The 10 Best BlackBerry Shortcuts
CIO.com's BlackBerry black belt Al Sacco shares his 10 favorite and most frequently used BlackBerry keyboard shortcuts, tips and tricks.
CIO — By all accounts, I am a BlackBerry "power user."
I often carry more than one BlackBerry at a time. My organization's IT guys--along with friends, family and everyone else--come to me to help solve tough BlackBerry-related issues. And I use my BlackBerry for everything; surfing the Web; listening to music and watching video; navigation; online shopping and mobile banking; social networking; image and video capture; the list goes on and on.
As a CIO.com technology writer/blogger/journalist who focuses on BlackBerry, I've also written my fair share of BlackBerry tips and tricks stories--just check out my BlackBerry Bible page.
More specifically, I've spent lots of time fiddling with Research In Motion's (RIM) (RIM) BlackBerry OS, seeking new shortcuts and tricks. And I've communicated with various "experts" on the subject, including insurance agency Aflac's BlackBerry guru, all in the name of compiling a definitive list of the BlackBerry shortcuts.
But one article I haven't written is a list of my own personal favorite BlackBerry shortcuts. Without further ado, here's a quick list of the ten BlackBerry tips and tricks I use most often.
1) The BlackBerry "Soft Reset" Keyboard Shortcut
Anyone who's spent any significant amount of time with a BlackBerry smartphone knows that it's often necessary to "reset" or "reboot" you device, whether it be after installing or removing an application, when you're low on memory or your smartphone just starts behaving badly.
You can perform a "hard reset" by removing your BlackBerry battery, but it's often easier to simply perform a "soft reset" since you don't have to actually take your device apart to do so. (Read about the difference between BlackBerry hard and soft resets here.)
To quickly perform a soft reset, simply press your BlackBerry's ALT, Right Shift and Delete keys simultaneously and your device will reset itself.
2) BlackBerry "Help Me" Screen
You can quickly view various BlackBerry status information, including battery-life percentage, free file memory, wireless signal strength in numbers, BlackBerry OS version, BlackBerry PIN number and much more with a simple keyboard shortcut.
Just press your BlackBerry's ALT, Left Shift and H keys simultaneously to display the BlackBerry "Help Me" screen.
3) Skip to the Oldest Unread Message in BlackBerry Inbox
Sometimes I just can't seem to keep up with e-mail on my BlackBerry, and before I know it, a couple of days have passed and I've got hundreds of messages built up on my device. I could go backwards through my messages, but I find it easier to jump to the oldest unread message and work from there, since newer messages could be related to earlier e-mail I might have missed.
To jump to the oldest unread message in your BlackBerry's inbox, simply open up the inbox, scroll over a message and tap your U key. You'll jump right to your oldest unopened mail.
