Can you use Bcc to send mass email?

If you're accustomed to sending out bulk messages by email and have never used BCC before, it can be confusing at first. Can you even use BCC for that purpose? And if so, what are some of its uses? This guide will answer all your questions about using BCC on email.

Before we get started, let's talk about why you would want to use BCC when sending emails to groups. If you simply need to share information with several people but don't necessarily need them all receiving each others' addresses, then copy & paste is probably enough. However, there may be cases where having everyone receive one another recipient's address is important -- such as communicating to a team or committee. Here are four common examples of when BCC might come in handy.

1) Communicating with many contacts simultaneously

When working with large teams or committees, it's often necessary to communicate with more than one person at once. Sending individual emails to every member isn't efficient because not only does it take time (and thus slow down response), but also leaves room for misspellings and other errors. The solution is to use BCC. Everyone gets their own message, which they could reply to individually or pass along to someone else who hasn't received it yet. It saves time without sacrificing accuracy.

2) Sending event invitations

In today's busy world, sometimes events like weddings and baby showers happen quickly. You'll know whether somebody has RSVPed yes or no after the invitation goes out via email. But what happens if you forget to include the actual invitee's name in the CC field? Or what if you accidentally sent the wrong name over instead? That shouldn't ever happen. With BCC, you won't lose track of anyone, because everything stays right where it was intended to go — just one long list of names.

3) Organizing meetings

Organizing meetings requires lots of coordination. One way to keep everybody straight during the meeting itself is to collect everyone's phone numbers beforehand and give them to the coordinator ahead of time. Then she can call all of her participants directly rather than wasting valuable minutes trying to remember whose number belongs to whom. She can set up a conference bridge line too, if needed. Using BCC lets her avoid any confusion. Everybody knows exactly who they’re speaking to and doesn't waste time dialing into the same voicemail system.

4) Creating mailing lists

Another example of when BCC comes in handy is creating mailing lists online. For instance, say you run a website selling a certain product. Instead of making 10 different accounts, you could make a master account called "List-of-Product-A" and add users based off a dropdown menu. Then, whenever you create new listings, you can select "Add User," type in their info, and hit Send Email. They automatically get added to whatever list you've made for them.

Now let's discuss how you'd actually use BCC.

How do I send a Bcc email to a group?

BCC stands for blind carbon copy, referring to the fact that the sender sees nothing beyond the To/CC fields when composing an email. So technically, you wouldn't be able to see anything past those two lines unless you opened up the full draft view. On top of that, BCCs aren't visible to anybody except the ones listed in the To field.

So how do you compose a BCC email? First, open up your inbox. Next, find the email you wish to forward. Once it appears, click anywhere within the body of the message. A little blue icon should appear beneath the text box indicating where you clicked. From here, you can either choose Edit Text from the popout menu or press Ctrl + C to copy the entire contents of the message. Now, head back to your original email and start typing in the BCc field. Enter a comma between each entry and hit enter again. Finally, replace the To field with the addresses of whoever needs to receive the additional copies. Click Compose and voila! Everything's done.

You can think of BCC as a sort of superset of CC. While both refer to the exact same thing, BCC means that these extra recipients will still remain anonymous while CC means that the receiver(s) will be notified that additional copies were sent.

As mentioned earlier, BCC is invisible to the recipients themselves, but you can change that easily through options inside Microsoft Outlook. Open File " Options " Mail. Under the General tab, check Show me the complete headers option. Doing so gives you access to the Recipients section, which allows you to edit who sees BCC and who doesn't.

It's worth noting that BCC remains popular despite being relatively new compared to CC. Why? Because unlike CC, BCC makes it easier to manage email chains since recipients can be hidden until later. Also, if you're doing something sensitive like sharing customer data, hiding the BCC field prevents accidental leakage.

The next question is: can you BCC a contact group in Gmail?

Yes, you can. Simply visit Contacts " Groups and select Create New Group... This opens up a window allowing you to specify a title, description, color, and privacy settings for your group. Afterward, you can assign memberships to various categories. When you're ready to proceed, click Create Group. Your newly created group will now show up under My Contact List. Select it and scroll down to Advanced Settings. There, toggle Allow distribution to non-members. This setting ensures that nobody outside your group can join, though you can always manually remove members yourself.

