OHSU's Software Forum

Mike Miller · Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 35 Location: Portland, Oregon

Using Bcc and Reply to All

Here is some important info about Bcc and Reply to All. This is a less than ideal design by Microsoft in my opinion, however workarounds are provided below.

DISPLAYING/HIDING THE BCC FIELD
1. Open a message you wish to send
2. Click on the Options tab
3. Click on Show Bcc from the Fields group
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RECEIVING A BCC MESSAGE
1. When opening a message you’ve received as a Bcc recipient your name will not be listed in either the To: or Cc: line. This, however, is a very subtle indicator that you are Bcc’d.
2. One solution to this, as a recipient, is to have any messages you are Bcc’d on automatically flagged as such using a rule. This rule actually flags a message when your name is not on the To: or Cc: line.
a. From the main Outlook window, click on Tools > Rules & Alerts…
b. Click New Rule…
c. Choose Check Messages when they arrive near the bottom and click Next
d. Click Next to skip the conditions and click Yes to apply it to every message
e. In “what to do with the message” select flag message for follow up at this time and then click on the follow up at this time link near the bottom of the window to set the flag type (e.g. Flag to: For Your Information and For: No Date)
f. Click Next
g. In the Exceptions list select except if my name is in the To of Cc box and click Next.
h. Name the rule, e.g. “Flag as Bcc” and click Finish
i. Click OK when the client only message appears (this means it will only work for the full Outlook program on the machine you are sitting at).
j. Click OK to close the rules window
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SENDING MESSAGES USING BCC
1. As the sender of a message, if you wish to use Bcc be aware that your recipients can, and sometimes will, Reply to All. The reply will go to all To: and Cc: recipients (but not other Bcc recipients) thereby causing much embarrassment.
2. One solution to this is to address all To: and Cc: lines and then Bcc: yourself. When you get the Bcc message, Forward it on to your secret recipients. This ensures that any replies only go to you.

Mike Miller
Supervisor, IT Training
Oregon Health & Science University
www.ohsu.edu/etc/
503-494-2633