How to Navigate a Blackberry Without the Trackball

Many of the newer BlackBerry smart phones are designed to be used with a trackball. The trackball allows the user to navigate screens, applications and the cursor (when composing text). It is possible, however, to navigate some BlackBerry applications and functions using just the keypad. The default setting for newer BlackBerrys is for the shortcuts from the home screen to be turned off. If you haven't turned on the shortcuts, you'll need to do so before you'll be able to navigate without using the trackball.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Enable Shortcut Keys

1. Go to the "Phone" application by pressing the green "Call Send" button. This button is the second to the left of your trackball.

2. Press the "Menu" key. It's to the immediate left of the trackball and has the BlackBerry logo.

3. Choose "Options" from the list that appears. You can choose by pressing the "Enter" key. Each press of the "Enter" key scrolls down the list by one.

4. Choose "General Options" by pressing the "Enter" key.

5. Change the "Dial From Home Screen" field to "No." Once you scroll down to this field by pressing the "Enter" key, you can press the "Alt" key to access a sub-menu that gives you the choices of "Yes" and "No." Choose "No."

6. Hit the "Back" button to save your selection. It's the button with the curved arrow to the immediate right of the trackball. Your BlackBerry is now enabled to use shortcut keys from the home screen.

Shortcuts

1. Press "M" for messages from the home screen. Once you're in the messages application, you can press "C" to compose a message. To move up a screen, press the "Shift" key and the "Space" key. To move down a screen, press the "Space" key. Pressing "T" will move you to the top of a message list. Pressing "B" will move you to the bottom. By pressing "U," you can move to the next unopened item. Press "N" to move to the next date. If you wish to move to the previous date, press "P."

2. Press the corresponding key to access the following applications:

   "D" = Memo Pad

   "A" = Address Book

   "U" = Calculator

   "L" = Calendar

   "T" = Tasks

   "B" = Browser

   "N" = BlackBerry Messenger

   "G" = Google Talk

   "H" = Help

3. Click the first letter of a menu item to select it once you open a menu on your BlackBerry. Press "Enter" to save your selection. If more than one menu item begins with the same first letter, press the letter key multiple times until you arrive at your desired menu item.

References

• BlackBerry

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• CrackBerry.com