLICK the thumb-wheel (click it don't hold it down), release the thumb-wheel and then use it to scroll whole lines. You can press and hold the ALT key at anytime to start selecting by character again.
3. Click scroll wheel and select SELECT from the menu. scroll wheel to select entire line. click scroll wheel again and select copy.
   
   With either method, click the thumb-wheel and select 'Cut Selection' or 'Copy Selection'... to paste, open a new message or whatever, click the thumb-wheel, and then select 'Paste Selection'.

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1. Press and hold a letter to capitalize it (with Key Rate enabled).
2. Press the SPACE key twice to insert a period and capitalize the next letter.
3. Press the SPACE key to insert the "@" and "." characters in an Email field. Backspace and type again to over-ride this like you would with AutoText.
4. Press and hold a letter key and roll the thumb-wheel to scroll through international/accent characters, equation symbols and other marks.

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1. Press T to go to "Today" in the Calendar screen.
2. Press G to go to a specific date in the Calendar screen.
3. The default date range for Calendar synchronization in Desktop Manager may not suit most people. While configuring the Calendar synchronization, click the Advanced button and specify the desired range.

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1. The largest draw on battery life is the transmitter, so if you are transmitting a lot, you can expect reduced battery life. And the backlight.
2. Being in fringe or no coverage areas will eat up your battery as it attempts to transmit. If you're in an area that is out of range, turn your BB's radio off manually or use Options / Auto On Off to conserve battery life.

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1. Rather than looking at the bars, you can change the display of the 'signal strength' to read in real numbers. While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon ALT key while you type NMLL. The bars should change to read numbers. For the 'signal strength', if you are in the 100 area (that means -100 dBm), you will be transmitting at maximum power (2 Watts), and since coverage is hit and miss at this weak a signal, you may end up transmitting many times before the packets make it through. This might help explain any poorer than normal battery life. I consider anything at -90 to -50 excellent.
2. To get the bars back: While at the home screen (ribbon), hold down the half moon ALT key while you type NMLL again.

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1. Hold down the half moon ALT key -AND- the CAP key at the same time, then the letter 'h'. This brings up the "Help Me!" screen that lists version, app version, pin, imei, uptime, signal strength, battery level, file free, and file total.

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1. Hold down the half moon ALT while you type LGLG. This brings up the event log where you can clear events (frees some memory) or view them or copy the contents to mail to someone.

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1. Type mydcid and the spacebar to insert your DIRECT CONNECT number in an email. You can also do this with "mynumber" and "myPIN"

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1. While on the phone, hold down the alt key and click in on the track wheel.  Select menu to compose an email or view information.  Remember to go back to phone to disconnect your call.

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1. ALT-CAP-Backspace will reboot your BB (hold down keys in succession, like a CTRL-ALT-DEL on your PC) no data will be lost.

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Change Battery and Antenna Bar Graph to Numerical Values:

1. Hold down alt key (orange button)

2. While holding down the alt key type dbon
   This will change both the battery and antenna bar graphs to numerical values.  The battery number represents % of battery life remaining and the antenna number is db gain (signal strength).  The lower your db gain number, the stronger your signal.
   

        To change back to a bar graph:

1. Hold down alt key (orange button)

2. While holding down the alt key type dbof

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Change an Icon Position on the Home Screen:

1. Highlight the icon you would like to move

2. Hold down alt key (orange button)

3. While holding down the alt key press in on the track wheel

4. Scroll the track wheel to the position you want the icon and press in again
   Now you can order your icons the way you use them!

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Shortcut to Viewing Messages Sequentially:

1. With any message open, press n to go to the next or p to view the previous.
   This can save you a lot of track wheel clicking if you need to view many new messages.

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Going to the Top or Bottom of Messages:

1. With any message open, press t to go to the top or b to go to instantly to the bottom of the message.
   This can save you a lot of scrolling to get to where you want!

