I was messing around with my conatcts list earlier, and at one point used the jog wheel to move down. instead of moving down contact by contact, a big letter popped up and I could scroll through letters of the alphabet and land on contacts beginning with that letter.
I could not repeat what I had done. I could not scroll through the alphabet anymore.
I checked the wm5 documentation and couldn't find anything on the feature.
Does anyone know what I did to activate it?
gthing,
You can open the contacts and press for about 4-5 seconds the down button...the letters will appear!
With the jog wheel i dont know how to do it.
apnaf, this is the wanted behaviour - but I've got the same problem. The scrolling through the alphabet is not working for me either.
As this is the best way to navigate contacts without stylus (ok, voice recognition not mentioned) I would be very happy if someone has the solution to turn this feature on again.
(And I mean by the down button. Didn't know the jog wheel on the side had this possibility)
When holding down the D-pad, after scrolling through the contacts starting with A and B, from C on you scroll the letters instead of individual contacts. With the scroll wheel this works the same, but since I have for instance 20 contacts starting with A, one turn of the wheel is not enough to scroll through all of them. So, After 1 turn i have to let go of the wheel and turn it again. This is interpreted by the Windows Mobile as you letting go of the D-pad, not wishing to scoll down further. That's why with the scroll wheel you are not likely to see the large letters appear. Only when you have only a few contacts starting with A and B will you be able to scroll to C with 1 single turn and will you see the scroll-by-letters.
I understand what the OP is saying -- mine has done that too -- a few times, but I can't replicate the behavior..
basically, it happened WITHOUT having to use dpad. as soon as i opened contacts, scrolling started by letter when i rolled the job wheel. It would be nice if that were the default mode.
The one time I noticed this is when I accidentally dumped about 800 contact book. The letters popped up immediately upon scrolling downward with the jog wheel. Since I had about 50 contacts starting with A, I wonder if there is not some other thing that triggered it.
Here is exactly how it went:
1. Opened contacts
2. Noticed I had a bunch of crap contacts
3. Thought to myself "oh ****, how am I going to clean this mess up" (there was a long pause here before I did anything - don't know if the pause was important)
4. Scrolled downward, got the letters. Tried again immediately but failed.
Clearly there is something more we don't understand here.
Maybe there is a reg setting somewheres.
Related
summary: trying to get the middle d-pad button to actually select the highlighted item in various programs so i don't have to get out the stylus. maybe this can be written into smartskey? (water, you reading this? or anyone else who has an idea...)
I use my wizard in med school and there are a lot of programs i use where i have to scroll through long lists and select an option. Medical dictionary programs, disease clinical consults, etc where i usually type in the first few letters of a drug, condition or whatever and then select the desired one from the list.
I can type the letters with the keyboard, and the program jumps to the correct listing, but when i hit the middle d-pad button, nothing happens. In one program, it skips to the beginning of the list. In another, it starts to do the click-hold thing with the clockwise dots, but doesn't finish.
All i want is some way of forcing the middle d-pad button to actually select what is highlighted, no matter what program i'm in. I know it's not a software thing because these programs have this functionality in treo devices and some others i've seen other students use. doesn't even have to be the middle d-pad button. if easier, could just be any button, just so i don't have to get out the stylus!!!
At the same time, sometimes the d-pad up/down buttons don't start scrolling from the highlighted item, i have to tab or use the left-button to make it active first.
Program list if you want to try out fixes:
Skyscape 5-Minute clinical consult (free trial)
Diagnosaurus (free)
Epocrates Rx (free)
Taber's medical dictionary, by Unbound Medicine(free trial)
Sorry for long post, but help is MUCH appreciated.
bump
since the Smartskey thread came back up, i decided to try a bump on this one.
is no one else having problems like this? i can't be the only one using apps that use scroll-select functionality that's not working.
thanks, dan
Ok.....here is one for the gurus.
A while ago, by accident, I came across what I suspect is a feature in scrolling through Contacts which I could not replicate for the life of me.
Basically, when opening Contacts using the scroll wheel, I somehow managed to get a large icon appearing on the screen & I could then scroll through the individual letters of the alphabet. When I closed Contacts & re-opened it, I couldn't replicate it.
After playing around with it today, I got a step closer but buggered if I can make this feature stick permanently. May be it requires a registry hack.
To see what I mean:
1) Tap Contacts.
2) Scroll up or down until the text field is cleared.
3) Tap Menu -> Options -> Ok.
4) Now scroll up or down.
5) Goto 2
Another user over at Whirlpool Forums found the following method:
"The closest that I can think of is open contacts list, press and hold the down button on the 4 way direction pad, the large alphabet will show up after a second or two. Not very useful to me though..."
What I would like to see is that feature invoked permanently so that I can access Contacts from the Start menu using the scroll wheel & then being able to scroll through the alphabet.
