Have you ever been in that situation where you wish you had a backup but don’t? As a member of BlackBerry® Technical Support’s Social Media Support Team, I see this happen all too often! The good thing is, backups are quick and easy to do with all versions of BlackBerry® Desktop Manager.

In BlackBerry Desktop Manager 6.0 for the PC, just click on the Back up now button (note: in previous versions of BlackBerry Desktop Manager you can click on “Backup and Restore”). On the next screen, make sure Full is selected then click on Back up. You also have the option to encrypt your back up file, that way, if someone gains access to it, they can’t restore it without the password.

If you find you have trouble remembering to back up, you can use the automatic back up feature! From the BlackBerry Desktop Manager main screen, click on Device, then Device Options. On the General tab, under When I connect my device, click the Back up my device checkbox and select how often. Next, click on the Back up tab to configure your back up settings, such as back up type and encryption.

By default, your backup file will be saved in your Documents folder (My Documents if using Microsoft Windows XP) with an .ipd extension. These back up files, however, can only be restored to a BlackBerry® smartphone and cannot be opened or viewed on your computer.

Another great thing about the back up feature: you can restore any back up file to any BlackBerry smartphone! This is one trick I use when I get a new device – I back up the old one and then I restore it to the new one. It’s like magic!

Your BlackBerry smartphone backup will save data such as your Messages, Contacts, Calendar, Profile Settings and more; however, applications do not get backed up, so make sure you have the install files handy, or that you have successfully set up your BlackBerry ID with BlackBerry App World™ 2.0.

Remember that you should make it a habit to back up your data consistently, and you should always back up your data before you install any upgrade on your BlackBerry smartphone. When it comes to your valuable data, it never hurts to be prepared!

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to ask here in the comments, or swing by the BlackBerry Support Forums for more info!

You may speak more than one language, and so may your friends and family – and so does your BlackBerry® smartphone, for that matter. Want to make your device use the same languages you do? Keep reading! To install another language to your BlackBerry smartphone, you will need BlackBerry® Desktop Software installed on your PC. From the computer with your desktop software installed, download and install the software bundle that contains the language that you wish to add to your device. Once the software bundle has been installed, the language bundles that are available for your device will depend on the wireless service provider.

How to install and configure additional language packs on a BlackBerry smartphone

1. From the BlackBerry Desktop Software website, download the BlackBerry® Device Software for the BlackBerry smartphone that includes the language pack you want. For example, BlackBerry Device Software v5.0.0.1014 (All Languages – East Asia languages included)
2. Open BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
3. Select the application loader tool.
4. Open Add/Remove Programs. At this point, BlackBerry Desktop Manager will confirm if the installed version of BlackBerry Device Software version is specific to the wireless service provider that the BlackBerry smartphone was purchased from.
5. From the Device Application Select screen, locate East Asian Language and Input Support.
6. Select the language you want to install.
7. Click Next. The installation will begin.

Once the BlackBerry Device Software is installed on the BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following:

1. Go to Options.
2. Under Input Language, select the language that was installed.
3. Save your changes.
4. Compose an email message to test the input language.

And that’s all there is to it – once your device finishes its installation, your BlackBerry will speak the same languages that you do!

For more information on installing BlackBerry Desktop Software, see How to install the BlackBerry Desktop Software for Microsoft Windows.

For more information on localization and language support, see Localization support for BlackBerry smartphones.

What languages does your BlackBerry smartphone speak?