Some Blackberry Shortcuts

It's easy to get overwhelmed with all the buttons and ports on your blackberry device. However, I'm sure you'll learn something new everyday as you use it.  On blackberry, just like on every other device out there,with shortcuts, blackberry shortcuts will make your life easier. I'm going to show you multitude of keyboard shortcuts that will help you speed through many things on your BlackBerry in no time at all. 
Here we will take a look at some of the various shortcuts you can use for messaging, browsing, composing email/SMS and lots more.

 Let's get started.

Basic Shortcuts
The following shortcuts can be used in many applications:

• To exit a screen (or to move to a previous page in a browser) press the Escape key
• To select or clear a check box, press the Space key  
• To switch applications, hold the Alt key and press the Escape key. Continue holding the Alt key and select an application, then release the Alt key
• To return to the Home screen, press the End key  

Phone Shortcuts
The following shortcuts can be used in the Phone application or during a phone call:

• To answer a phone call, press the Send key
• To view the call log, press the Send key from any screen
• To insert a plus sign (+) when typing a phone number, hold the letter O
• To move to the top of the Phone screen, press the Space key
• To change between headset, speakerphone and handset, press the menu key and choose an option, or better yet, Tap the $ (dollar sign) key on your keyboard to turn speakerphone on/off during a call
• To stay in a call and return to the home screen, press the Escape key and select OK
• To add an extension to a phone number, press the Alt key and the X key, then type the extension number
• To assign a speed dial number to a key, from the Home screen or in the Phone application, hold the key you want to assign. Type the phone number
• To type a letter in a phone number field, press the Alt key and the letter

Standby Mode
One of the greatest tips to save on battery life and keep from calling people with your device in your pocket (hey, we've all done it) is to put your device into standby mode.  To do this, simply hold the Mute key on top of your device for 3 seconds.  Your Berry will go into standby mode, where you will be prevented from accidentally pressing any keys, but all your alerts and calls will still come in.  To exit standby mode, just tap the Mute key.

Message Shortcuts
In a message:

• R - Reply To Message
• L - Reply To All
• F - Forward Message
• I - File Highlighted Message
• To view the email address of a contact, in a message, highlight the contact. Press Q. To view the display name again, press Q.

In a message list:

• C - Compose Message
• ALT+U - Mark Message As Opened/Unopened
• ALT+I - View Inbox
• ALT+O - View Outbox
• ALT+V - View VoiceMail
• ALT+S - View SMS
• ALT+P - View Call Log
• T - Go to top of a message
• B - Go to bottom of a message
• N - Move to the next date
• P - Move to the previous date
• U - Move to the next unopened item
• J - Move to the next related item
• K - Move to the previous related item
• To view all your messages again, press the Escape key
• SHIFT+SPACE - Move to the top of a screen
• SPACE - Move to the bottom of a screen
• F - Search for text in an attachment/web page
• G - Move to the last cursor position in a message after closing and reopening an attachment

Typing Shortcuts

• To insert a period, press the Space key twice. The next letter is capitalized
• To capitalize a letter, hold the letter key until the capitalized letter appears
• Alt + Left Shift - NUM Lock
• Alt + Right Shift - CAPS Lock
• To cut highlighted text when typing, press the Shift + Backspace/Delete key
• To copy highlighted text when typing, press the Alt key and click the trackball
• To paste highlighted text when typing, press the Shift key and click the trackball
• To turn off NUM lock or CAP lock, press the Shift key
• To insert an at sign (@) or a period (.) in an email address field, press the Space key
• To highlight a line of text, press the Shift key and roll the trackball
• To highlight text character by character, hold the Shift key and roll the trackball left or right
• To cancel a text selection, press the Escape key

Calendar Shortcuts

• C - schedule an appointment
• A - Change to Agenda view
• D - Change to Day view
• W - Change to Week view
• M - Change to Month view
• Space - Move to the next day/week/month
• Shift+Space - Move to the previous day/week/month
• T - Move to the current date
• G - Move to a specific date

Browser Shortcuts

• To insert a period in the Go To dialog box, press the Space key
• To insert a slash mark (/) in the Go To dialog box, press Shift+Space
• To open the browser options, in the browser, press O
• To stop loading a web page, press the Escape key
• To hide the browser, press D
• To close the browser, hold the Escape key
• To view the address for a link, highlight a link. Press L
• To move forward a screen, press the Shift key and the Space key
• To move to a previous screen, press the Space key
• G - Move to a specific page
• H - Return to the home page
• K - Open bookmarks
• A - Add a bookmark
• I - View recent web pages
• R - Refresh page
• P - View page address
• S - Save web page
• U - Hide browser banner
• X - View thumbnail version of a page
• T - Move to the top of a page
• B - Move to the bottom of a page

Media Shortcuts

• Mute Key - Pause/Resume a video/song
• R - Rotate pictures
• I - Zoom In
• O - Zoom Out
• W - Original Size

An easy way to access the default applications is through keyboard shortcuts as well.  To use these, you must have Dial From Home Screen set to "Off".  (Phone > Options > General Options).  You will now have to use the Send key to access your phone and make a call, but you will have the following shortcuts available:

• W - WAP Browser
• R - Alarm
• T - Tasks
• U - Calculator
• O - Options
• L - Calendar
• M - Messages
• B - Browser
• N - BlackBerry Messenger
• V - Saved messages
• C - Compose
• A - Address Book
• S - Search
• D - Notes
• F - Profiles
• H - Help
• K - Lock keypad

Other helpful shortcuts:

• ALT+Shift+H - Access Help ME! screen (status info etc.)
• ALT+LGLG - Access Event Log
• ALT+Right Shift+DEL - Soft Reset
• myver - Device Model/Version
• You can change the display of the 'signal strength' on your screen to read in real numbers. While at the home screen, hold down the ALT key while you type NMLL. The bars should change to numbers. For the 'signal strength', if you are in the 100 area (that means -100 dBm), you will be transmitting at maximum power. Anything at -90 to -50 is a very good signal.  
• mypin - Device PIN
• LD - Local Date
• LT - Local Time
• mynumber - Phone Number
•  To quickly jump between your Chats, Contacts and BBM Groups simply tap the “space” key. This will save you from having to scroll through all your open conversations, to access your countless BBM Contacts, you popular person, you.

Using these shortcuts will not only save you time, but help you easily navigate through all aspects of your blackberry device.

There are a lots of other great keyboard shortcuts available. Shares with us in the comments!

I hope this helps.