One of the most common questions new users ask is "How do I change my email tone, SMS alert and ringtone?". In this lesson, we will go step by step through all aspects of setting up your alert profiles. We will edit the preset profiles, and also create new ones and even add custom ringtones and exceptions for your contacts.

BlackBerry 101: How to Create and Edit Profiles and Notifications

Profile Basics

First off, the basics of profiles.  If you click the Profiles icon on your home screen (or, if you have Dial From Home Screen set to "Off" you can simply press "F").  Here you will see the default profiles - Loud, Vibrate, Quiet, Normal, Phone Only and Off.

The Loud, Quiet and Normal is what we will be editing to our liking.  The vibrate mode will silence all incoming tones, and your device will only vibrate for alerts.  The Phone Only mode will silence all your email, SMS/MMS and other alerts and only the phone will ring.  Off will turn off everything and silence all alerts for your device. 

Editing Profiles

Now we will go through the steps of editing a profile.  For this we will edit the Loud profile - you can use the same steps to edit other profiles later.  First off, from the profiles screen, scroll to the bottom and select "Advanced...". 

Now we are at the Profiles screen.  Highlight Loud and select Options > Edit. 

Here you will see a list of all the available alerts for your device (both default and any installed 3rd party apps). Lets first select our basic phone ringtone.  Scroll down and select Phone from the list. 

From here, we have the option for “Out Of Holster” and “In Holster”.  These are two often confused options.  “Out of Holster” means the device is not in a holster or case of any sort and is  totally naked.  “In Holster” means the device is in a holster or case – covered.  When the device is ‘In Holster”, a small magnet in the case signals the device for a different lot of settings.  (Not all cases have magnet that will signal the device).  So you can pick and choose to have the device louder when in the holster, or simply vibrate.  The choice is yours.  For now we will set the “Out of Holster” tone.  Scroll to Tune and select it.  You will be presented with a list of all the tones on your phone.  Scroll until you locate the new tone (usually alphabetically) and select it. Our ringtone is now set. 

Next to “Out of Holster” there are four options.  Choose one depending on how you would like your phone to ring in this profile.

* None: Silent – no tone at all
* Tone: Device will alert based on volume/profile settings
* Vibrate: Device will vibrate but have no sound
* Vibrate + Tone: Device will vibrate before sounding the alert tone

For this instance we select “Tone” which will cause the device to ring an audible alert with no vibration.  Set the “Volume” for the tone (High, Medium or Low).  Set the Repeat Notification to either “LED Flashing” or “None”.  You may also choose to set the options for when your device is in a holster on this screen (perhaps you'd like the phone to only vibrate in holster etc).  From here, press menu button and select “Save”.  Your ringtone is set and we're ready to move on.  We follow these same steps for each application alert on the device.  You can set alerts for every application.  Browser for browser messages, Calendar for reminders/alerts, Level 1 messages, Phone, SMS, MMS, Blackberry Messenger and of course your email addresses (listed as Messages:xxx in the profiles list).  You may also see options for Facebook, Jivetalk etc. depending on what 3rd party apps are installed. 

To edit alerts for other profiles (Quiet, Normal etc.)  Take the same steps, only edit the profiles for your liking, perhaps changing the volume, vibration etc.  These steps are the same for all the alert settings on the device.  SMS, MMS, Email etc.  Simply edit the profile you wish to change and go through the same steps to set the chosen alert.

Creating Custom Profiles

If you have used up the default profiles and want to create another for lets say, when you're sleeping, you can always create a new profile.  To do this, we return to the Advanced screen of our Profiles.  Press the Menu key and select New Profile. 

The next screen works just the same as the default profiles, only you can add a custom title.  For this profile I will create a "Bed Mode" which will only alert me upon phone calls or SMS messages.  You can create multiple custom profiles depending on your needs. 

Using Custom Ringtones

Now you may want to have a custom ringtone for certain contacts.  To do this, navigate to your Address Book and edit a contact. 

Press the Menu key and select "Add Custom Ring Tone".  Choose a tone from the list and save. 

That's it!  Now when you look at your profiles you will see your contacts with custom ringtones.  Note that these are for calls only.  To setup custom alerts for SMS/MMS, emails etc. from contacts, we have to take a few more steps. 

Creating Exceptions

First, you need to create a new Profile as we did earlier. In the new Profile, set your alerts for SMS, email, phone, etc. for your contact.  Next we will create an exception. Navigate to Profiles > Advanced.  Press the Menu key and select New Exception. 

Enter a title for the exception (its easiest to name it the same and the custom profile you just created). In the FROM field, press the Menu key and select Add Name and choose a contact from your address book. 

Next, under Use Profile, select the newly created Profile for this contact.

Add the custom phone tone for this contact. (Also, make sure you enable the exception by checking the box).  Thats it.  A slightly lengthy process, but it gets the job done.  You can do this multiple times for other contacts as well. 

Well thats really all there is to it.  Once you get the hang of it, you'll be managing your Profiles like a pro.  If you need help above and beyond this lesson, check out these threads in the forums:

• How to make a specific ringtone, email, sms/text, notification for a contact?
• How to edit a PROFILE & set NOTIFICATIONS