Difference between CC and BCC: We all know how easy it is to send emails to multiple recipients as you can send the same email to any number of recipients in one go. But, what many of us don’t know is that there are three categories into which we can place these recipients. These categories are ‘TO’, ‘CC’ and ‘BCC’. What is common among recipients in these categories is that regardless of the category, all recipients will receive the same copies of your email. However, there are certain differences in visibility between the three. Before moving on to the differences and when to use which category, we need to understand what is CC and BCC.
What is the difference between CC and BCC in an email?
What are CC and BCC?
While composing an email, you generally use the ‘To’ field where you add one or more email addresses of your recipients to whom you want to send the email. On the right side of the ‘To’ field in Gmail, you should have noticed ‘ DC ‘ Y ‘ bcc ‘.
Here, CC means ‘ Carbon Copy ‘. Its name is derived from how carbon paper is used to make a copy of a document. BCC stands for ‘ Blind Carbon Copy ‘. So CC and BCC are the ways to send additional copies of an email to different recipients.
Visibility differences between TO, CC and BCC
- All recipients in the TO and CC fields can see all other recipients in the TO and CC fields who have received the email. However, they cannot see the recipients in the BCC field who have also received the email.
- All recipients under the BCC field can see all recipients in the TO and CC fields but cannot see other recipients in the BCC field.
- In other words, all TO and CC recipients are visible to all categories (TO, CC, and BCC), but no one can see BCC recipients.
Consider the recipients given in the TO, CC, and BCC fields:
TO: recipient_A
CC: recipient_B, recipient_C
BCC: recipient_D, recipient_E
Now, when they all receive the email, the visible details for each of them (including recipient_D and recipient_E) will be:
– Email content
– From: sender_name
– To: recipient_A
– CC: recipient_B, recipient_C
So if any recipient’s name does not exist in the TO or CC list, they will automatically know that they have been blind carbon copied.
Difference Between TO and CC
Now, you may be thinking that if the TO and the CC can see the same set of recipients and are visible to the same recipients, is there a difference between them? Then for gmail there is no difference between the two fields because the recipients in both fields receive the same email and other details. The difference is created by the email decorum generally used . All recipients who are the primary target and are supposed to take some kind of action depending on the email are included in the TO field. All other recipients who need to know the details of the email and are not expected to act on it are included in the CC field. In this way, the TO and CC fields together resolve any confusion about who the email might be addressed to directly.
Equally,
- TO contains the primary audience of the email.
- DC contains those recipients that the sender wants to know about the email.
- BCC contains the recipients who are told about the email secretly so that they remain invisible to others.
When to use CC
You must add a recipient in the Cc field if:
- You want all other recipients to know that you have sent a copy of the email to this recipient.
- You only want to inform the recipient of the email details, but do not require them to take any action.
- For example, the head of a company responds to an employee’s furlough request and also adds the employee’s immediate supervisor in the CC field to inform them of the same.
When to use BCC
You must add a recipient in the BCC field if:
- You do not want any other recipients to know that you have sent a copy of the email to this recipient.
- You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of all your customers or clients to whom the email will be sent and you must not share your emails with each other. Adding them all to the BCC field will therefore hide them from each other.
Note that a BCC recipient will never receive any response from another recipient because no one knows about the BCC recipient. But, a CC recipient may or may not receive a copy of the response depending on whether or not the respondent has added them to the CC field.
Clearly, all three fields have their own particular uses. Proper use of these fields will help you write your emails more professionally and you will be able to address different recipients differently.
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I hope this article was helpful and now you can easily distinguish the difference between CC and BCC in an email, but if you still have any questions regarding this guide then feel free to ask them in the comment section.