Next, return to the main page of your contacts and look above the search bar. Beneath Find People, you'll notice a radio button labeled Manage Groups. Check it. You'll now see three sections containing your existing groups. At the bottom, you'll spot a tiny link titled More Actions... Don't worry if you don't recognize most of these icons. We'll cover more functions soon.

Finally, you can turn on automatic BCCs for future correspondence. Go back to your advanced settings page and expand Automatic Memberships. Toggle Enable auto BCC. By default, this setting is disabled, meaning only manual membership changes will work. Still, if you'd prefer automated updates, Google offers a workaround. Just go back to your previous screen and enable Auto Add Member to Selected Groups. This works great for small teams and committees.

We recommend turning on automatic BCCs when dealing with large amounts of recipients. Otherwise, the process becomes tedious and annoying. Plus, you risk losing control of important details if things don't sync properly.

Can you BCC a contact group in iCloud?

Unfortunately, Apple's native iOS app doesn't support BCC. However, third-party apps allow you to utilize this function. Our favorite is iContact, available free across platforms including Android, iPhone, Mac, Windows PC, and Web. Other good choices include Constant Contact and Vertical Response. All of these services offer robust features for managing business relationships.

However, we recommend checking out our comprehensive roundup of best BCC tools to discover some lesser-known alternatives.

To recap, BCC doesn't require much effort to implement. As long as you follow the instructions below accurately, you'll be fine.

Let's move onto discussing some limitations associated with BCC.

Can you BCC a contact group in Yahoo!?

Short answer: No. Unlike iCloud, Yahoo currently doesn't provide a simple method for adding BCC recipients. What's worse, it takes two separate steps to achieve the desired outcome. First, you must sign in to your Yahoo profile and navigate to Profile " Account Info. Scroll down to View my Details and switch to Personal Information. Depending on your current region, you may find tabs named Address Book, Phone Numbers, etc., depending on your location. Look for the appropriate field and input your desired group's name. Hit Save Changes and wait for the update to finish propagating throughout your network.

Afterwards, you can repeat this process for your second group. Again, head to Profile " Account Info and locate the correct field. Input a new name and save changes. Repeat this procedure for each group you wish to distribute to separately. Unfortunately, Yahoo's user interface is notoriously clunky. Luckily, there are plenty of reliable alternative mail providers that excel in specific areas.

Here's an interesting tidbit regarding BCC. Did you know that some ISPs block incoming messages originating from unknown sources? Thus, if you try to send an email to a group of friends using BCC, some or possibly all of your pals may refuse to read it. Fortunately, you can bypass this problem by spoofing your IP address.

For instance, if you live in America, you can download Virtual Private Network software to hide your real physical location. VPN clients are freely available on the internet, but unfortunately, most companies charge exorbitant fees for service usage. Alternatively, you can purchase an ISP from abroad that specializes in international traffic and transfer your domain elsewhere. Keep in mind that spoofing an IP is against the terms of service for sites like Facebook and Twitter, however.

BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy and is an important part of many people's daily lives -- but can you really use it to blast out one-off emails to tons of different people at once? How does it work exactly, and what would happen if someone on your list replied to everybody else's message too?  Let's take a look!

First off, let’s get our terms straight. You should know that when using BCC, anyone who receives an individual copy of the message will be able to see each recipient's name (but not their address). If they choose to reply to the message, only those listed as CCed or copied on the original message will also receive any response from them. The same goes for forwards of the original message.

So why are we discussing BCC so much then? Because sometimes there are times where you want to have a group discussion with several people but keep some information private. For example, maybe you're sending out a proposal to potential clients and need feedback before you go public. Or perhaps you've got something sensitive to discuss with certain colleagues. A good old fashioned BCC approach lets you handle these situations without risking your privacy by letting others know what was said behind closed doors.

Here's everything you need to know about BCC, including whether you can use BCC to blast out hundreds of copies of the same email simultaneously.

Can you put everyone in BCC?

Absolutely. As long as no one has opted into BCC view mode, every person on the distribution list will automatically receive a separate version of the email even though it may seem like just one email. This means that while you might think "everyone" gets a single email, they actually end up receiving three -- one per recipient.

