Blackberry Shortcuts That Will Save You A Lot of Time

The scroll ball or “pearl” on your Blackberry is made to work in a similar way to a mouse on a computer. Unfortunately, a mouse isn’t necessarily fast, it’s simple. That’s what a mouse or scroll ball was designed to do, simply things on a computer or in this case, a smartphone. If you want fast, you’re going to need to master a little trick known as “keyboard shortcuts”.

Your Blackberry Pearl has it’s own set of keyboard shortcuts which can save you a lot of time. If you’re still using your scroll ball and pressing that little “Blackberry button” to the left of it to open up menus, you’re going to love what I’m about to teach you. For the most part, I’m going to stay focused on managing your messages by using keyboard shortcuts.

The Shortcuts

A lot of businesses will spell out their phone number to help you remember it. That’s great for remembering but it’s worthless for those of us using a Blackberry Pearl. If you compare the keyboard on your Pearl with one on a traditional phone, you’ll notice the letters don’t land on the same numbers.

I’ve actually had situations where I would look at a “regular” phone and translate the word into numbers so I could dial it on my Blackberry Pearl. Thankfully I’ve learned of a secret little keyboard trick that eliminates this problem. As you’re dialing a number, when you get to the part where you need to spell, just press and hold the ALT key (t’s the one just below ZX on the left) and then spell the word using “multi-tap.”

“Multi-tap” mean, if you want to use the 2nd letter on a key, you press it twice. For example, take out your Pearl and look at it. If you want to type a Y, you’d press the “2″ key two times. The first press brings up the T and the second tap brings up the Y. If you ever have to type in a password using your Pearl, it works the same way.

This also works if you’re phone company gives you short cuts to find out your Balance (#BAL) or make a payment (#PMT). Just hold down the ALT key and use the “multi-tap” technique to spell whatever you would normally spell on a traditional keypad. That tip right there will save you MANY headaches.

Managing Your Messages With Shortcuts

There have been several occasions where I read an email and didn’t reply to it right away. It happens all the time. Later, I’ll look through my list of message and reply. The keyboard shortcut is to reply is to highlight the message you want (or have it open already) and press the “!” key. That’s it.

That is a lot less effort than you’d have to go through using the scroll ball and the “Blackberry button.” Give it a try and you’ll soon have this shortcut at the top of your list as well.

Here’s another quick tip that can save you hundreds of key punches. At the end of a sentence, instead of pressing ALT and “.” just double space and your Blackberry will add in the period automatically. This will speed up your typing considerably since it doesn’t require the use of both hands. If you’re ever typing an email address, you can do something similar. Just press space where the @ symbol goes and Blackberry adds it automatically.

If you’re inbox is like mine, it can fill up quite fast with text messages, emails, voice mail and of course phone calls. Scrolling down to find a phone call you made earlier in the day can sometimes prove more difficult than it sounds. Try this next time. If you just want to see your phone calls (made and receieved) press and hold ALT while you press the letter P. There they are, only phone calls. Just want your your text or SMS message listed? Press and hold ALT while you press S. Just want voice mail? Press and hold ALT while you press V. When you’re done, either press and hold ALT and I or just press escape.

Spend a good week or two learning to use these shortcuts as much as possible. Maybe you need to write them down on the back of a business card for now. Whatever you have to do, get them memorized. These are so powerful and effective, they’ll save you a ton of time. They’re used so often, they can save you a lot of time in the long run.