I just received confirmation that there will be a new version of ActionPad released this week!

Beta 9 will come some more fancy features like memo statistics, user interface polishing, memo email sending directly from the details screen and some minor updates.

ActionPad is still available for free and for me it is a lot better than the original MemoPad application from RIM! The main advantages are the quick category access as well as the awesome integration into existing BlackBerry applications like email and SMS messages. It also synchronizes instantly with Outlook or MS Exchange if you have wireless sync set up.

Free Beta Download: ActionPad for BlackBerry

Everyone who is implementing GTD (Getting Things Done) no matter on their BlackBerry or “offline” (like on paper, notebooks, whatever) knows what contexts and next actions are. It is actually pretty easy to use any kind of task application on a BlackBerry to do so but most of them including the original BlackBerry Tasks app are very cumbersome to use. So it is not really productive to do so but productivity and being more productive is a major goal for personal self-improvement.

Besides the fact that you want to be productive you might also want to synchronize your tasks with your desktop system like Microsoft Outlook. We have already wrote a complete howto on how to set this up with Windows PC’s as well as with Mac OS X computers. However, the majority of BlackBerry users are business users like you and me. So you might have got your BlackBerry from your employer and you are not allowed to sync’ it with your desktop. But the device came by default with wireless synchronization of your emails, tasks, calendar items, contacts and so on. So if your tasks are synchronized with your let’s say Microsoft Exchange account you will also get the same tasks onto your desktop Outlook client as you have on your BlackBerry. This applies to your contexts too which appear as categories in Outlook. However, if you are using NextAction! on your BlackBerry you might also projects.

Projects in the field of GTD
A project is defined in wikipedia like this:

Projects — Every open loop in one’s life or work which requires more than one physical action to achieve becomes a project. These projects are tracked and periodically reviewed to make sure that every project has a next action associated with it, and thus can be moved forward.

In NextAction! projects and context are internally handled quite similar. Their information is stored in the usual category field. While a context is a normal name / string; a project’s category carries a prefix (default: “p:”). This makes projects appear in your Outlook as categories as well but it will look like this:

p:Company Setup

However, the cool thing is: those project settings are carried over to Outlook as well. Though they appear as normal categories the data is not lost during any kind of synchronization. No matter the sync’ is being done in a wireless or the old school way.

So once the synchronization via BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) is running – it should have been set up by your BlackBerry admin – you do not need to set up anything else. This is pretty awesome and very convenient.

As I wrote in previous posts I am using NextAction! to implement GTD with my BlackBerry. It works pretty well with all current BlackBerry models and even comes with a 30 day demo version. The new version 3.0 also features a someday/maybe list which is very useful for many GTD pros. I just use it from time to time … you could say: someday/maybe …

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NextAction!, the leading GTD Software for BlackBerry devices does not sync 100% with the Necentrics Outlook Plugin for GTD. The makers of NextAction! – S4BB Limited – are working on a solution for that but haven’t released anything yet. It seems the hardcore GTD enthusiasts can not wait and are brewing something on their own:

Tim McIntyre posted a Visual Basic Script on the David Allen Forum apparently solving it. Check it out here.

NextAction! product site: http://www.s4bb.com/software/nextaction
NextAction! purchase site: http://www.mobilesoftmarket.com (30 day unconditional money back guarantee)

Looking for Software for your BlackBerry? BlackBerryInsight Software Store!

Note: If you have a Microsoft Windows (XP / Vista / whatever) machine you should take a look to How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Microsoft Windows).

Synchronizing your BlackBerry with your desktop computer is a must! It just works incredibly fine and is easy going to set up. This article is meant to help you to get this working. If you have already set it up and you think it is fine you can just skip this article. But if you are not sure your setting is correct – but it is working actually – you should keep reading and check whether you have set it up right.

We wil cover the following parts of your BlackBerry and desktop application for synchronization:

• Address Book
• Calendar
• MemoPad
• Tasks

Please keep in mind that we are not covering the synchronization of E-Mails in this article. We will do so later I guess. The setup that is used for this presention is as followed:

• BlackBerry Pearl (BlackBerry OS 4.2 from HKCSL)
• PocketMac
• Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger powered MacBook
• iCal, Address Book, StickiesNotes

You can use this procedure for your setup as well. E.g. you are using another BlackBerry model (71xx, 72xx, 75xx, 77xx, 87xx, 88xx or Curve) the setup is the nearly the same. To get your Mac’s data synchronized with your BlackBerry and vice versa proceed as followed:

1. Be sure you have PocketMac installed on your Mac already. If not you can get it for free here.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Connect your BlackBerry to your Mac (PocketMac currently only supports USB and serial port).
   
3. Start PocketMac by clicking the icon.
   
4. Click on BlackBerry.
   
   
   
   
   
   You should see your device name an PIN on that page. If not, make sure you connected your BlackBerry to your Mac already and restart PocketMac. Unlike the “BlackBerry Desktop Manager” for Windows PocketMac does not recognize devices that are attached during its runtime.
   