If you opt instead for keeping track of which employees open messages sent via BCC separately, rather than viewing them en masse, you'll find that Microsoft Mail allows you to set custom rules to change behaviour based on whom opens a particular email. We won't cover setting such rules here because it varies between mail providers. But check out our guide to managing your inbox for more info.

As mentioned above, if you ever decide to share a link within that email, it's likely that clicking it will bring up a new window prompting users to sign in to whatever site it links to. If you used BCC, however, everyone on the distribution list will still get a fresh copy of the email despite having already signed in.

What happens if a BCC replies to all?

This depends entirely upon the settings of whoever wrote the email originally. Most companies tend to block direct responses to mass emails unless the sender specifically asks otherwise, but it's possible that some employers allow replying to all. It's best to contact HR directly to ask about policies surrounding this issue.

In general, most organizations don't want large volumes of personal conversations happening over official channels due to security concerns. Of course, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't reach out to your coworkers personally, but make sure to follow company guidelines.

It's worth noting that if you write a particularly controversial memo, it could lead to retaliation against those involved -- especially if the memo contains details that are deemed confidential. While it's unlikely that your boss will read your email through BCC, he could certainly forward it along to other managers.

Is it rude to BCC?

When done properly, BCC is completely safe. There are two main reasons why you'd avoid doing so: either because you wouldn't want to reveal sensitive data or because you don't trust that employee enough to give him access to potentially confidential material.

For instance, say you were writing a letter detailing salary negotiations to your manager, and you wanted to include representatives from both sides. That way, both executives would see relevant figures without being allowed to talk amongst themselves outside of business hours. However, if you chose to BCC his entire department, he would almost definitely forward the email to his team without bothering to doublecheck first. And since he probably isn't trustworthy enough to hold onto anything sensitive anyway, he wouldn't pass it along safely.

Of course, there are plenty of valid scenarios where BCC makes sense. One of our favorites is making a party invitation list after picking the perfect date and time for guests. Instead of going back and forth trying to coordinate dates and times with dozens of friends, simply invite everyone on one massive sheet of paper. Everyone will receive the same exact time slot, and you won't need to worry about missing any appointments yourself.

How do I send a mass blind email in Outlook?

There are a few ways you can set up BCC distributions in Office 365/Outlook 2016. Here are two options to try out. First, click File & Options... Then select Send/Receive tab under Current Account Settings. Under Distribution Group(s), enter the names of groups you wish to distribute the message to. Click OK twice to save changes.

Now, whenever you create a new message, type in the desired group name and hit Enter. Make sure to add CC fields for anyone whose input you want to request. By default, BCC field appears next to To: field. When you start typing in another person's name, the dropdown menu shows available choices. Select the correct group and continue entering names until you're satisfied with the final result. Next to CC:, select BCC: and fill the box out with the appropriate number of recipients. Hit Backspace to delete unnecessary text. Now, when you compose the message, it should show up on everyone's computer.

Another method involves creating lists in SharePoint. Go to Lists " List Information, scroll down to Create a New Field Pack, and pick Email Address. Fill out the rest of the form according to your needs, save changes, and publish your new page. Anyone working on documents stored on SharePoint will now be able to initiate BCC distributions easily.

Have questions about BCC? Let us know in the comments below!

In an office environment, there are times when it's necessary for someone who works on project A to also know what is happening with projects B and C. This can be done by sending out one large email that includes everyone working on those projects or using BCC. But what if your company has more than one person assigned to different jobs within a department? Or maybe you have several teams of employees working under different managers but still need regular updates from them all?  The answer may lie in BCC -- bulk copy. Let's take a look at how to make BCC work for larger groups of people as well as individual contacts.

For our example, let us say we're writing a newsletter for a nonprofit organization. We want to inform members about upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, fundraising efforts, etc., so they'll be prepared to support these fundraisers once they've been announced. To help keep track of everything going on, we will send out a single email to every member. However, since some of those members won't always receive their own newsletters, we would like to include an option to add additional names and addresses (BCC) into the same message so that only certain people get bombarded with mail. Here's how to set up BCC in Gmail.

First, open up any new email window in your browser. Then click "Compose" instead of "Send." Now you should see options below where you can select whether to compose an entire message ("To") or just part of it ("BCC"). You will not see either choice while composing your original email, however.

