Just like any application, Palm OS programs have their own series of tricks and tips. One of these shortcuts uses the Palm command stroke. This quick stroke can bypass many a menu.

I've noticed that most Palm owners seldom use the command stroke. Maybe this is because people aren't aware of the stroke or they get it confused with another graffiti stroke. Either way, people are missing a great Palm shortcut.

If you're not familiar with the command stroke, it's an upward diagonal stroke "⁄ " starting at the lower left. (See yellow highlight box). The stroke activates a command bar on bottom of your Palm.

Rather than showing all menu items for Record, Edit, Options, the command bar displays several functions based on where you are in a program. Since I was looking at an address record, my options are to beam the record or delete it. I tend to think of these items as a subset of frequently used commands. The commands might include cut, copy, beam, delete and so on. To perform a command you tap its small icon. You can also tap and hold the icon and a description will appear to the left.

Another feature of the command stroke is it can be combined with a letter to bypass menus. If you look at most menu items, you'll see a command stroke equivalent displayed to the right. For example, if you tap the menu bar on an address book record, you'll see:

The slash B is the command stroke equivalent for the Beam command. You might think of these like Alt key commands in Windows applications. You'll find that many of these command strokes are constant between Palm applications. The operating system is also smart enough not to use a command if it's not possible. For example, you can't use the /B command when you're looking at your Memo list. The software wants you to first select a memo. However, /B would work from your program launcher.

It may take a bit of practice before you're comfortable with these shortcuts. Soon, you'll find yourself routinely using them for common functions such as beam, keyboard, phone lookup and so on.