Despite many articles written on how to improve email habits, a notable absence remains when it comes to the blind carbon copy (BCC). The BCC, or the blind carbon copy, is an efficient and convenient strategy to deliver messages to large groups, avoid “Reply All” emails that clutter the inbox, and ensure confidentiality of recipients. When used optimally, the BCC respects the time, inbox, and the identities of email recipients. More often, however, the BCC is misunderstood, underused, and underappreciated—largely from a lack of comprehending the versatility of its capabilities.

We believe in kind and respectful workplace communication, and yet, we’ve seen people use the BCC to harm others, e.g., by secretly putting supervisors or HR in the BCC line. We want to gently push back on that application. This nefarious use has given the BCC an unfortunately negative reputation. Hiding recipients is rarely fair, honest, or positive for your professional reputation. We have seen this practice backfire. For example, if the person in BCC clicks “Reply All,” they enter the discussion and reveal to anyone on the To: and CC: lines that they were hidden.

Once and for all, it’s time to resolve the hazy understanding many hold related to the BCC. Here we describe four productive ways to employ the BCC to improve your email etiquette.

1. When you want to avoid the “Reply All” response: Each of us has sent an email to 10, 20, 30, or more people and experienced the disastrous downpour of responses. We want you to stop the storm before it starts. When you email a sizable group, drop everyone to the BCC line. At the same time, let everyone know who is BCC’d (e.g., type “Dear Faculty, Residents, PAs:” or “Attention Residents:” as the email greeting). When you’re in the BCC line, you cannot see or message anyone else in the BCC line. This way, everyone receives the message, yet no one can respond to the whole group. If a person in BCC presses “Reply,” the new message goes to the original sender. If a BCC’d person presses “Reply All,” the message will go to anyone on the To: and CC: lines.
   • Scenario: There is a promotion in your department, and you want to share the good news. Put the person winning the award or getting the promotion in the To line and put the team in the BCC line. When someone presses “Reply All,” it goes to you and the award winner only.
2. When you need to send a sensitive email to multiple people: You might have to send an email that contains sensitive information to more than one person. Given the need to protect privacy, listing people individually on the To: or CC: lines is not
   

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