Since I’ve been using a BlackBerry® smartphone, I’ve built up quite a detailed listing of contacts so for this Five Tip Friday, I’d like to share a few of my favorite tips related to the BlackBerry Contacts app. For example, did you know you that you can easily back up your contacts and more using BlackBerry® Protect? We’ll go over that and more tips below.
Let’s begin!
1. Add Contacts to the Home screen
For those using BlackBerry® 6 or BlackBerry® 7 OS and later, you have the ability to add contacts to your Home screen in addition to other items such as websites and files. This is a great way to get one- or two-click access to an important contact.
Try adding a contact to your Home screen right now by using the steps below.
1. Open the Contacts app and highlight a contact
2. Press the Menu key and select “Add to Home Screen”
- To change the name of the shortcut, type a new name.
- To change the icon image, tap on the image to the left of the name.
- To change the location where the shortcut appears, change the Location field.
- To add the shortcut to your Favorites panel, select the Mark as Favorite checkbox.
3. Click Add.
After adding a few Contacts to your Home screen, consider adding a dedicated folder to help with organization. To do this, while viewing your Home screen press the Menu key and select “Add Folder”. Don’t forget that you have the option of specifying what the folder icon looks like by tapping on it.
To learn more about this feature, open the Help app and search for ‘Add a shortcut to your Home screen’.
2. Link a BlackBerry® Messenger contact with the Contacts app
When you link a contact with a contact in the Contacts application, you might be able to perform additional tasks using BlackBerry Messenger (BBM™). For example, during a chat, you might be able to quickly call or send an email message to the contact from the menu. If contacts do not have display pictures in BlackBerry Messenger, their contact pictures from the Contacts application will appear in BlackBerry Messenger instead. Try linking a contact right now using the steps below.
1. Open BlackBerry Messenger and highlight a BBM
2. Press the Menu key and select “Link with BlackBerry Contact”
3. If the BBM contact is already in your Contacts app click “Select Contact”
4. If the BBM contact is not in the Contacts App, select “New Contact” and enter the Contact details.
5. Press the Menu key and select “Save”.
To unlink the BBM contact from the Contacts application, while highlighting the BBM contact, press the Menu key and select “Remove Link with BlackBerry Contact”.
3. Easily Share Contact Cards
Sharing information on your BlackBerry smartphone is really quick, and that applies to sharing Contact information as well! The next time someone asks you for your contact details or someone’s contact information that you have within the Contacts app, consider sending them a contact card using the steps below.
1. Open the Contacts app and highlight a contact
2. Press the Menu key and select “Send Contact Card”
3. Select how you would like to send the Contact Card using several different methods:
- PIN
- Bluetooth®
- Text Message
- BBM Contact
4. Setting up Contact Alerts
You can create contact alerts that allow you to customize ring tones and alerts for calls and messages from specific contacts or groups of contacts. When you receive a call or message from the contact, your BlackBerry smartphone uses the assigned ring tone or alert, even if you select the Silent profile or Vibrate Only profile.
If you do not want to be notified with the assigned ring tone or alert, you can select the All Alerts Off profile.
1. On the home screen, click on the Sound and Alert Profiles icon
2. Click “Change Sounds and Alerts” and select “Sounds for Contacts” followed by “Add Contact Alert”
3. In the Name field, type the name of the contact alert
4. In the Contacts field, type the name of the contact and select a contact
5. Change the ring tone and alert information for calls and messages
6. Press the Menu key and select “Save”.
5. Back it up for free using BlackBerry Protect
Does the idea of losing your Contacts scare you? I know it worries me because after years of using my BlackBerry smartphone, I have a huge number of Contacts. To help make sure my Contacts listing is safe, I’ve been using BlackBerry Protect, which is a free service that automatically backs up important data on your smartphone over the air. This means items such as your Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Memos and more will be backed up on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule. To learn more about BlackBerry Protect – as well a few other reasons you should consider it – using check out my post on 5 reasons why you should use BlackBerry Protect.
Note: Password Keeper and Wi-Fi® Network Profiles will be available for backup on BlackBerry 7 smartphones only. If you use BlackBerry 6 or earlier, please make a backup using BlackBerry Desktop Software to ensure Password Keeper and Wi-Fi Network profile information is backed up safely.
Got a tip you’d like to share? Leave a comment and let me know!