Throughout the day I used my BlackBerry in many ways for many different things. One of the reasons I love my BlackBerry is that is allows me to do what I need to in order to get things done efficiently. I'm a communicator - I need my email, SMS, phone, IM and not much more. I have my device setup the way I want it and make things work the way I need them to. We all have our devices setup in different ways that best suit our needs. Be it icon arrangement, themes, shortcuts, OS version or what have you, each and every device matches the needs of the user.
One of my favorite and most used tricks is a saved message search. Typically when I need to save an email on which I need to follow up, I simply leave it marked as unread in my inbox (on my device or in my email client) so I can get back to it later. I have a saved message search created on my BlackBerry that lets me easily find all of my unread messages so I know what needs to be done. Setting up a saved search for any type of message is quick and easy and can be a real time saver down the road. Keep reading and I'll show you the steps on setting up one of your own.
Setting up a saved message search on your BlackBerry
To setup a saved message search shortcut, head to your messages app and follow the steps below.
OS 5
- Press Menu key and choose Search
- Configure the search settings, press Menu and select Save
- Title the search, add a shortcut key and save
OS 6
- Press Menu key and Choose Search by
- Choose Advanced
- Configure the search settings, press Menu and select Save
- Title the search, add a shortcut key and save
This can be done for messages from specific senders, messages with attachments, SMS and more. You can create multiple searches to fit your needs and always have them a shortcut away. All you need to do is remember the key combination and you're ready to rock!
Reader comments
My Favorite Tricks: How to create a saved message search on your BlackBerry
I see the option for searching either on the device, or remotely. I have 2 gmail accounts and 1 hotmail(which is my primary) setup on my phone. When i select remote, only the gmail accounts are available. What's up with Hotmail? Does hotmail suck that bad so as to not let you do the things with your web based email account that gmail does? I noticed I also have less sync options available in on the phone. Am i missing something?
Or is Hotmail...
How do you access the saved search after you save it?
could you show steps to get access after the save? I followed your steps to set it up but I can't launch the shortcut, all I get when I hit alt-t from the home screen it just goes to the device search and not the saved e-mail.
Thanks,
To launch the saved search, use the Alt+ key combination you created INSIDE the Messages app - not from the homescreen. If you use the Alt+U as shown in the pic above, press the key combination only when you are scrolled over a date. This key combination, when pressed on a message title will toggle Read/Unread status. I chose to set it up with Alt+N (for uNread) as my unread message search.
To access/edit your search or search critera (or delete a saved search) on OS5:
Open Messages -> Menu key -> Search -> Menu key -> Recall
This will show a list of your saved searches. Highlight the search you want to delete or edit and hit the menu key.
Great tip, thanks for sharing it, Adam!
Thanks, that got me the rest of the way. Pretty neat!
This is a bad example to use. While in the messages app, just press "u" for your unread messages. This is universal across all blackberry OS versions.
I get the point of your article; you just used a bad example to use.
Unread emails are one thing, but to flag certain ones for follow up and have instant access to those is pretty neat.