Section 18. Tweak the Profiles

18. Tweak the Profiles

SEE ALSO

5 Lock and Unlock Your Device

7 Choose a Theme

19 Adjust the Screen and Keyboard

Every BlackBerry device includes several built-in profiles that determine how the device responds to notifications such as an incoming phone call or email message. Each profile is tailored to a certain usage scenario. For example, the Default profile is a general-purpose profile that will work most of the time when you aren't overly concerned about the sound of the ringer, whereas the Vibrate profile is intended for meetings, movies, and places where you don't want the device to be heard .

In addition to tweaking the standard profiles, you can also create custom profiles of your own. I encourage you to create a custom profile so you can experiment with different settings and still have the default profiles to fall back on should you change your mind. You should experiment with different ring tones, as well as different options for how your device handles notifications when in its holster as opposed to when you have it out of the holster.

1.	Open the Profiles Screen Scroll to the Profiles icon on the Home screen and click the trackwheel. The Profiles screen appears, offering a list of profiles from which to choose.
2.	Select a Different Profile Not surprisingly, the default profile is named Default . The Default profile is intended for general device usage and results in a ring/vibrate combination for phone calls and only a vibration for new messages. The profile also describes device behavior for other notifications such as calendar events and due tasks . The device behavior can vary based on whether the device is in the holster. Changing the profile can be handy in situations where you need your device to behave differently when communicating notifications to you. For example, the Vibrate profile is useful in meetings, movies, or other places where you don't want your device to make noise. In contrast to the Vibrate profile, the Loud profile is useful at outdoor events and places where you might not hear the device notifications at their normal sound levels. TIP To quickly switch between the Default and Vibrate profiles from the Home screen, hold down the Shift key ( # ) for a second or so. 18. Tweak the Profiles NOTE You might be tempted to use the Quiet profile in meetings and quiet places, but you should know that it effectively eliminates all notifications. In other words, your device won't make noise or vibrate when it is in Quiet mode. This might be desirable at times, but if your goal is simply to mute the device, use the Vibrate profile so that you'll get vibration notifications. To select a different profile, scroll to the profile in the list with the trackwheel and click. Then click Enable in the menu that appears to select the profile. You are automatically returned to the Home screen after changing the profile. TIP To quickly select a profile, scroll the trackwheel to select the profile and then press the Space key. You gain a much better appreciation of the differences between profiles when you create one of your own. To create a new profile, click any of the profiles in the list with the trackwheel and then click New in the menu that appears. A new profile screen appears.
3.	Create a New Profile The first step in creating a new profile on the new profile screen is to name the profile. Type and enter the name of the profile in the edit field at the top of the screen. Click the trackwheel or press the Enter key to accept the profile name. Each of the notifications in the list shown on the new profile screen corresponds to something that can take place on your device that is worthy of being notified about. For example, the Phone notification informs you of a phone call. Similarly, the Messages notification lets you know when you've received an email message. All the notifications are initially set to default values that are equivalent to the Default profile. NOTE In case you're wondering, a "level 1" message is a PIN message. So, the Level1Message notification applies only to PIN messages you receive. Similarly, the SMS notification applies only to SMS messages. See 36 Send a PIN Message and 37 Send an SMS Message . To change a notification in the profile, scroll the trackwheel to select one of the notifications Phone for exampleand click. Then click Edit in the menu that appears. The Phone notification screen appears. NOTE Although you can delete profiles you create by selecting Delete from the profile menu, you are not allowed to delete any of the built-in profiles.
4.	Edit Each Profile Notification The Phone notification screen is similar to the edit screen for all the notifications. The screen is divided into two main sections, each of which corresponds to a different holster state: device in holster or device out of holster. The idea is that the notification is different based on whether the device is in the holster. The Out of Holster and In Holster fields can be set to one of four possible values: None, Tone, Vibrate , or Vibrate+Tone . The Tune field determines what the tone sounds like if you've selected Tone or Vibrate+Tone in the respective holster field. When you change the Tune value, you can scroll through the available tones and listen to each of them. The Volume field determines the volume of the tune and can be set to Mute, Low, Medium, High , or Escalating . The Mute value results in no sound, whereas the Escalating value results in a volume level that increases as the tune is played . The Number of Beeps field specifies how many times the tune is played for each notification. However, in the case of the Phone notification, the tune plays until the phone is answered or the call is dumped to voice mail. TIP You can access the tunes directly from the Profiles screen by clicking any of the profiles with the trackwheel and then clicking Show Tunes in the menu that appears. The Tunes screen appears and allows you to scroll through the tunes and play them by clicking and selecting Play from the menu. The Repeat Notification field applies to messages (voice mail messages in the case of the Phone notification) and determines whether the LED on the device should flash to indicate that new messages are available. The last field on the Phone notification screen, Do Not Disturb , is unique to the Phone notification and specifies whether your device notifies you of incoming calls. If you don't want any notification to take place at all for phone calls, set this field to Yes . Press the Escape button to return to the new profile screen. If you made any changes, you are prompted to save them before returning to the new profile screen. You can edit and customize each of the other notifications just as you did the Phone notification. TIP It's probably a good idea to change the In Holster field to None for the Messages notification. The default setting causes your device to vibrate every time you receive an email message, which can be annoying if you receive a lot of email.
5.	Exit and Save Changes Press the Escape button to exit the new profile screen. You're prompted to save or discard your changes; scroll the trackwheel to the Save option and click to save the changes. You're then returned to the Home screen.