Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
BCC'ed recipients are not visible to the other recipients. But if you're the sender you probably see the BCC line on messages you've sent.
How do we find out who we listed in the "BCC" section in our outgoing email? In other words, how do we display the BCC addresses after having sent the message to the recipients? I know it is virtually impossible to do this for incoming emails with Outlook 2003. With the Mac Environment it is extremely simple since all one has to do is view the raw source and code information for the outgoing message(s).
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This isn't as much about the environment (Mac or PC) as it is about the email program that you're using. Some make it easy, some make hard, and others make it impossible.
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I do want to be clear first: as the person asking the question mentioned, this is not about email that you've received. I've covered that in another article, "How to I view the list of BCC'ed recipients on an email I've received?". The short answer there is that you cannot.
This is about looking at the BCC'ed recipients on a message that you sent.
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First off, you must configure your email program to save your sent email. If you're not doing that, then there's nothing to look at for this information.
Outlook 2003 appears to make it easy. If you go look at the message in your Sent Items folder, you should see a BCC line listing the BCC'ed recipients.
Outlook Express makes it hard. If you go look at the message in your Sent Items folder, you won't see a BCC line. However, with the message open, click on the message's File menu, then click on the Properties item. Then click on the Details tab, and you'll see the raw source to the message, including the BCC line.
Hotmail, surprisingly enough, makes it easy if you remember to check "Copy Message to Sent Folder" before you sent the email. Then you can just click on the Sent Messages folder, click on the message you sent, and the BCC line will be included in the display.
As I said, other mailers do it differently, or not at all. But the difference is, indeed, in the mail program you're using.
Article C2948 - March 1, 2007
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
What I need to find out is how to get a BCC line in a new e-mail so I can ues it.
10-Mar-2010
Posted by: Val at March 10, 2010 12:07 AM
I still don't know how I can see the list of people I have bc's in emails I have sent (for Yahoo classic or the new Yahoo). Please inform.
Posted by: Lisa Kramer Taruschio at April 23, 2010 7:53 AMBoth my Outlook 2007 and my GMail webpage are configured to save my messages in the Sent folder. The BCC field is displayed when I want it to be. I have sent a message with blind copies to about 40 recipients. I would like to follow it up but cannot find a way to display them again in the message in the Sent folder. Contrary to what is said on this page, the blind copy field is not displayed in the Sent folder of either Outlook or GMail (using either the Internet Explorer or the Chromium (Iron) browser. Any suggestions? I appreciate any help you can give me.
Posted by: edkugler at August 2, 2010 6:40 PMHow about in 2010? I've tried everything. My "properties" section does not have a details section. If I right click before opening the email the "properties" option does not exist. This is going to make me crazy. I've tried everything I could find on the internet today and still can't see the receipants I've BCC'ed in a sent email.
24-Aug-2011
Thank you so much! This was a HUGE help!
Posted by: Sarah at January 3, 2012 9:39 AM