Windows Phone 8.1 Tips and Tricks

To get accents while typing in non-English languages, just Press and Hold the appropriate character. For example if you want the French a with an accent, press and hold the a button.

When viewing your photos or videos, you can view them in filmstrip mode. Open a picture or video, then pinch it as if you shrink it. You can then view several in filmstrip mode.

This will work better when your phone is tilted into landscape mode.

To forward an email you can simply press the Envelope symbol at the bottom of the screen.

While browsing websites, if you see a phone number or a physical address, you can double tap the number / address. For phone numbers, the phone will dial the number. For addresses, it will show the address on Bing Maps. This may not work for all carriers.

If you are listening to the radio and like a song, but don’t know the name or artist, your phone can help you. This is similar to the Shazam music service.

Simply open the Bing App and press the Music button. The phone will then search for the song and provide you the song, artist, album cover and a link to purchase the track (or album) from the Zune marketplace.

To edit a photo after you have taken it, navigate to your chosen image and press the symbol that looks like three full stops in the bottom right corner. From here, select Edit.

You will now be presented with a number of options such as Crop, Rotate, Auto-fix and Creative Studio.

To find your MAC address, go to the homescreen and scroll to the right.

Choose Settings – About. Then press More information. The MAC address should be shown next to the SIM ID.

You can also try opening the Phone app (dialler), then dial ##634# and press Call.

Then from the Diagnostics screen dial *#1234#

This may not work on all phones.

There are a number of ways to get your IMEI number.

First, the easiest option is to look at the label of the box that your phone came in.

Secondly, if your phone has a removable battery then open the cover and remove the battery. Your IMEI should be on a serial number plate and your IMEI number should be shown there.

Lastly, from the Dialler, enter *#06# and it should be displayed on the screen. This won’t work on all phones and all networks however.

To make a sound when you receive emails, go to Settings – Ringtones & sounds. Then choose a sound for email

If you prefer not to have the ‘Sent from my Windows Phone’ message at the bottom of emails, then here is how to remove it:

Go into Mail and press the 3 dots at the bottom of the screen. Select Settings and change it there

This is useful if you don’t want people to know that emails are being sent from your phone.