   
5. Click on the Contacts button to open the contacts tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   Activate the “Sync Contacts [...]“ checkbox to enable contact data synchronization in general. Below you find a list of supported contact management programs. As I am using Apple’s Address Book, I checked that one. You should check the appropriate checkbox according to the program you are using. You can also tweak the setting for the specific program you want to synchronize with at “Advanced Preferences…”. That’s it, we are done for contacts.
   
   
6. Click on the Calendar button to open the calendar tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   In here we also check the “Sync Calendar [...]“ checkbox to enable calendar item synchronization. As my configuration uses iCal for calendar items I selected “iCalCalendar”. That’s it, we are done for calendar items.
   
   
7. Click on the Tasks button to open the tasks tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   In here we also check the “Sync Tasks [...]“ checkbox to enable task synchronization. As my configuration uses iCal for task items as well I selected “iCalCalendar”. That’s it, we are done for tasks. (Hint: The program on the right – NextAction! – is compatible with PocketMac and therefor with all applications PocketMac can synchronize your BlackBerry with. It is world’s best GTD application for BlackBerry® Wireless Handhelds!)
   
   
8. Click on the Notes button to open the notes tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   In here we also check the “Sync Notes [...]“ checkbox to enable notes synchronization. As my configuration uses StickiesNotes for notes on my Mac I selected “StickiesNotes”. That’s it, we are done for notes.
   
   
9. Click on the Bookmarks button to open the bookmarks tab.
   
   
   
   
   
   As I am not using Safari for desktop browsing I don’t synchronize that. But those of you who like to use Safari can synchronize your Safari’s bookmarks to your BlackBerry. To do that, just activate the “Push Bookmarks [...]“ checkbox. That’s it, we are done for bookmarks.
   
   
10. Now you can press the “Sync” button in the top right corner of PocketMac to synchronize your BlackBerry with your Mac and its programs.
    
    
    
    
    
    Follow the instructions. If there are any conflicts between your device’s and desktop’s databases you will be notified. You should check all notification carefully as they might contain important information.

PocketMac for BlackBerry supports the following devices: BlackBerry 6210, BlackBerry 6230, BlackBerry 6280, BlackBerry 6510, BlackBerry 7100 Series, BlackBerry 7105t, BlackBerry 7130c, BlackBerry 7130e, BlackBerry 7130g, BlackBerry 7130v, BlackBerry 7210, BlackBerry 7230, BlackBerry 7250, BlackBerry 7270, BlackBerry 7280, BlackBerry 7290, BlackBerry 7510, BlackBerry 7520, BlackBerry 7730, BlackBerry 7750, BlackBerry 7780, BlackBerry 8100 Pearl, BlackBerry 8300 Curve, BlackBerry 8703e, BlackBerry 8700c, BlackBerry 8700f, BlackBerry 8700g, BlackBerry 8700v, BlackBerry 8700r, BlackBerry 8705g, BlackBerry 8707g, BlackBerry 8707h, BlackBerry 8700v, BlackBerry 8707, BlackBerry 8800, BlackBerry 8830

Looking for more howtos? Check out Category:Howtos

Note: If you have a Mac OS X / Macintosh machine you should take a look to How to synchronize my BlackBerry with my Desktop Computer (Mac OS X).

Synchronizing your BlackBerry with your desktop computer is a must! It just works incredibly fine and is easy going to set up. This article is meant to help you to get this working. If you have already set it up and you think it is fine you can just skip this article. But if you are not sure your setting is correct – but it is working actually – you should keep reading and check whether you have set it up right.

We wil cover the following parts of your BlackBerry and desktop application for synchronization:

• Address Book
• Calendar
• MemoPad
• Tasks

Please keep in mind that we are not covering the synchronization of E-Mails in this article. We will do so later I guess. The setup that is used for this presention is as followed:

• BlackBerry Pearl (BlackBerry OS 4.2 from HKCSL)
• BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.2.0.14
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Desktop Computer
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Enterprise Edition

You can use this procedure for your setup as well. E.g. you are using another BlackBerry model (72xx, 87xx or 71xx) the setup is the nearly the same. To get your computer’s data synchronized with your BlackBerry and vice versa proceed as followed:

1. Be sure you have the BlackBerry Desktop Software installed on your desktop computer already.
   
2. Start the BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
   
3. Connect your BlackBerry with your computer via USB.
   
4. Click on Synchronize.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Activate the Synchronize organizer data checkbox.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Click on the Configuration tab and click on the Configure synch… button.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Select all data checkboxes you want your BlackBerry being synchronized to.
   
   
   
   
   
8. By selecting the data you have to select the program that stores your data on your desktop computer. As I am using Outlook from Microsoft I have selected this program. But you can select another one as well. It just depends on the program you are running.
   
   
9. That’s it. Now go back and you can select the Synchronize now button at the synchronize dialog.
   
   
   
   
   
10. If you want your BlackBerry being synchronized every time you connect it to your desktop computer you better select Synchronize the items selected above… checkbox.
    
    
    
    
    

Hint: The program on the right – NextAction! – is compatible with PocketMac and therefor with all applications PocketMac can synchronize your BlackBerry with. It is world’s best GTD application for BlackBerry® Wireless Handhelds!

Looking for more howtos? Check out Category:Howtos