I stumbled across this in the original ROM (shipped with Australian D810) but am currently using 1.23.707.6.
Ideas anyone?
I was wondering if this was possible as well. I hope there is a way to do this because this seems more useful to me when navigating the phone in portrait mode.
maybe its a bug, it happens when you open the contacts app, set focus on the search area, remove and restore focus on the app and press up or down.
this also works:
open contacts app
tap search area
press windows key twice( open and close start menu )
press down or up
I don't think it's a bug!
The way it works on my device is:
Place the focus anywhere in the Contacts list or Select box
Hold the Down or Up direction keys
After 2 screens of scrolling, the Large Letter scroller starts
Release when you reach the letter you want.
It is not a bug. It works on my Wizard, that if I were to press and hold my d-pad (no, I dont' have a wheel) long enough, the big letters will appear. So, in a scroll wheel case, I think probably you will need to scroll it fast enough/long/consistent enough for it to appear?
Apoc said:
set focus on the search area,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Apoc - I think you're onto something there regarding focus.
NeilM said:
I don't think it's a bug!
The way it works on my device is:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Irrespective of how you open Contacts & where the focus is, pressing & holding the up or down key on the direction pad will bring up the alphabet icon after 1 - 2 secs. My aim is to wholly & soley use the scroll wheel to open & search Contacts using the alphabet icon without touching the directional keypad whatsoever - only the scroll wheel.
hanmin said:
It is not a bug. It works on my Wizard, that if I were to press and hold my d-pad (no, I dont' have a wheel)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
May not be a bug on the Wizard, but potentially is on the Trinity/D810 utilizing the scroll wheel.
Apoc's comment re: focus had me perform some more testing & managed to get a step closer. Depending on how you close Contacts will determine whether you can open Contacts & scroll (using the wheel) through the alphabet successfully.
It seems that Contacts needs to be running in the background as a "running program" & is achieved by closing it using the side "OK" button after having put the focus in the search field using the scroll wheel. Will also work tapping the X to close unless you have configured X to actually close running programs.
To start off:-
1) Press side ok button to open Start menu.
2) Scroll to Contacts & depress.
3) Scroll up to set focus in search field.
4) Press side ok to close Contacts (actually closes as a running program).
5) Press side ok to open Start menu.
6) Scroll to Contacts & depress.
7) Now scroll through alphabet - Woohoo!
8) Scroll back to search field to set focus.
9) Goto 4
As long as Contacts runs in the background as a running program I can replicate this repeatedly, but once its closed fully, it seems that focus is returned to the first entry in Contacts rather than the search field hence preventing me from scrolling the alphabet when re-opening.
So, is this a bug or an inelegantly implemented feature?
[Edit] Perhaps a registry hack could set the focus on the search field rather than the first entry in the list. If that is at all possible & works then it definitely becomes a handy feature.
This is not a bug, its a function of windows mobile. It works the same way that an iPod does.
jlagden said:
This is not a bug, its a function of windows mobile. It works the same way that an iPod does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you not mean that it is a WM function that could be improved? The way I see it, depending on the method used to open Contacts depends whether one sees it as a function or not.
Unfortunately I don't have an iPod to compare with.
thunderbird1 said:
Do you not mean that it is a WM function that could be improved? The way I see it, depending on the method used to open Contacts depends whether one sees it as a function or not.
Unfortunately I don't have an iPod to compare with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what more would you want it to do? it saves you time scrolling from a to z.
jlagden said:
what more would you want it to do? it saves you time scrolling from a to z.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What saves time? Either I'm missing the point or you have mis-interpreted mine.
you can also use your keyboard and select the arrow up / down key for a few seconds to trigger the alphabet search (big letters).
andason said:
you can also use your keyboard and select the arrow up / down key for a few seconds to trigger the alphabet search (big letters).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for that, but I've already noted that in my earlier posts.
thunderbird1 said:
What saves time? Either I'm missing the point or you have mis-interpreted mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are suggesting that it is a function that could be improved, but I don't see what gain you would get. This function is also present in an old WM2003 device that I have, so it clearly isn’t new.
If you want it to initiate instantly when you use the scroll wheel, you are only going to jump to the first contact in each alphabetical section. This is great if you only have one contact per alphabet letter, but if like most people you have multiple contacts in each section you will still have to do an additional scroll to select the contact.
The time saving is due to the jumping quickly to each alphabet section.
I currently have over 200 contacts and I notice the smartdial search is getting slow and I have to wait 1-2sec before pressing another key (as soon as no contacts are found its quite fast).
Is there a way to force a delay so that:
wait 200milisec. if no other key was pressed, search the contacts as usual. if other key is pressed, print it and reset the timer.
