Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Please Use BCC for Email

Do you send out group emails? Did you know that when you put all the email addresses in the To or even CC (carbon copy) fields that you are sharing the email addresses with EVERYONE in the email? This is uncool unless you have permission from everyone to share. If you are emailing a group of friends or family this is OK, but if you are emailing a group bloggers you should use BCC (blind carbon copy). Each person will get the email from you but they will not be see the other email addresses and can only reply to you.

It's very easy to send an email BCC. In Gmail you click the Add Bcc link and add your addresses in that field separated by a comma.
In Thunderbird, you can just pull down from To: to Bcc:
Some people use an email/newsletter service that keeps emails private, so this quick advice is for people that send out group emails by hand.
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39 comments :

  1. Thank you for sharing this, Diana! I have never sent group e-mails, but never know when I might start ;-)

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  2. Oh I so agree! Always bug the heck out of me!

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  3. Fantastic post - I am going to link to it from my Blog Tips blog. Hope you are having a good week, Diana.

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  5. I belong to two groups where we share info. on relevant topics in mailings, but we all have each other's addresses anyway. I do find those forwards of jokes, 'inspirational' messages, dire warnings, etc. that have a page or two of the history of recipients extremely annoying and I almost always delete before reading. I guess that doesn't mean my address is not floating around out there, though. I get hundreds of spam messages on my email daily. Who knows where it all comes from?

    BTW, turning off anonymous comments stopped spam on my blog. Thank-you so much for that tip.

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    1. Olga, I'm learning what you learned from Diana from you. I've had some anonymous comments that I blocked as spam but it is annoying and dangerous...who knows what might be attached to those links they want you to open. I will go into my settings and turn them off right now! Thanks Olga AND Diana!

      Sinea at Ducks ‘n a Row

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    2. I am so glad I helped you girls. I still see SOOO many blogs with word verification on because "they get too much spam", yet they allow anonymous comments. Oy!!

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  6. This is great information-and something that most of would not even think about. Thank you!

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  7. Thanks for the reminder, Diana. I do send group emails to anyone who want a reminder when my Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop is up. To date, they've always gone out anonymously as "bcc". I did have a close call, though. It's so easy to accidentally put it in the cc field. It's good to double check.

    Sinea at Ducks ‘n a Row

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  8. I never thought of this....Thanks so much for the tip! I'll be sure to do this next time!

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  11. Great advice!! Thanks for sharing...

    ~ Darlene

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  13. I couldn't agree with you more! At work, our GM sent out an email to staff (at least 50 of us), and failed to use BCC. Now each week I receive emails from people I don't even know very well, which was not something I particularly wanted. One employee even had the audacity to send an email about the Arbonne products she sells, which in my view is nothing more than a pyramid scheme! I do appreciate you sharing this information with others. Thanks for the great post!

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  14. thanks for sharing this Diana, I only leant what the bcc space did last year when someone emailed me about a link party reminder message, and just wrote all the address in the TO section,
    It might of even been you who told me about it LOL

    Natasha @ www.serenityyou.com

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  16. 100% agree I loath being cc'd into everything, if I wanted to chat as a group I'd join a group!

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  17. Yes, it is certainly very important not appear the other emails.

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  18. Visit from Thursday Blog hop.
    Hope to see you around.
    Have a great day.
    Nan
    http://www.blogshe.net/2013/02/finally-thursday-blog-hop.html

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  19. Thanks for the reminder! Good post! :)

    Marti
    http://sew-licious.blogspot.com

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  20. Thanks, Diana, this was much needed. The first time I sent out a group email, I didn't do that and then I remembered that a friend of mind told me that isn't good since people can "capture" all the emails. So for the past few weeks I've been using BCC. Very important to learn that. I had to fool around a LONG time to figure out how to get the list into the BCC and not the TO. Take care, Linda

    http://www.craftsalamode.com/2013/02/what-to-do-weekends-5.html

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  21. Very important post, and I'm really glad you brought the subject!!
    I've been sending group-emails using bcc for some years now, but still a lot of people don't know how to use it.

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  22. Great advice! One of my other pet peeves with group emails is the "reply all" function. Think before you hit reply all. At work, there are several people who hit that reply all button and it just drives me crazy. There are times when "reply all" is correct, but sometimes it's just not necessary.

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  23. Great info Diana!! I'd love to share this on my Facebook page if it's okay with you?

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  24. Thank you for sharing this at Party In Polka Dots! Right now I am visiting you from Mop It Mondays! I haven't sent out many group emails except maybe to family and friends so I never really realized what BCC stood for! Now I know and will surely use it when I do send out group emails!

    Thanks so much!!

    Shelley

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  25. I'm so glad you posted this, Diana. While most bloggers seem to use BCC, there are still a few who don't and I always worry about my email address getting in the hands of the wrong person and the receiving spam. Great post!!

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  26. Oh you know I just didn't think of that when I send out my reminders!! Thank you so much for letting us all know! I use BCC at work all the time. You think I'd be smart enough to do it at home. ha ha guess not so much! You can bet I will next week

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  27. Great pointer :) Thanks for linking up to The Weekly Creative!

    Shannon @ Sewing Barefoot

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  28. I just recently learned about this - a good reminder!

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  29. What a great reminder! Thank you for sharing at monday Funday!

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  30. I totally agree! Jodi @ www.meaningfulmama.com

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  31. Thanks for this tutorial, I had no idea using CC still allowed others to see all of the email addresses you used. I have a party going on called Saturday Spotlight, and I'd love for you to drop by and share this or any of your other great ideas!

    http://angelshomestead.com/saturday-spotlight-3/

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  32. Good reminder for people newer to sending group messages! Thanks for dropping in & linking up @ DearCreatives.com hope your having a great week!

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  33. Super post, I wish more people would do this!
    Thanks for sharing on Tutorial Thursdays.
    x
    Natalie
    www.marigoldsloft.blogspot.com

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  35. Thank you for submitting yet another fun project to the Crafty Showcase! I do wish people would use BCC! xoxo susie @bowdabra

    Ps- here is the newest linky! We have a new Button! http://bowdabrablog.com/2013/02/16/crafty-showcase-link-up-anything-fun-in-the-craft-project-linky/

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  36. hi, i'm following the "clever chicks" blog hop. i would love for you to visit my blog and follow if you like it.

    http://www.blackinkpaperie.blogspot.com

    thanks
    new follower bev

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