Quick Tip: How to add Music, Videos, and Pictures to your home screen on BlackBerry OS 7

These days I'm all about the home screen and the added functionality BlackBerry OS 7 brings with customizing it. Whether you're customizing the panels , moving a bookmark to, or even creating your own visual address book, its all about getting the most done with the least effort. While OS 6 also allowed you to add playlists to the home screen, OS 7 goes one step further by letting users add music, videos, and pictures as well.  

To prevent unnecessary icons or shortcuts from filling your home screen the first step would be to create a new folder you can use to save your files to. This isn't required as you can save directly to the home screen or to an existing folder. A new folder can only be added from the All pane screen and one of the icons must be highlighted. Simply press the menu key and select Add Folder. After choosing an icon and naming the folder you're good to go.

Wherever you decide to place these shortcuts, it's the perfect way to quickly access your favorite media. 

1. From the home screen, click on the media folder, choose the media type (music, pictures, videos), and navigate to and highlight the exact file you want to create a shortcut for (including playlists and wallpaper images).
2. Click the menu key and scroll to and select Add to Home Screen.
3. In the dialog box that appears you can modify the name, choose a location (i.e. home screen, existing folder, or the new folder you created), and select whether to add a shortcut in the favorites panel as well. 
4. Scroll down and click on Add and voila you have your own personalized shortcut.
5. To remove, just repeat the above steps and choose Remove from Home Screen from the menu options.

With OS 7, users have more control over the content that appears on the home screen so they can spend less time clicking on menus and icons and go directly to what's needed. For more helpful hints and tricks be sure to visit our forums and help pages.