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19 Comments

How to show and hide home screen panels in BlackBerry 7

By Adam Zeis on 18 Aug 2011 03:52 pm
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BlackBerry 7 Manage Home Screen PanelsBlackBerry 7 Manage Home Screen Panels

One of our biggest gripes with BlackBerry OS 6 was those pesky home screen panels (or "views"). Using a trackpad device it was always a pain to stay on the panel you wanted and not randomly scroll to a different one. If you read our BlackBerry Bold 9780 review, you can recall Kevin went on quite a bit of a rant about just that:

I constantly find myself accidentally scrolling between views while attempting to open specific applications ... Namely, my main messages app is always the first icon on the screen, so when I scroll quickly to it, I end up overshooting and change to the next view. Over the course of an average day, I've been finding myself accidentally scrolling to the next screen anywhere from 15 to 30+ times a day ... I'm not alone on this one either. It actually makes me kind of mad that RIM released BlackBerry 6 without having the ability to go back to a simpler homescreen experience, either via an option to disable homescreen views or by providing an alternative theme that does not have the views built in. 

Well BlackBerry 7 brings the ability to disable the extra panels on the home screen, making many happy campers much happier. Totally something that should have been in BlackBerry 6 from the go but for some reason was left out. Here's how to do it:

  1. From the home screen,  press the Menu key then choose Manage Panels
  2. Uncheck the boxes for the panels you don't want on your home screen (All is default and can't be hidden)
  3. Save and you're done. Welcome to a panel free BlackBerry!

For more tips on using your device be sure to check out all of our help and how-to posts. If you found a new tip that you think should be shared with the CrackBerry Nation, send it along to tips(at)crackberry.com.

Topics: BlackBerry 101 Quick Tips BlackBerry 7 How To Help, How-To & Tips BlackBerry 101

RIMPIRE STRIKES BACK: BlackBerry Super Fans talk BlackBerry 7, and welcoming in a new fan! Previous
And then there were four - HP shutting down webOS device operationsNext
Adam Zeis Adam Zeis 3114 (articles) 2800 (forum posts)
19 comments

Abrante

Can't wait to get my hands on a BB7 device (T-Mo customer).................... By the way, 1st

esalonia

Too bad you cant change the number of rows any more. Stuck with the 1.

Adam Zeis

Actually you can still go two rows (on the 9900/9930 at least). Just drag the bar up (where it says All) until it shows two rows and it will stay there. At least I think it will :)

esalonia

Wow. You're correct. Thanks

I guess I HAVE to use the touchscreen for something. (though I still wish I could disable it) /rant

Brit6

I wish you could get rid of the bar that "All" is in as well and change it so that the names of the icons are below the icon picture just like on OS6.

KristelPippi

YES! On my 9700, I still had OS5 and always used "blank screen" themes, so the only things showing on my home screen were usually the clock, signal and battery icons.
Any word on when the new theme builder for OS7 devices will be out??

Smmrgrl

I know you can choose what goes in your media and favorites screen, but can you also tell the BB what to show as being available in the "download" panel as well? Or does that self-populate itself?

Adam Zeis

The Downloads panel just shows your downloads. Pretty sure you can't move anything else there.

davidinLA

Goes to show you that os5 was basic but simple to use. But Kevin and others were unhappy and wanted to have something different. So RIM came up with the panels that I also find annoying. I wish I could disable mine in os6.

Some people will never be happy.

Irish_711

It would be nice if an updated OS6 would come out with the same options as OS7.

daniel337

Wanna see this must-have-feature also in OS6.
Should be available for OS6 because the unwanted switching of the panels is very annoying!

miz_pimp

I agree completely! I really hope they add this feature in an update of OS6. I'm pretty sure it's NOT that difficult to implement, and that it's NOT hardware dependent. *rolls eyes*

msweet#CB

They should let you lock the panel open... going from 3 rows to 2 (or 1) serves no purpose

xMatter

this little change now makes me definitely want a new OS 7 device

cognatus

Agree 100% with Daniel337 !! I have spent x dollars on themes to try to get this sorted

Xacradin

RIM... dont forget OS 6 please! 7 used to be 6.1, and make this available in next update please!

KristelPippi

Does anyone know how to hide all of the panels in OS7? Or can we not do that yet because there are no themes available because of theme builder?
My husband has the 9780 and he can minimize the bottom panel in OS6.

chillininmtl

Unfortunately my blackberry now has popped up TWO rows of items and it can't be reduced to one. Seen a few posts online about this but just not on crackberry so far. Ive been going back to backup versions of my berry but it just pops back to two rows after a day or so. RIM... WHAT... IS... THIS... NOW? Is it just me, or do these berries tend to develop the KOOKIEST conditions. Why oh why, are the forums for Apple and Android not packed to capacity with a myriad of the most bizarre conditions like this?! Oh dearest Blackberry, pls get it right before you go the way of the dodo -_--

Twinkle Persaud

Can you please tell me how can i get one row of icon on a 9930?