There are times when you are sharing an email with multiple people but don’t want any of the recipients to know about the other recipients on the list. BCC or ‘Blind Carbon Copy’ is the answer to this problem.

Almost all email services offer BCC to send private messages to multiple recipients. But with Outlook, you first need to enable it to use it.

Enabling BCC in Outlook Desktop App

Open the Outlook desktop app whether you are a Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2013, or Outlook 2010 user.

Click the ‘New Email’ button to compose a new email or reply to or forward to an existing message.

Compose email window will open. Click on ‘Options’ from the menu bar.

Click the ‘BCC’ button to enable it. When the option is enabled, the background will be a darker color.

BCC field will appear below the CC field as soon as you click the BCC button. Enter the recipients in the BCC field, and no other recipient will be able to see the people in the BCC list.

Enabling BCC from Outlook Web

When using Outlook from the web app, new emails or replies and forwards don’t open in a separate window. Instead, they open in the Reading Pane.

To enable BCC for a new email or forwards, click on ‘BCC’ on the right of the ‘To’ field.

The Bcc field will appear beneath the Cc field. Enter the anonymous recipients there.

For replies, click the ‘Expand’ button (double-headed arrow) on the right of the ‘To’ field.

The option for ‘BCC’ would appear on the right. Click it to enable the ‘BCC’ field.

Using BCC, you can keep the email addresses of recipients private from other recipients. Whether you want to protect the email addresses of the recipients or don’t want anyone to know who else you’re sharing the message with, BCC is the feature you need to be using.