Group similar messages in threads in BlackBerry 6

One reason Gmail is my primary email, and why I use the Gmail plug-in for BlackBerry, is the threaded message function. Instead of listing every single email in a chain, Gmail groups them all into one. This saves space in your inbox and makes for easier conversation management. The folks at RIM apparently picked up on this. In OS 6 you can choose to group together messages with the same subject. Even if you’re not a Gmail user I think you’ll find this a neat, easy, and efficient way to manage your email. To group your emails by subject, you’ll need to open up your messages app. Then hit menu and go into Options. The first sub-option is Message Display and Actions. Under Display you’ll see Display Style. Change it from Single Messages to Group by Subject. Your BlackBerry will then go through a consolidation process, which might take a minute, depending on the size of your inbox. But once you’re done you’ll have a much shorter message list, and a much more easily managed inbox. Email threads with more than one message are denoted with a different icon, such as the one you see embedded on the left. Click on that, and you’ll get a list of all messages contained in the thread. Clearly, not everyone will prefer to manage his email in this way. It’s a bit different than traditional email, and change can be difficult. But after years of managing my email this way through Gmail, I can’t go back. Now that it’s available on the BlackBerry I’ve found myself using the general messages app more, rather than the Enhanced Gmail inbox.

About the Author

Joe Pawlikowski is the Senior Editor at MobileMoo.com and has been covering the mobile industry full time since 2007. When he's not writing about the tech scene, he can be found discussing his personal love - baseball (and more specifically the New York Yankees) as well as writing on his personal blog.