The BlackBerry address book is just like an address book that you might keep at your desk—it is designed to hold all kinds of contact information about other people. Using the address book, you can easily recall e-mail addresses, phone numbers, pager numbers, and basic information about each person, and you can directly drop that information into e-mail.

Are you attending a conference and need to add some new contacts to your list? No problem: your BlackBerry is in your pocket. Are you on the road and need a phone number quickly? No problem: your BlackBerry is always with you. In this chapter, you’ll explore the BlackBerry address book and learn how to do everything with this very helpful piece of software.

Getting to Know Your Address Book

The address book is easily accessible from your Home screen. Depending on your model, it may look like a rolodex or, on older BlackBerry models, like an open book. Just use the trackwheel to scroll to the Address Book icon and then click it to access the address book.

Once you open the address book, you see a listing of the current addresses you have entered or that have been synchronized from your PIM desktop application (see Chapter 5). Contacts are listed by name in alphabetical order, as shown in Figure 8-1. If you have not added any contacts to the address book, you will see a No Addresses entry.

Figure 1: Address book

Every action you want to perform in the address book is handled by clicking the trackwheel to see the address book menu. I will describe all of the items listed in this menu, but let’s first take a look at Options. Options provides three settings you can use to determine how the address book behaves. The default settings are all that you probably need, but you may find changes to these settings helpful.

Click the trackwheel while you are in address book and click Options. You see Sort By, Confirm Address Delete, and Allow Duplicate Names settings, as shown in Figure 8-2.

Figure 2: Options

The Sort By setting allows you to change the manner in which addresses are listed when you first open the address book. You’ll notice that by default, addresses are sorted in alphabetical order based on first name. This may not be very practical to you, so you also have the option to list addresses by last name or by company. The option to list addresses by last name is self-explanatory. In the case of organization by company, the company name is listed first, followed by the actual contact’s name, as shown here:

Gadgets, Inc., Standton, Rusty
Gadgets, Inc., Wilkinson, Susan

This setup can be helpful if you are doing work for several different companies (or vice versa) and you want to see all of the contacts from one company in a block. Just use the trackwheel to scroll through the company names until you find the company you want, and then you can drill down to the actual addressee that you want.

Aside from the Sort By setting, you can also choose to confirm address deletions or allow duplicate names. By default, both of these settings are enabled. The Confirm Address Delete option, when enabled, gives you a message each time you choose to delete an address from the address book, as shown in Figure 8-3.

Tip: As with any address book, you’ll need to be on the lookout for duplicate entries, which are generally the result of changing e-mail addresses or employers. Duplicate addresses can cause a lot of confusion, so make sure you keep your addresses updated!

Figure 3: Confirm Delete message

As a general rule, you should leave the Confirm Address Delete option enabled. Sure, it means an additional scroll and click, but when managing a bunch of addresses, it is very easy to accidentally delete an address (such as when the taxi hits a bump and your fingers slip on the trackwheel). Without the confirm deletion message, you have no protection from accidental deletions, so I recommend that you leave this setting enabled.

Tip: If you accidentally delete an address, you must completely reenter it or synchronize with your desktop PIM application so the address can be rewritten. The BlackBerry does not provide you with an Undo feature.

The final option, Allow Duplicate Names, enables you to have multiple entries that contain the same first and last name. The only problem with this setting is that only the names are displayed, so if you have two Sue Wilkinson entries, they will look identical in the address list. The names are alphabetized based on e-mail address, but the listing does not show the e-mail address, so you just have to know which is which. This isn’t too difficult with only two names, but if you have more, it can get confusing because you must memorize the e-mail address of each duplicate name to know which one you want to use. One workaround is to list the Address Book contents by company so you can differentiate between the names by company (if they work for different companies). At any rate, you can consider this setting and determine if you want to use it or not. Changing any of these settings is easy—just follow the steps in “How to…Edit Address Book Options” to edit these entries.

How To…

Edit Address Book Options

To edit address book options, just follow these steps:

1. In the address book, click the trackwheel to see the menu and then click Options.

2. In the Sort By field, click the trackwheel to see the menu, click Change Option, and use the trackwheel to scroll through the provided options.

3. Roll the trackwheel to move to the Confirm Address Delete option or the Allow Duplicate Names option and use the menu or the SPACE or SYMBOL key to select the desired option.

4. Click the trackwheel and choose Save Options from the menu. Your options go into effect immediately, and you are returned to the address book screen.

