The CC and BCC fields when sending email work similarly. CC stands for "carbon re-create," while BCC stands for "bullheaded carbon copy." Though these terms may take been immediately obvious when email was invented, they're antiquated today.

CC and BCC are both ways of sending copies of an email to additional people. However, you lot can also send copies of an electronic mail to boosted people by specifying multiple addresses in the To field.

Carbon Copying Explained

The abbreviation CC comes from "carbon copy." By placing a sheet of carbon newspaper between two pieces of paper, the pressure from writing on the start piece of newspaper will push button the ink from the carbon paper downwards onto the 2d piece of paper, producing an additional copy of the document. Similar a physical carbon copy, a CC is a manner of sending boosted copies of an email to other people. Some people refer to CC every bit "courtesy copy," which ameliorate describes what a CC actually is. CC is oft used as a verb, as in "I CC'd him on the electronic mail."

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CC vs. BCC

When you lot CC people on an electronic mail, the CC list is visible to all other recipients. For case, if you CC bob@example.com and jake@example.com on an email, Bob and Jake will both know that the other received the email, as well.

BCC stands for "blind carbon copy." Different with CC, no one but the sender tin can meet the list of BCC recipients. For example, if you lot have bob@example.com and jake@example.com in the BCC list, neither Bob nor Jake will know that the other received the email.

Someone on the BCC list can run into everything else, including the CC list and the contents of the email. Notwithstanding, the BCC listing is secret—no one can see this list except the sender. If a person is on the BCC listing, they'll see just their ain email on the BCC listing.

To vs. CC

The To and CC fields work similarly. Whether y'all put four email addresses in the To field or put one email address in the To field and 3 in the CC field, the four people volition all receive the aforementioned email. They'll too exist able to see the e-mail accost of every other recipients in the To and CC fields.

When it comes to email etiquette, the To field is generally for the main recipients of your email. The CC field is for sending a copy to other interested parties for their information. This isn't a physical rule, and usage of To and CC varies.

For example, allow's say your boss wants you to email a customer in response to a complaint. You lot'd put the customer's email address in the To field and your dominate'due south email address in the CC field, so your boss would receive a re-create of the email. If you didn't want the customer to see your boss's email address, you'd put your dominate'south address in the BCC field instead.

When to Use CC and BCC

CC is useful when:

  • You desire someone else to receive a copy of an e-mail, but they aren't one of the primary recipients.
  • You desire the recipients of the message to know the other people who have been sent the message.

BCC is useful when:

  • Y'all want someone else to receive an email, but yous don't desire the primary recipients of the electronic mail to come across you've sent this other person a re-create. For example, if y'all're having a problem with a swain employee, yous might transport them an email virtually it and BCC the homo resource department. HR would receive a copy for their records, but your fellow employee wouldn't exist aware of this.
  • You lot want to ship a re-create of an email to a big number of people. For case, if you take a mailing listing with a large number of people, you could include them in the BCC field. No one would be able to see anyone else's email address. If you CC'd these people instead, you would be exposing their email addresses and they'd see a long list of CC'd emails in their email plan. You could fifty-fifty put your own email accost in the To field and include every other address in the BCC field, hiding everyone'southward email accost from each other.

BCC, Replies, and Email Threads

Notation that BCC doesn't function like CC when it comes to e-mail threads. For example, if you transport an email to bob@example.com and BCC jake@example.com , Jake will receive the original e-mail y'all send. Notwithstanding, if Bob replies, Jake won't get a copy of Bob's reply. Bob's email program can't encounter that Jake ever received the email, so information technology doesn't send him a copy of the reply.

Of course, you lot can continue to BCC Jake on future emails or forward him a re-create of the answer. Information technology's also possible that Bob could erase Jake's email from the CC field and reply straight to you if you CC'd Jake instead. However, people are much more likely to receive all replies in an email thread if yous CC them. You'll have to go on them in the loop if you lot're BCC'ing them.

In practice, a lot of this tin can come up down to email etiquette and different people will use these fields differently—particularly the To and CC fields. Don't be surprised if you see them used differently.

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