To, Cc and Bcc — who actually sees it
Exactly who can see what, and be able to write to twenty people without handing their addresses to nineteen strangers.
Cc and Bcc are leftovers from typewriters and carbon paper, which is why the names make no sense. What they do is straightforward once somebody says it plainly.
Bcc has a second use that is worth understanding before you meet it: quietly copying somebody into a conversation with another person. It is legal, common in offices, and it can go awkwardly.
If the person in Bcc presses Reply all, their reply goes to everybody — and reveals that they were there all along. They had no way of knowing they were hidden, because Bcc looks exactly like an ordinary message from the receiving end.
None of that applies to the ordinary use — a notice going to a list of people who do not know each other. That use has no downside at all, and it is the one worth building into a habit.
Key points
- To and Cc are in the open; everyone sees everyone
- Bcc is the only box that changes what other people can see
- For a list of people who do not know each other, Bcc is the courteous choice
- Your own address in To, the list in Bcc, is the standard shape for a notice
What to remember
- The panel down the side is the lesson. Everything else was practice at reading it.
- To for the people it is for. Cc for the people who should know. Bcc for anybody who has not agreed to be introduced.
- Bcc is not secretive. It is the polite way to protect other people’s addresses, and it is what any organization writing to a list ought to be doing.
Try this
Find the Bcc box in your own email program — it is often hidden behind a small Cc/Bcc link at the end of the To line. Knowing where it lives is most of the work.
Practice: To, Cc and Bcc — who actually sees it. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.