What Is a Blind Carbon Copy?
Blind carbon copy is a feature that should be included on most, if not all, email programs, though sometimes it is a hidden field. Whether you are sending work-related or personal emails to a group of recipients, the blind carbon copy feature comes in handy when you want to conceal email addresses from others receiving your message.
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The Bcc Field
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The blind carbon copy field is marked with a "Bcc:" in your email program. It is usually located directly beneath the "Cc:" field. Yahoo! does not display the blind carbon copy field in its template for creating a new message, but there is a "Show Bcc" link to the right of the "To:" field. Click on this link and the "Bcc:" field will appear. Similarly, when you start a new email message in Hotmail, there is a link for "Show Cc & Bcc" to the right of your message.
Mass Emailing
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Whether you are an employee at a corporate company or are self-employed, you will need to periodically send emails to update your clients on company news, services, fees and policies. If you have several high-profile clients on your email distribution list, using the blind carbon copy feature will hide email addresses from other recipients. All of them will receive your message, but none will know to whom else you've sent the message.
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Personal Messages
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You can also use the blind carbon copy feature with your personal messages. For example, if you want to hear your friends' opinions on a particular subject or dilemma at hand but don't want to fuel a debate or argument, you can simply shoot off an email to them. Place each of their email addresses into the blind carbon copy field, type your question and send your message.
Bcc: Vs. Cc:
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The main difference between the "Bcc:" and "Cc:" is in the first word. Every email address that you list in the "Bcc:" field is "blind" or hidden from everyone receiving your message. The "Cc" field simply copies the same message to all recipients without hiding any email addresses.
Proceed With Caution
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Anytime you are planning to send a mass message that includes email addresses that should otherwise be kept private, take a few extra moments to make sure those specific email addresses are added into the blind carbon copy field of your message.
The other option is to send each email individually. Though this guarantees that no private email addresses will be inadvertently revealed, sending individual emails is time-consuming, especially when you have hundreds of recipients who need to receive time-sensitive messages from you. Using the blind carbon copy feature saves time.
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