Understand To, CC and BCC
Receiving a copy and seeing an address are different
Choose how to send a notice without exposing everyone's address.
Explain how recipient fields affect audience and address visibility.
An email can go to several people while showing different address information. To names the main recipients, CC supplies visible copies, and BCC hides those copied addresses from other recipients. These fields help manage an audience, but they do not make the message itself confidential.
Make a deliberate recipient choice
How this works
Use To for people directly addressed and CC for people kept informed. Both sets of addresses are normally visible to recipients. Moving a person from To to CC does not hide their address or stop them receiving the contents.
BCC means blind carbon copy. A person listed there receives the message without their BCC address being shown to the other recipients. The sender can still see whom they included. BCC recipients still see the message and its visible To/CC recipients.
In new Outlook, while composing, click Options at the top, then Show fields and Show Bcc. Click the BCC field before entering addresses. Other apps may offer a Bcc label beside To. Check every field before sending, because putting the list in CC exposes it instead.
For a notice to people who should not see one another's addresses, BCC may fit better than a visible group. It is not encryption: recipients can copy or forward the content. A BCC recipient who replies to everyone may reveal their own participation. Do not use BCC as a promise of anonymous conversation.
You are preparing the same notice for several neighbours who have not agreed to share their addresses. Which arrangement avoids showing the whole list to them?
Put those neighbours in BCC and review the visible recipient fields.
Check what you understand
In guided learning, click Start 3 questions to receive a selection from this lesson. Click the circle beside an answer, then click Check answer. Read the feedback and try again if needed. Click Next question after each correct answer. Answer all 3 correctly to continue.
Returning to guided learning keeps the questions and answers in your current attempt.
Read all 3 questions and explanations
A person moves from To to CC. What normally stays the same?
Answer: They receive the contents and their address remains visible.
CC is a visible copy, not a hidden or shortened message.
Which statement about a BCC message is correct?
Answer: Recipients can still copy or forward its contents.
BCC controls address visibility to other recipients. It does not prevent copying, and the sender retains their recipient record.
Someone included through BCC uses Reply All. Why should they be careful?
Answer: Their response may reveal that they received the message.
Their own reply can reveal their participation. BCC does not provide an anonymous discussion channel.
Take this to your computer
- 1
Use the fictional audience choice here without preparing a real group message.
- 2
If you later use BCC, locate the field in your app's official help and check To, CC and BCC separately before sending.
BCC is an address-visibility feature, not a guarantee of secrecy. This page sends no notices.
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