If you’ve ever sent an email, you’ve probably noticed the Cc field at the top of your message.
But what is it?
And what exactly is a Bcc?
Let’s find out.
‘CC’ means ‘Carbon Copy’.
Before email was popular and mechanical typewriters weren’t just for hipsters, the quickest
way to make copies of a document was to use a special sheet of paper called carbon paper.
You would load the carbon paper into the typewriter along with two normal sheets of paper to produce
two identical copies of the original.
This is where the phrase ‘carbon copy’ comes from.
Using the Cc function in email sends an identical copy of the email
to the person in the Cc field.
Think of it like a digital carbon copy.
Some people also call it a ‘courtesy copy’, as, in the workplace, it is used to keep people
aware of information that doesn’t require direct action or a response from them.
If a message is directly to someone - or more than one person - then you should put their
address in the main address field.
For example, if you were emailing someone in your team about a project your manager
was overseeing, you would put your team member in the primary ‘To’ address field, and
your manager in the ‘Cc’ address field.
Everyone in the email thread will be able to see who else is in the conversation and
whether they have been Cc’d or addressed directly.
However, you will not be able to see any people who have been added to the email with the
Bcc function.
Bcc means ‘Blind Carbon Copy’.
It is used to inform people in the same way as a normal Cc’d email, but without any
of the other participants knowing.
It might be useful if your director wants to discreetly oversee a conversation, but
it’s used more commonly for sending messages to large email lists.
For example, a company might use the Bcc function to email all its customers at once, so it
doesn't share all those email addresses with the other participants.
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