End How To…

Creating Address Book Entries

Once the address book looks and acts the way you want, you can begin adding address entries. Address book entries are easy to add, and you have a number of field options so you can add as little or as much information about your addresses as you like. When you create a new address, you are given a list of items for which you can enter descriptions:

· Addressee’s first and last name

· E-mail address and PIN number

· Title

· Company

· Work, home, mobile, pager, and fax numbers

· Addresses (two lines provided)

· City, state/province, and ZIP/postal code

· Country

· Notes

Tip: Fields that require numbers, such as PIN, automatically allow you to press the number keys without using the ALT key. Phone number fields also support the – (minus sign), + (plus sign), ´ (multiplication sign), . (period), and , (comma) without holding down the ALT key.

To create an address, populate these fields as desired. You need to enter only one entry (such as a first or last name, or just an e-mail address), but typically you should enter at least the first and last name and an e-mail address for your contact. Of course, you can populate every field on every address if you like—the BlackBerry is flexible and the choice is completely yours.

Did You Know?

Using the Notes Field

The Notes field is an open-ended entry that allows you to include essentially any information that is helpful to you. For example, you might include information about the contact in this section such as, “works from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” or general information about who the person is, where you met, what business needs are important, and so on. The Notes field can contain static information that always stays in the address book entry, or it can hold temporary information. I use this field to keep track of new people I meet when I’m on the road. I put notations about each person in this field so I can keep up with who is whom and have a frame of reference for each person when I get home. The options are endless, so use this field to meet your needs.

End Did You Know?

One item that I would like to point out concerns e-mail addresses. You are allowed to enter up to three e-mail addresses per address entry. This feature is helpful for including contact information for individuals who have both corporate e-mail and personal e-mail addresses. By default, the address book entry area only gives you one e-mail address field. You can add up to two additional fields by clicking the trackwheel to see the address book menu, and then clicking Add E-mail. If you create an entry that has more than one e-mail address, you will be prompted to select the e-mail address you want to use when composing a message to that person. To create a new address, follow the steps in “How to…Create a New Address Book Entry.”

Note: If you try to exit the address you are entering without saving it, you’ll be prompted to save the entry. This feature prevents you from accidentally losing information you are currently working on.

Create a New Address Book Entry

To create a new address book entry, just follow these steps:

1. In the address book, click the trackwheel to bring up the address book menu and select New Address.

2. The New Address screen appears. Populate the fields, using the trackwheel to navigate and pressing the ENTER key to enter information after you’ve typed it. Remember, you only have to populate the fields that you need—you can skip around between fields as needed. If you need to enter more than one e-mail address, click the trackwheel to see the menu, and then click Add E-mail. A new e-mail field appears, and you can populate it with a second address. Repeat this process to add a third e-mail address if you like.

3. Use the Notes field to enter any information that is relevant. The BlackBerry gives you plenty of room to type information, so feel free to put in as much as is needed. Also, refer to “Using the Notes Field,” which follows shortly, for more information.

4. Once you’re done, click the trackwheel to see the address book menu and click Save Address.

End How To…

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Managing Addresses

Once you have created entries for your address book, you can easily view and manage the addresses at any time. These tasks are quick and simple, and the following sections describe them for you.

Viewing Addresses

You can quickly and easily view address information you have entered any time. In the address book, scroll through the list of addresses, highlight the address you want to view, click the trackwheel to see the address book menu, and select View. This feature opens the address screen and organizes the information you entered for the address in an easy-to-read format, as you can see in Figure 8-4.

Figure 4: View option

You can scroll through the information in the entry by using the trackwheel. When you’re done, just click the trackwheel and click Cancel.

Editing Addresses

Address information for your contacts is likely to change from time to time, and the BlackBerry allows you to edit address book entries so that you do not have to delete the old entry and create a new one each time information changes.

To edit an address book entry, simply scroll through the list of addresses, select the one you want, click the trackwheel, and then click Edit Address on the menu that appears. This opens the same screen you see when first creating the address. Simply scroll through the fields and make the necessary changes to the affected entries. When you’re done, click the trackwheel to bring up menu options and click Save Address.

Tip: If you want to remove a field entry, scroll to the field, click the trackwheel, and select the Clear Field option on the menu that appears. This is particularly helpful for longer addresses and the Notes field, where you may have a lot of information to remove or replace.

Deleting Addresses

You can easily delete addresses that you no longer need from the address book. Keep in mind that as long as you do not change the Confirm Address Delete option on the Options screen, you will be prompted for confirmation each time you delete an address. Again, this provides you with a safety net, and you should strongly consider leaving this option at the default setting.

To delete an address that you no longer want, just scroll to the address in the address book screen, click the trackwheel, and then click Delete Address. Click Yes in response to the confirmation message that appears, and the entry will be immediately removed from your address book. Make sure you want to delete the address, because there is no Undo option.

