BCC puts someone on an email without other recipients seeing their address

BCC stands for "blind carbon copy." When you add someone to the BCC field, they receive the email, but their address stays hidden from everyone else on the message — including the main recipient and anyone on the CC line. The person in the BCC field cannot see that they were BCC'd, and they cannot see who else is BCC'd.

This is different from CC (carbon copy), where everyone can see every address. BCC is useful when you are sending the same message to many people who do not know each other, or when you want to keep someone's involvement private.

Key Takeaways

  • BCC hides a recipient's email address from all other people receiving the message.
  • In Outlook on the web, click "Bcc" in the compose window to reveal the BCC field.
  • In Outlook desktop, press Ctrl+Shift+B (Windows) or Command+Shift+B (Mac) to show the BCC field, or use the Options tab.
  • You can add multiple addresses to the BCC field, separated by semicolons or commas depending on your Outlook version.
  • Once you send an email with BCC recipients, those recipients cannot reply to the whole group — they can only reply to you.

How to add BCC in Outlook on the web

Open Outlook in your web browser and click "New message" or "Compose" to start a new email. In the compose window, you will see fields for "To" and "Cc" at the top. Look for the word "Bcc" written in smaller text just below or to the right of the "Cc" field — it may appear as a clickable link.

Click on "Bcc" and a new field will appear. Type the email address or addresses you want to BCC into this field. If you are adding multiple people, separate each address with a semicolon or comma. After you have filled in the To, Cc, and BCC fields as needed, write your subject line and message, then click "Send."

How to add BCC in Outlook desktop (Windows)

Open Outlook and click "New Email" or press Ctrl+N to start composing. The BCC field is hidden by default in the desktop version. To reveal it, press Ctrl+Shift+B on your keyboard. The BCC field will appear between the CC field and the subject line.

Type the email addresses you want to BCC into this field, separating multiple addresses with semicolons. Complete the rest of your email as usual and click "Send." If the keyboard shortcut does not work, you can also click the "Options" tab at the top of the compose window, then look for a "Show BCC" or "Bcc" button in the ribbon.

How to add BCC in Outlook desktop (Mac)

In Outlook for Mac, click "New Email" to open the compose window. Press Command+Shift+B to reveal the BCC field. It will appear in the same location as the Windows version — between CC and the subject line.

Enter the addresses you want to BCC, using semicolons to separate multiple recipients. Finish writing your email and click "Send." If the keyboard shortcut does not work, click the "Message" menu at the top of your screen while the compose window is open, then look for an option to show BCC.

What happens after you send a BCC email

Once you send an email with BCC recipients, those recipients will receive the message in their inbox. However, they will not see the To or CC fields — they will only see their own address in the To field. This means they cannot tell who else received the email or that they were BCC'd.

BCC recipients cannot use "Reply All" to respond to everyone on the email. If they click Reply, their response goes only to you, not to the main recipient or anyone on the CC line. This is by design — it prevents accidental replies that would expose the BCC recipient's involvement.

Common reasons to use BCC

Use BCC when you are sending the same message to a large group of people who do not know each other and should not see each other's email addresses. This is common in newsletters, announcements to a mailing list, or messages to clients or customers who expect privacy.

BCC is also useful when you want to keep someone informed about a conversation without making their presence obvious to the main recipient. For example, you might BCC your manager on an email to a client, or BCC yourself on an email you are sending from a shared account so you have a copy in your own inbox.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can BCC recipients see each other?

No. BCC recipients cannot see other BCC recipients, the main recipient, or anyone on the CC line. They only see their own address in the To field. Each BCC recipient receives an individual copy of the email.

What is the difference between CC and BCC?

CC (carbon copy) shows the recipient's address to everyone on the email. BCC (blind carbon copy) hides the recipient's address from everyone else. Use CC when the recipient's involvement should be visible, and BCC when it should be private.

Can I BCC someone on a reply to an existing email thread?

Yes. When you reply to an email, you can still add BCC recipients using the same method — press Ctrl+Shift+B (Windows) or Command+Shift+B (Mac), or click "Bcc" in the web version. The BCC recipient will receive only your reply, not the entire thread history.

What happens if I BCC someone and they reply?

Their reply goes only to you, not to the main recipient or anyone else on the email. The BCC recipient cannot see the original To and CC fields, so they may not realize who the main recipient was. If they need to reply to the whole group, you would have to forward their message manually.

Is there a limit to how many people I can BCC?

Outlook does not enforce a hard limit on BCC recipients, but sending to very large lists (hundreds or thousands of addresses) may trigger spam filters or cause delivery delays. For large mailing lists, consider using a dedicated mailing list feature or mail merge instead of BCC.