This would allow me to write the number or initials fast and then wait a few seconds for the search instead of waiting a few seconds for each button I press.
paulo_andre said:
I currently have over 200 contacts and I notice the smartdial search is getting slow and I have to wait 1-2sec before pressing another key (as soon as no contacts are found its quite fast).
Is there a way to force a delay so that:
wait 200milisec. if no other key was pressed, search the contacts as usual. if other key is pressed, print it and reset the timer.
This would allow me to write the number or initials fast and then wait a few seconds for the search instead of waiting a few seconds for each button I press.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With that many contacts, I'd recommend voice dialing them. Use your phone's built-in recorder. It's not magical or anything, but it's adequate, and much faster than typing half the phone number in by hand, and you're one button click from activating it. Just be sure to use a consistent method for recording, such as "first name, last name" for all your dials, and as long as you know the name, you've got it licked.
the problem is with these many contacts I don't remember the name, I have to start typing what I remember and then choose from the list. And usually what I remember is similar to 5-6 contacts so I can't use voice dialing
What about a scrolling directory, like PocketCM?
again, that would be fine if I remembered the first name, but sometimes I remember the first, other times the middle, even others the last... I really need a full search like the native smardial but that search should only be made after I stop typing and not after every key
Good luck, then. Sorry.
Actually, pocketCM DOES allow you to search by first name, last name (probably middle name too), or phone number. Try it and see if it's any faster. It might be, since it caches all contacts, and doesn't have to connect to outlook's database. Caching also has a downside - it will take some time when you start the program before you see any contacts. But when you keep the program running in the background and don't close it, only minimize, it's not a big problem.
To start searching, bring up the pocketCM's dialpad (phone button in default skin), and start typing.
I tried it and it's actually slower than the native smartdial. This because I have to write the name in the keyboard instead of just using the phone buttons to enter text.
paulo_andre said:
I tried it and it's actually slower than the native smartdial. This because I have to write the name in the keyboard instead of just using the phone buttons to enter text.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're in PocketCM, you can click the phone icon to call up a dial pad. Start entering the desired number, and the directory will start narrowing the list of numbers that match until you have the one you want.
You really should give this program a chance, instead of dismissing it without actually using it as it was intended (which is to have many ways to get to the desired phone number as quickly as possible). Your patience will be rewarded.
Has anybody worked out how to get a list to loop when scrolling through?
It's a real pain if you have lots of contacts or music to have to scroll all the way from A to Z, would be much easier if you could scroll up...
Tried a search but nothing that I can see. Surely I am not the only person that finds this annoying?
If you use AE Button to reconfigure the vol +/- buttons as up / down then you can scroll through lists like this. In recent calls, contacts, text messages when you get the to last item you can loop back to the beginning and vice-versa.
hi guys
i know this is more like an android question than the note...but hope my fellow note owner can help me solve this
i am an iphone user previously and whenever i wanna correct text in a search box, all i have to do is to press the word, hold it, and the magnifying glass comes up and i can scroll it left to right to place the curser right on the letter i want to edit
however with anroid there is no such magnifying glass and i must tap the letter i want to make the changes to..this might takes few trys to get the curser right beside the letter i want to make changes to...however my biggest problem is that i cannot correct words that are beyond the length of the search bar
for example the width of the google search bar only fit 3 words, and the forth or fifth word is not display...how do i scroll to these words to malw corrections ? it is annoying as i usually need to erase the whole phrase to make corrections ...
also how do i scroll up and down with forum boxes like this one i am typing in...iphone use two fingers...
thank you!!!
To place the cursor, just tap the screen where you need it. If it's not in the right place, put your finger on the pointy topped blue handle just under it and slide it where you need it.
When using the Swype keyboard (long press on any text box, select input method, then choose it from the list of installed keyboards) you can just tap on any word and it'll bring up a list of other words you might have meant to type. Tap on the one you want and the word changes. Makes for very quick editing of text. If the word's not in the list, just hit the Swype key, the word is highlighted, and Swype it again. Swyping is where you put your finger on the first letter of a word and drag it to the other letters, then lift it when done. It'll automatically insert spaces since each Swype is a word. It's a lot faster than pecking out text on conventional keyboards.
For scrolling large text boxes where the text more than fills it, just drag it up and down with one finger. Works fine for me in this post I'm doing now. The issue with the google search box where long entries go past the end does suck. I haven't found anything better for that than just deleting it all and starting over (Swyping from Swype key to letter A selects all.) Or sometimes you can just hit search then change it on the Web page.
BTW, concerning large text boxes, I've found Opera Mobile is the only browser that reflows the text inside so you don't have to constantly scroll left/right to see what you're writing. You couldn't pay me to write a post like this on any other browser!
Edit: on some keyboards, Swype included, you can bring up a set of arrow keys you could use to scroll over to the right on those long entries in the google search box.