Tips and Tricks for the BlackBerry 8300 Series

BlackBerry Basics

  • Move the cursor
  • Roll Trackball
  • Exit a screen or move back a page in the browser
  • Press Escape key
  • Move to a list item or menu item
  • Type first letter of the item
  • Select or clear a check box
  • Press Space key
  • View available values in a field
  • Press Alt key
  • Switch applications
  • Hold Alt key and press Escape key
    Continue to hold Alt key and
    select application
    Release Alt key
  • Return to Home screen
  • Press End key
  • Delete highlighted items
  • Press Backspace/Delete key

Phone

  • Answer a call
  • Press Send key
  • Insert (+) into a phone number
  • Hold O
  • Add an extension to a phone number
  • Press Alt key + X key and type the
    extension number
  • Assign a speed dial number to a key
  • On the Home screen or on the
    Phone screen, hold down key
  • Turn speakerphone on or off during a call
  • Press Speakerphone key
  • Type a letter in a phone number field
  • Press Alt key + the letter key
  • Check your voicemail
  • Hold 1
  • Move to the top of the Phone screen
  • Press Space key
  • View the last phone number you called
  • Press Space key + Enter key
    Press Send key to dial the number
  • View your contact list on the Phone screen
  • Hold Send key

Messages

Within a message

  • Reply to a message
  • Press R
  • Reply to all
  • Press L
  • Forward a message
  • Press F
  • File a highlighted email message
  • Press I
  • View email address of a contact
  • In a message, highlight contact
    Press Q
    To view display name again, press Q

In a message list

  • Open a highlighted message
  • Press Enter key
  • Compose a message from a message list
  • Press C
  • Mark a message as opened or unopened
  • Press Alt key + U
  • View received messages
  • Press Alt key + I
  • View sent messages
  • Press Alt key + O
  • View voicemail messages
  • Press Alt key + V
  • View SMS text messages
  • Press Alt key + S
  • View call logs
  • Press Alt key + P
  • View all your messages again
  • Press Escape key

Moving around a message list

  • Move up the screen
  • Press Shift key + Space key
  • Move down the screen
  • Press Space key
  • Move to the top of a message list
  • Press T
  • Move to the bottom of a message list
  • Press B
  • Move to the next date
  • Press N
  • Move to the previous date
  • Press P
  • Move to the next unopened item
  • Press U
  • Move to the next related message
  • Press J
  • Move to the previous related message
  • Press K

Attachments

General Tips

  • Search for text in an attachment
  • Press F
  • Move to the last cursor position after closing and reopening an attachment
  • Press G

In a spreadsheet attachment

  • Move to a specific cell
  • Press G
  • View the content of a cell
  • Press Space key
  • Switch worksheets
  • Press V
    Highlight a worksheet
    Press Enter key
  • View hidden columns or rows
  • Press H
  • Hide the columns or rows again
  • Press H

In a presentation attachment

  • Switch presentation views
  • Press M
  • Move to the next slide
  • Press N
  • Move to the previous slide
  • Press P
  • Move to the last cursor position after closing and reopening a presentation attachment
  • Verify that you’re viewing the
    presentation in text view or in text
    and slide view
    Press G

Camera and Video

  • Pan up in a picture
  • Press 2
  • Pan down in a picture
  • Press 8
  • Pan right in a picture
  • Press 6
  • Pan left in a picture
  • Press 4
  • Zoom in to a picture
  • Press 3
  • Zoom out from a picture
  • Press 9
  • Zoom in as much as possible to a picture
  • Press 1
  • Zoom out as much as possible from a picture
  • Press 7
  • Return to the center of a picture
  • Press 5
  • Take a picture
  • Press the Right Convenience Key
  • Zoom in to a subject
  • Press the Volume Up key
  • Zoom out from a subject
  • Press the Volume Down key
  • Change the flash mode for a picture
  • Press the Space key
  • Change the size of the viewfinder for a picture
  • Press the Symbol key

Media

  • Move to the controls at the bottom of the screen whaen you are viewing a list of songs
  • Press the Space key
  • Play next song in a playlist
  • Press and hold down the Volume Down key
  • Play the previous song in a playlist
  • Press and hold down the Volume Up key
  • Pause or resume playing a video or song
  • Press Mute Key
  • Play the next song in a category
  • Press N
  • Play the previous song in a category
  • Press P
  • Rotate a picture
  • Press R
  • Zoom in on a picture
  • Press I
  • Zoom out from a picture
  • Press O
  • Return to the original picture size
  • Press W

