Summary: It's possible to send email to someone without having their email address show up on the To: or Cc: lines by using Blind Carbon Copy or Bcc.
How do I hide the email addresses I'm sending to on a message?
Have you ever gotten a piece of email where you weren't listed as a recipient? Your email address wasn't present on either the "To:" line or the "Cc:" (Carbon Copy) line, but somehow you got it anyway. What you didn't see was what's called the "Blind Carbon Copy" line, or "Bcc:" which allows the sender to specify a list of people to get the message without their name appearing on it.
Why "carbon" and what's this about it being "blind"?
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The term "Carbon Copy" dates from the pre-photocopy typewriter days where the way to make a second copy was to insert a sheet of carbon paper between two sheets of typewriter paper - when the typewriter struck an image of a letter on the top it would also press an image through the carbon paper onto the second page.
In today's digital age, the term simply means any copy of a document or email sent to someone in addition to the primary recipient. It's common courtesy on business correspondence to let the recipient know who else is getting the document by listing them after a "Cc:" somewhere on the document. Email of course does this automatically with the "Cc:" field into which you enter email addresses.
"Blind" simply means that someone else gets a copy but they're not listed on the "Cc:" line as getting one.
Here's the rub: how you access the blind carbon copy function will depend on your email client. Look in the on-line help for "bcc" or "Blind Carbon Copy". In Outlook there is a BCC field that's simply not visible by default. When you compose a message hit the View menu and you'll find an item labeled Bcc field which will turn it on. In Outlook Express hit the View menu while composing a message and you'll see an item All Headers that does the same.
BCC can be a courtesy if used correctly. If you're sending email to a large number of people you can reduce the size of the message and the "To:" or "Cc:" headers that people might have to wade through by BCCing your message to them. On the other hand, it can also be somewhat rude to BCC what someone might think is a personal message to others as well.
BCC. Use it responsibly.
Related:
Ask Leo! - How do I get outgoing mail to display "Undisclosed-Recipients:;" in the TO field?
Ask Leo! - How to I view the list of BCC'ed recipients on an email I've received?
Article C1889 - February 1, 2004
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Yes and no.
You can change the "From:" address on email you send. This article covers that:
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_send_mail_from_my_mail_forwarded_address.html
However that does not *hide* you. Your actual email address may still be in
the mail headers, as may be the IP address from which you're sending email.
Leo
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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at October 18, 2007 12:56 PM/voNoJEvrb0wC5kLv27KUAU=
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In reply to those wanting to send an email without their email address being revealed..
you can use free online services such as www.anonysend.tk to do so.. saw this one on a flyer at my university and it worked for me so thought i'd recommend it.
any luck?
Posted by: Harry at February 25, 2008 8:46 AMHow do I see who I've sent an email to once it's been sent bcc? Want to check and be sure I didn't already send it. Thanks.
Posted by: debb at May 13, 2008 3:58 PMdebb
Posted by: DAVE at June 25, 2008 12:32 PMIf Outlook Express try: Ctrl F3 keys at same time
You may want to try akapost (www.akapost.com)
akapost is a simple and easy way to protect your email identity from being exposed on the Internet.
Posted by: Smith at July 21, 2008 11:59 AMIs there a way to send an email and make it where the person your sending the email to doesn't see your email address?
Posted by: Rick at August 20, 2008 1:27 PMHello,
there is a webpage, www.emailhide.org, that encrypts your email address in a secure manner. All you nedd to do is type in your email address and is returned html code with a link with your encrypted email. I've tried and now i use it everytime. There's also a automatic gen for webmasters. Check it out.
05-Feb-2009
I have tried every thing with out success,I have yahoo
Posted by: Frances Howard at March 3, 2009 12:29 PMIf i need to send out a message to a lot of people, but i want them to only see their own name on the email, as if i personally sent it to just them and not 25 other people as well, how would i do this in Microsoft Outlook?
28-May-2009
I have gmail and I've tried everything in the book to prevent my mail recipients to see other's addresses, but it won't work. I use the BCC feature but the addresses still show. I know this because I tried sending a message to multiple recipients, where I put one of my other mails in the TO box and the rest in the BCC box. That's when I found that the addresses were displayed.
Thank you very much for your help.
01-Jul-2009
Posted by: GLORIA at June 30, 2009 11:20 AM