What is BCC in email?
The short answer
BCC stands for “blind carbon copy” — it lets you add recipients to an email without anyone else on the email seeing their name or address.
How BCC works
Every email has three recipient fields:
- To — the main recipient
- CC (carbon copy) — additional recipients that everyone can see
- BCC (blind carbon copy) — hidden recipients that nobody else can see
When you put someone in the BCC field, they receive the email just like everyone else. The difference is that no one in the To or CC fields knows they got it. BCC recipients also cannot see other BCC recipients.
When to use BCC
- Sending to a large group — if you are emailing 50 people who do not know each other, put them all in BCC to protect their email addresses from being shared
- Keeping someone in the loop privately — for example, copying your manager on a client email without the client knowing
- Newsletters or announcements — when you are sending the same message to many people and do not want to expose everyone’s contact information
- Avoiding reply-all chaos — since BCC recipients are hidden, they cannot accidentally reply to the entire group
When not to use BCC
- When transparency matters — if people should know who else received the message, use CC instead
- To be deceptive — secretly copying someone to undermine a colleague is generally considered unprofessional
How to find the BCC field
In most email apps, the BCC field is hidden by default. Look for a small link or button that says BCC near the To or CC fields. In Gmail, click the Bcc link on the right side of the To field. In Outlook, click Options and then Bcc when composing a new message.
Quick tip
If you are sending a mass email and want to keep all addresses private, put your own email in the To field and everyone else in BCC. This is the simplest way to protect everyone’s privacy.
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