Once you choose the second option, here is what happened behind the scenes: The first time you clicked "send," the system automatically added the rest of the recipients listed in the CC field into the body of your email. Next, it sent off the email to the default address associated with the account. At which point, Gmail opened up a pop-up box asking if you wanted to go ahead and send the message immediately or save it until later. If you chose to delay delivery, then the next thing anyone receiving the email saw was the standard confirmation page saying the recipient(s) received the message successfully.

Now that you understand how BCC works, let's walk through creating a group email with BCC. First things first, decide what kind of information you wish to share with specific people. For instance, you might want to give out contact info for job openings, event announcements, press releases, and more. Once you have identified what needs to be shared with others, open up a separate tab or window to start setting up BCC in Gmail.

Next, head over to the Contacts section and find yourself a nice list full of potential BCC recipients. Make sure you don't pick too many people because Gmail limits you to 100 total BCC recipients per message. Click on the tiny pencil icon adjacent to any entry and hit "Delete Person." After you delete someone, Google asks why you removed them. Simply type "too spammy/spam trap" or something similar and press enter. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the list.

After selecting your BCC recipients, head back to your main inbox tab and check to ensure none of your contacts accidentally got deleted. Also remember that you cannot edit BCC fields after adding them unless you change accounts. So now you have created a basic BCC list for your newsletter! It's time to move onto actually building the actual content for the email.

This is where most people run into problems. They try to write out long paragraphs of text for each of the BCC recipients and end up tripping themselves up. Don't worry though, there are ways around this problem. Just follow these three simple steps.

1. Create another blank line between the existing messages.

2. Write down whatever you want to say for each recipient individually.

3. When you come across a topic you plan on covering for more than one person, highlight it and insert the name of the BCC recipient right before it.

If you were trying to compile a lengthy paragraph of text intended for two different people, you'd simply highlight that portion of the message and paste the text directly above it. This method allows you to maintain formatting without having to manually retype every word for every recipient.

Here is an example of what a finished BCC email might look like. Notice how it consists of nothing but short sentences and bullet points.

Subject Line: Group Email

Hi All,

We hope you had a great holiday season and are ready to kick off 2010 strong! As you know, December marks the beginning of our annual fundraiser campaign. Our goal this year is to raise $10K per family in order to provide food, clothing and shelter to families living in homeless shelters throughout San Diego County. Please read on for important details regarding our January 10th Walk & Funeral...

John Doe #1 - John Smith

Location: 5555 Birch Street

San Carlos, CA 94070

Date: Tuesday, Jan 8th @ 2pm

Cost: $25 per participant

Start Time: 12 noon sharp!!

Details: Register online at http://www.homelessfamilieswalkandfuneralsd.org/. Dress comfortably and wear good walking shoes. Bring money for lunch ($5 suggested donation). No registration required! Come join the fun!

Please note: There WILL BE NO FUNERAL WITHOUT DONATIONS!!!

Mary Jane #2 - Mary Jones

Address: 123 Anywhere St.

Anytown, USA

Phone Number: 555-5555 ext. 111111

Email Address: mary@jane.com

Date: Thursday, Dec 31st @ 6 pm EST

Cost: Free admission

Event Details: Join us for New Year's Eve festivities starting at 7PM EST. Enjoy live music, drinks, dancing, games, prizes and much more! Showcase your best costumes, talent and creativity in contests such as Karaoke, Talent Show, Cosplay Contest, Mascots, Best Costume Design, Worst Crime Scene Investigation, Movie Making Challenge, Murder Mystery Game and much more. Tickets available for purchase at the door. View map for directions. Must be 21+ to attend.

Bob Bob #3 - Robert Brown

123 Main St.

Any Town, USA

E-mail: bob@brown.net

Date: Wednesday, Dec 30th @ 1 pm EST

Cost: FREE admission

Event Details: Come out and enjoy free movies, food trucks, beer gardens, children's activities and entertainment along with local artists selling unique crafts. Proceeds donated to charity. RSVP requested as space is limited. View map for directions.

There you have it! With just a few minutes' worth of effort, you can easily craft an effective email with BCC! One last tip: If you ever need to remove a BCC recipient from your list, simply hover over the subject line until you spot the little arrow icon appear. From there, select "Remove Recipient" and confirm your action. Your chosen user won't even notice.