This week I tested Postbox 1.0, a program designed to handle your email in a smart, helpful manner. Starting Wednesday, this program is available at www.Postbox-Inc.com. Postbox sorts through your email and detects its contents so you can see Web links, photos, contacts and other items themselves with one button click—whether Microsoft Word (MSFT) documents, PDFs or spreadsheets—without digging through messages. Since its inbox is constantly being indexed, all search queries return near-instant results.

Postbox uses an Inspector Pane on the right side of each email to extract and display elements like images, attachments and contact information.

Postbox’s founders come from Mozilla Corp., maker of the popular Firefox browser, so Postbox is based on Mozilla technology and its security standards. Email is indexed locally on your computer, so none of it is sent back across the Web to Postbox. It uses Content Tabs (tabs are another feature borrowed from Firefox) to help visually organize folders, messages and content extracted from those messages. It displays the most important elements of each message in a right-side panel. Received emails can even be edited so they aren’t sitting in your inbox with subject lines like, “Fw: Re: Re: Sept.” Instead, you can rewrite the subject to something like “Flight times.”

But this program isn’t free like Gmail, Hotmail or other Web-based email programs, nor does it come preloaded on a computer the way Apple Mail (AAPL) is on every Mac. Users can try Postbox for a free 30-day trial period after which each license costs $40, allowing one person to use their license on multiple computers (i.e. at work, at home, on a laptop). For another $20, a Family Pack option will give up to five family members use of Postbox. An additional $25 buys a Lifetime Upgrades plan that entitles you to receive free of charge any major version of Postbox that’s released; other nonmajor releases are free upgrades.

I used Postbox on a Mac and a Windows Vista computer, filling it up with thousands of emails from Gmail, Hotmail and .Mac accounts. It didn’t run properly on my company-issued computer, which is plugged into a network firewall. Postbox says it supports open protocols like IMPAP, POP and SMTP, and that it would work with Microsoft Exchange if Exchange were set to use those open protocols.

For all of Postbox’s terrific features, it can be hard to suddenly see your email in a different way since most of our email programs haven’t changed much in years. Outlook, for example, has plenty of hidden features that many people never learn how to use. Postbox seems to know how slow users are to adapt to change and so it reveals many of its features whenever it gets the chance.

For example, Postbox pops up an alert that shows you how to connect this email program to Facebook and Twitter so that you can post status updates or tweets without leaving your email. These connections also let Postbox try to pull one representative photo for each of your email contacts by matching a name in an email with someone’s Facebook or Twitter name—if you follow the person. It also uses photos assigned to contacts in the Mac OS X address book, which is used by Apple Mail.

Or take a feature in Postbox called Topics. This is a way of auto-organizing messages into different groups after you label them as being part of a certain topic, say “Mom’s Birthday.” All messages in an email conversation are grouped into “Mom’s Birthday,” as are any future responses to the same conversation. Postbox gives you three ways to label an email conversation as being part of a certain topic: from the toolbar, using a Topics button in the message header or by pressing “T” from within a message. You can also select a topic as you’re composing an email, pre-sorting that conversation into a designated topic.

Not everyone will like Topics because, however helpful the feature is, it makes the user do more work when he or she just want to get through a huge pile of unread emails. Labeling each email with a certain topic doesn’t take long, but it’s still an extra step. I would like Postbox to create automatic topics for sorting emails. For example, I recently sent and received at least 50 emails related to rescheduling tennis matches. Even though all the messages had the word “tennis” in them, not all of them were related to the same email, so they wouldn’t sort into the topic I created, “Tennis Make-Up.” Postbox says it has considered automatic options like these and may try to incorporate something similar in future versions of the product.

If my 30-day trial ran out tomorrow, I’d miss Postbox’s Inspector Bar the most. This feature works like a filter, instantly sucking out the most important parts in each email—including messages, attachments, images or links—and displaying them in a blue, right-side panel.

Another useful tool in Postbox is the Compose Sidebar. This also appears as a right-side panel but it shows up when someone is writing an email. This panel can display attachments, images, links or contacts found in all emails so you can simply drag and drop that item into your email as you’re composing it. This took me a while to get comfortable using because I’m so used to hunting through emails for things that I need to find. But once it became a habit, I found myself using the Compose Sidebar often.

If you have Postbox running in the background and you get an email, small notifications appear in the bottom left of your screen telling you which email account received the message and who sent it.

In the Content Tabs, which fill up with all attachments, images, links or contacts found in your indexed email, a feature called the Action Bar lets you save, send, or instantly glance at a document. This saves you from opening each email and its attachment, a process that sometimes requires opening a slow-to-open program to see the document. A slider in this Action Bar lets you adjust the size of images from small to large.

Postbox shines a unique light on email and the way we work with it every day. Not all of its features will come naturally for long-time users of the same email program. But for someone who wants a fast search option built into email, Postbox is a winner.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg.

Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com

This week, I tested Peek, a device that might bridge the gap between these two camps. It’s made for those who don’t intend to become consumed with mobile email, and don’t need a combination phone, Internet, digital camera and email gadget. Yet from time to time, these people wish they had a better way to check emails without going home and turning on their computers.

The $100 Peek (GetPeek.com) sends and receives emails for $20 a month.

Since I fit the constantly-checking-email description, I enlisted the help of someone who falls squarely into the category that Peek is targeting: my mother. Mom is constantly on the go, working on one project or another, and she doesn’t have time to consistently check her email. On more than one occasion, I’ve had to call her to talk about emails I sent that she didn’t yet read.

Stylish and Simple

Peek is a stylishly thin device that, to a mobile email novice, could pass for a BlackBerry. It receives and sends email, period. Peek doesn’t have a Web browser, phone or built-in digital camera. It’s sold for $100 at Target and GetPeek.com, and costs $20 monthly for contract-free service. Most email accounts work with this gadget, including Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and AOL, and up to three accounts can be set to work on each device.

Peek Inc., a New York company that was started by former Virgin Mobile USA (VM) employees, mailed a Peek to my mom in Pennsylvania, and she has been using it for about a week with positive results.

I, too, tested a Peek, but I was more interested in my mom’s feedback since, prior to this test, she hadn’t used a mobile email device and I use two different ones — regularly. Overall, I’d suggest waiting until November to buy a Peek due to a handful of improvements that the company plans to add by then.

Winning Over a Novice

My mom got the hang of Peek almost instantly and found it both helpful and relatively easy to use. She liked its full keyboard and the way most of its keys lit up and were familiarly placed like those on a computer keyboard — a feature I take for granted on my BlackBerry. Its price and stylish, thin look appealed to her, too. She tested an Aqua Blue Peek — though the device also comes in Black Cherry and Charcoal Gray. I knew Mom was catching on when she casually sent a message from her Peek late one night using the subject line, “What’s Up?”

My mom suggested a few improvements, and I agreed with all of them. The Peek can vibrate, chime and glow blue when new emails are received, but none of these indicators are particularly noticeable. For example, the chime sounds only once and neither my mom nor I could always hear it — even at its loudest setting — especially if it was in a purse. A blue indicator light on the Peek glows once every 10 seconds for 10 minutes after an email is received, but goes idle after that.

The font used on the Peek’s screen could stand to be a little bigger. My mom found words typed in all capital letters were easier and faster to read than the regular font, but she thought most people wouldn’t have too much trouble while using their glasses.

Peek Inc. says that by November, it will have added a louder chime, a constantly blinking indicator light and a larger font to the device. Also in November, people who purchase 12 months of service at once will get an extra month free.

Compared with my BlackBerry Curve, the Peek was thinner but I found its buttons and side scroll wheel a bit stiff. And Mom and I both found that the oft-used Space bar key was too tough to press down.

One Inbox, Three Accounts

The Peek’s straightforward system uses one inbox view (in which up to three email accounts are combined), one menu and a side scroll wheel for selecting commands. And though my mom didn’t seem to mind, the device’s overall navigation system came off as a bit clumsy to me. For example, rather than selecting an email to read it, I had to select an email, and then choose “Open Email” from a menu list. On most other devices, this can be done with one step.

But some BlackBerry tricks are built into the Peek, such as touching “T” to automatically go to the top of an email or inbox; “B” to go to the bottom; or “N” to move to the next email without navigating back to the inbox list. Likewise, the space bar serves as a built-in Page Down button. And holding a letter down will capitalize it.

Photo attachments can be easily opened on the Peek, though attached documents from programs like Word and Excel won’t open up.

Synching Contacts

A simple step lets users synchronize their email account’s contact list with the Peek. My mom did this with an AOL account, and I did it with Hotmail, Gmail and .Mac accounts. Peek devices automatically check for email every two to five minutes, or if users can’t wait two minutes, they can initiate a Send/Receive manually and see an up-to-date queue of emails.

Peeks each have eight megabytes of usable memory, which can hold about 5,000 emails. Once a device reaches capacity, an on-screen prompt asks permission to delete the 500 oldest emails. Peek Inc. says a full battery charge will last about five days if a device handles around 10 to 15 emails a day; power users who send and receive 200 to 300 emails a day will get about two days of use from a full charge.

When asked, my mom concluded that she would probably buy a Peek, but said she still wasn’t sure that she had an urgent need to see email all that often. She also noted that Peek could become a Pandora’s box of sorts for people who, as they use it more often, might want to get more out of it — such as Google searches or other Web browsing.

Peek serves a purpose: It gives those who don’t belong to the “I-check-my-email-constantly” club a way to “peek” in on their emails and not feel so unplugged from friends and family. That alone, is reason enough to buy my mom one of these devices.

– Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

• Email us at mossbergsolution@wsj.com. Find this and other columns and videos online free at the All Things Digital Web site: http://walt.allthingsd.com

This week, I gathered up some useful shortcuts that come built into most of the BlackBerrys, even older models, made by Research In Motion Ltd. but not many owners actually use or know about them. Ironically, most of these shortcuts are conducted using a BlackBerry feature that the iPhone lacks: its physical keyboard. (The iPhone uses a virtual keyboard that appears on-screen only when needed.)

Some useful shortcuts are built into most BlackBerrys, even older models, though not many owners actually use or know about them. Most of these shortcuts are conducted using a BlackBerry feature that the iPhone lacks: its physical keyboard.

Some of these shortcuts are seemingly obvious, like number or capitalization locks, but others are more obscure, like codes that can be entered to display the BlackBerry’s precise signal strength. Some shortcuts are performed with a single keystroke; others work in conjunction with a trackwheel or trackball, depending on your BlackBerry model, and still others work when two keys are pressed simultaneously. BlackBerrys with condensed keyboards that use auto-correcting SureType may require extra or different keystrokes.

Navigation Simplified

A series of keystrokes work in various BlackBerry applications to make navigation much faster. Pressing the Space bar works like Page Down on a computer keyboard, moving down one screen per press. Holding Shift while pressing the Space bar moves in the opposite direction, like the Page Up key. To quickly move to the very top or bottom of a page, press “T” or “B,” respectively. Another way to page down or up through lists is to hold the ALT key while scrolling with the trackwheel.

Users can toggle between the BlackBerry’s running applications without the extra step of navigating back to the Home screen. To do this, press ALT and the Escape key, then release Escape and use the trackwheel to scroll through a display of icons that represent running programs until you reach the desired program, then release the ALT key to select that program.

Messaging Magic

Shortcuts in BlackBerry messaging can be a real boon when you’re trying to get work done quickly. While looking at a list of emails, hit “C” to immediately start composing a new email. When a specific email is highlighted, pressing “R” will reply to that message; “L” will reply to all and “F” will forward it. Hitting “J” while an email is highlighted will jump directly to the oldest message in that email chain.

A list of emails can be more neatly organized from the message screen by holding the ALT key and pressing a letter. “I” will alter the list to show only incoming emails, “O” will show just those emails that were sent. “P” shows a phone log, including dates and times, and “s” displays all SMS messages made or received on the BlackBerry.

In the body of a message, pressing the Space bar twice inserts a period and capitalizes the next word. When the left Shift key and ALT are pressed together, the keyboard’s number lock is on; the right Shift key and ALT work as the caps lock. Holding any letter down will capitalize it, saving users from pressing another key to do so. To type a letter with an accent, hold the letter key down while scrolling up or down with the trackwheel until you find the correctly accented letter.

Type Less, Say More

While composing emails, a series of AutoText codes can be typed in the email body to automatically display certain phrases or information. Typing “mynumber” and a space in the text of an email will automatically display your BlackBerry’s phone number. Similarly, when “LD” is entered the local date is displayed, and when “LT” is typed the local time appears.

If your email inbox is full and you can’t send emails, find out the PIN of your recipient’s BlackBerry and use it to message the person directly. (To find your own PIN, type “mypin” and a space into the body of an email. This code can be used to send PIN messages from one device to another without using the device’s usual email system.)

Geeky Codes

If you’re just dying to know some techie details about your BlackBerry, the “Help Me!” screen will be right up your alley. To view the “Help Me!” screen, press ALT, Shift and “H” simultaneously. This displays data that won’t matter much to the average person, such as the device’s vendor ID, platform and free file space. But it also shows the exact percentage of remaining battery power on the BlackBerry, which could be helpful if you aren’t sure how to interpret the imprecise battery indicator bars at the top of the home screen.

Another way to geek up your BlackBerry is to change its signal strength indicator from bars to numbers that tell how many decibels per milliwatt the device is transmitting. To do this, go to the Home screen and hold down the ALT button while typing “NMLL.” My BlackBerry displayed a minus 75 when I made this change. Strengths of minus 50 to minus 90 are said to be good, while anything higher, like minus 100, isn’t. Though this numerical indicator won’t likely be of any practical use, you could use it to turn to a friend and compare reception during an excruciatingly boring meeting.

One way to impress a technophile on a date is by pulling up a BlackBerry’s Event Log. To do this, go to the Home screen and hold down ALT while typing “LGLG.” This retrieves a long list of numerous confusing codes representing the functions that were performed on your device. The Menu screen in the Event Log gives users the option to clear this log, freeing up some BlackBerry memory, while an Options screen lets people set the log up to record only certain kinds of activities.

Finally, to reboot your BlackBerry without removing its plastic back and taking out the battery, press ALT, Right Shift and Delete simultaneously. More codes can be found in the blogosphere or in a special section of RIM’s Web site: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support/blackberry101/tips/. Adopting just one of these shortcuts can significantly change the way you use your BlackBerry.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com