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Deleting All Messages Prior to a Date:

1. In the inbox scroll to the date you want to delete prior messages from

2. Click in on the track wheel

3. Choose Delete Prior from the menu and push in on the track wheel
   This can help you clean up your inbox quickly!

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Reveal Senders E-mail Address:

1. With any message open

2. Scroll your cursor over their name in the To, Cc or Bcc section of the message

3. Press the spacebar and their e-mail address will be revealed
   This helps when you are not sure who the sender is!

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Copying Text Two Ways:
To copy words or small phrases:

1. With any message open

2. Scroll the track wheel to the first letter of what you want to copy

3. Hold down the shift key and scroll the track wheel to highlight what you want

4. Press in on the track wheel and select Copy Selection

 To copy paragraphs or full messages:

1. With any message open

2. Scroll the track wheel to the first letter of what you want to copy

3. Press the alt key (orange) and scroll the track wheel to highlight what you want

4. Press in on the track wheel and select Copy Selection
   To paste your copied text from either method just place your cursor where you want to put it, press in on the track wheel and select Paste Selection!

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How to include Special Characters (© ® ™ Ñ ¶) and others:

BlackBerry had the ability to do other special characters in addition to the ones accessed by the shift, alt or symbol menu.  You can access far more by using this method but here are a few:

© - Type and hold c while scrolling the track wheel, release when you see it
® - Type and hold r while scrolling the track wheel, release when you see it
™ - Type and hold t while scrolling the track wheel, release when you see it
Ñ - Type and hold n while scrolling the track wheel, release when you see it
¶ - Type and hold p while scrolling the track wheel, release when you see it

You can see as you are scrolling through these that there are a number of character sets and punctuation offered!

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1. Hold the alt key (orange) while you roll the track wheel to scroll through a field to view options.
2. Hold the CAP key while you roll the track wheel to select multiple items in a list.
3. Type the first letter of an item in an options list or menu to jump directly to that item.
4. Type the first letters of a name or the initials separated by a space to find a contact in the Address Book screen.
5. Press C to create a new message, task, or appointment in the Messages, Saved Messages, Calendar, and Tasks functions.

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To support more than one signature, wipe out your auto signature in the Redirector of the Desktop Software and use 'AutoText' to configure alternate signatures.  AutoText can be found under the Options menu.

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(Some of these work in tasks, memos, and appointments also)
Alt key (orange): show only incoming mail
Alt-o: show only outgoing mail

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Navigating:
enter: scrolls down a page/screen at a time
ALT-enter: scroll back a page/screen at a time
b: scroll to end of page
t: scroll to top of page
u: jump to closest unread message
n: jump to next message
p: jump to previous message
backspace: close message and return to message listing

Reply-to/Forward:
a: reply to or answer this message
f: forward this message

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When in calendar press g to goto a specific day

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Try to use the holster when not viewing the BlackBerry device.  The holster blanks the screen and conservers battery life.  The largest draw on the battery is the transmitter.  Being in fringe or no coverage areas will eat up your battery as it attempts to transmit.  If you're in an area that is out of range, turn your BlackBerry's radio off manually or use Options / Auto On Off to conserve battery life.  For 850/950 users try lithium AA batteries, they seem to last the longest but are more expensive.

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Device Status Screen:

1. Press and hold the alt key (orange button)

2. Press and hold the CAP key

3. Press the b key

4. To exit press the ESC key

This screen will tell you:
- Battery life in % and volts remaining
- Build number and date
- Free memory
- Com port status and other information

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1. Press and hold the alt key (orange button)

2. Press and hold the CAP key

3. Press the r key

4. To exit press the ESC key

This will show you the Radio Status screen.  Clicking on some of the info opens up new windows.  Pressing the letter p while on the Radio Status screen sends a packet to the system which will send your BB an acknowledgement in return.  This is useful if you are in a weak signal area and want to stop your BB from searching for other sites.  You can do this and your BB might stay there long enough to let you send that message that you might normally be in a too weak of an area to send.

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1. Similar to Control-Alt-Delete, hit Orange Key, Right Caps key, then R
   Should bring up Radio info.  Type in REJ (you won't see anything typed in, and sometimes requires more than one try)
   REJ = Reject current tower

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1. Press and hold the alt key (orange button)

2. Press and hold the CAP key

3. Press the backspace key

This will do a soft reboot of your BlackBerry, you will not lose your data.