Searching the Address Book

Over time, you will accumulate a lot of addresses. Sure, you can use the trackwheel to scroll to the one you want, but what if you have a hundred entries or more? Scrolling through to the address you want can get a little annoying, but if you know at least part of the name of the person you want to contact, you can quickly find the address. When you open the address book, just begin typing the person’s name on the keyboard. The address book will begin suggesting names for you. For example, if you want to find someone named Malone, Jennifer, just type Mol, and all names that include “Mol” will quickly appear, with all other entries vanishing from view. You can then quickly select the one that you want. The search feature searches through first names, last names, and company names in that order to match your search criteria, so always try to use the first name or first initial when typing. Remember, the more specific you are, the fewer returns you will get and the faster you can find what you want.

Composing Messages

Whenever you choose to compose a message, the address book automatically opens so you can select the address book entry that you want. You can also use the Use Once feature to manually enter the e-mail address. Note that the Use Once option is always at the top of the list. If you scroll deep into your address book and then want to return to Use Once, just press U on your keypad, and you will be returned to the top. When you are using the address book, you can also scroll to the address that you want to send mail to, click the trackwheel to open the menu, and then click Compose Message.

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Filtering Address Book Entries During Synchronization with PIM Applications

In Chapter 5, you learned about the BlackBerry desktop software, which uses Intellisync to synchronize information on your BlackBerry with information on your PIM applications, such as Lotus Notes, Outlook, Netscape, and so forth. I won’t repeat the usage information here, but I do want to call your attention to the filtering functions that are available when synchronizing address book data between the BlackBerry and a PIM application.

The filtering feature allows you to prevent the synchronization of some address book field options. For example, let’s say that you are using Lotus Notes, but you do not want some items in your PIM application to transfer to the BlackBerry. You can use the filtering functions to prevent the transfer of this kind of data.

In order to set up filters, you must first configure the BlackBerry Intellisync software to synchronize with the PIM application of your choice. See Chapter 5 for step-by-step instructions. Once the PIM application has been selected, visit the Advanced properties pages. Open the BlackBerry desktop software and double-click Intellisync. Next, click the Configure PIM button. This opens the Configuration dialog box showing which PIM applications your BlackBerry is configured to synchronize with. Select the Address Book option, shown in Figure 8-5, click the Configure button, and then select the Advanced Settings option.

Figure 5: Click Configure

You’ll see the Advanced Settings for Address Book dialog box. Click the Filters tab. As you can see in Figure 8-6, no filters are selected in this window by default. Depending on what PIM application you are using, some option may already be available to you; regardless, you can easily create new filters as needed. Before doing so, make sure you back up your BlackBerry, just in case something goes wrong.

Figure 6: Click the Filters tab

See “How to…Create an Address Book Filter” to learn how to create a new filter.

Begin How To…

Create an Address Book Filter

To create a new address book filter, just follow these steps:

1. On the Filters tab, click the New button.

2. In the Filter Name dialog box, enter a friendly, recognizable name for the filter that you want to create. For example, I do not want body information, or “Notes” as it’s called in Outlook 2000, to be transferred to the BlackBerry. If you’re not sure what fields you want to create filters for, click the Field Mapping button on the Filters tab to see how BlackBerry address book entries are mapped to entries in your PIM application. Enter the name of your filter and click OK.

Illustration 1

3. In the dialog box that appears, make sure the Conditions tab is selected. You have a few actions to perform here:

a. First, click the Field drop-down menu and select the field for which you want to create a filter. The field names will vary, depending on your desktop PIM application. You can see that I have selected Body because I do not want any body text, or notes, to be transferred to the BlackBerry.

Illustration 2

Illustration 3

b. Next, choose an operator value for the filter. Your options are “starts with,” “contains,” “does not contain,” “equals,” “does not equal,” “is empty,” “is not empty,” and “is between.” Since I do not want any body information transferred, I am selecting “is not empty.” This setting tells Outlook not to transfer information for entries in which this field is not empty.

c. Depending on your value selection, you may need to enter a value in the Value field as well. For example, if you use the “starts with” operator, you need to enter the value for the filter, which can be a letter or combination of letters, depending on what you want to filter.

d. Click the Add to List button and repeat the process, adding more operators and values as needed for this particular filter.

4. Click the Rules tab to see the options shown next. By default, the “all rules must be met” option is selected, and you see your filter configuration listed. If you have only one operator, you don’t need to do anything here. If you have more than one operator or value, you can determine if all conditions (all operators and values) must be met before the filter is applied, or if only one condition must be met before the filter is applied. Once you’re done, click OK. This returns you to the Filters window, and your new filter is selected for use. You can return to this window and edit or delete the filter at any time.

Illustration 4

End How To…

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