Browser

General Tips

  • Insert a period (.) in the Go To dialog box
  • Press Space key
  • Insert a slash mark (/)in the Go To dialog box
  • Press Shift key + Space key
  • Open the browser options
  • In the browser, press O
  • Stop loading a web page
  • Press Escape key
  • Hide the browser
  • Press D
  • Close the browser
  • Hold Escape key

On a web page

  • Switch between Column view and Page view
  • Press Z
  • Zoom in to a web page
  • Press I
  • Zoom out from a web page
  • Press O
  • Turn on support for JavaScript
  • Press J
  • Move to a specific web page
  • Press G
  • Return to the home page
  • Press H
  • Open the bookmark list
  • Press K
  • Add a bookmark
  • Press A
  • View a list of web pages you’ve recently visited
  • Press I
  • Refresh a web page
  • Press R
  • View the address for a link
  • Highlight a link
    Press L
  • View the address for a web page
  • Press P
  • Save a web page to a message list
  • Press S
  • Follow a highlighted link
  • Press Enter key
  • Hide the banner
  • Press U
  • View the banner again
  • Press U
  • View a thumbnail version of a web page
  • Press X
    To return to the normal view,
    press any key

Navigating within a web page

  • Move up a screen
  • Press Shift key + Space key
  • Move down a screen
  • Press Space Key
  • Move to the top of a web page
  • Press T
  • Move to the bottom of a web page
  • Press B

Calendar

NOTE: For these tips to work in Day view,
in the calendar options, set Enable Quick Entry field to No

  • Schedule an appointment
  • Press C
  • Change to Agenda view
  • Press A
  • Change to Day view
  • Press D
  • Change to Week view
  • Press W
  • Change to Month view
  • Press M
  • Move to the next day, week or month
  • Press Space key
  • Move to the previous day, week or month
  • Press Shift key + Space key
  • Move to the current date
  • Press T
  • Move to a specific date
  • Press G

Typing

  • Insert a period
  • Press Space key twice – the next
    letter is capitalized.
  • Capitalize a letter
  • Hold letter key until capitalized letter
    appears
  • Type an alternate character on a key
  • Hold Alt key and press character key
  • Type an accented or special character
  • Hold letter key and roll trackball
    left or right (For example, to type ü,
    hold U and roll the trackball to the left
    until ü appears)
    Release letter key when accented
    or special character appears
  • Type a number in a number field
  • Press a number key
  • Type a number in a password field
  • Hold Alt key and press a number key
  • Turn on NUM lock
  • Press Alt key + Left Shift key
  • Turn on CAP lock
  • Press Alt key + Right Shift key
  • Turn off NUM lock or CAP lock
  • Press Shift key
  • Switch typing input languages
  • On the Language screen, set Use Input
    Language Shortcut field to Yes
    Hold Alt key and press Enter key
    Highlight a language
    Release Alt key
  • Insert a period or at sign (@) into an email address
  • Press Space key
  • Type a symbol
  • Press Symbol key and type the letter
    that appears below the symbol
  • Highlight a line of text
  • Press Shift key and roll Trackball
  • Highlight text character by character
  • Hold Shift key and roll Trackball
    left or right
  • Cancel a text selection
  • Press the Escape key
  • Cut highlighted text when typing
  • Press Shift key + Backspace/Delete
    key
  • Copy highlighted text when typing
  • Press Alt key and click Trackball
  • Paste highlighted text when typing
  • Press Shift key and click Trackball

Search

  • Search for a contact in a list of contacts
  • Type the contact name or initials separated by a space
  • Search for text in a message or memo
  • Press S
  • Search for text in an attachment or web page
  • Press F
  • Search for text in a presentation attachment
  • Verify that you’re viewing the presentation in text view or in text and slide view Press F

BlackBerry Maps

  • Zoom in on a map
  • Press I
  • Zoom out from a map
  • Press O
  • View or hide status information at top of map
  • Press U
  • View or hide tracking information at the bottom of map
  • Press the Space Key
  • Move to the next direction on a route
  • Press N
  • Move to the previous direction on a route
  • Press P

     

    To learn more about making the most of your BlackBerry smartphone, view the BlackBerry 101 interactive demo.