How to send an email to Undisclosed Recipients

Apparently people enjoy emailing me jokes, videos, links, and pictures. A lot of the [tag]email[/tag] I get lists 50+ email addresses in the “TO” or the “CC” field. I never was one to like seeing my email address put out there on public display like that. It’s a great way for people to grab it and add it to a SPAM list or add it to a list to sell. There is one lady that has impresses me with the email that she sends. All that it ever says in the “TO” field is [tag]undisclosed recipients[/tag]. I knew that she was using the “[tag]BCC[/tag]” feature somehow, but I was unsure of exactly what it was that she was doing.

Come to find out, it is reasonably easy to send an email to undisclosed recipients. I will show you an easy way to do this with [tag]gmail[/tag]:

• Click Compose Mail to start a new message.
• Type “Undisclosed recipients <” followed by your Gmail address followed by a closing “>” in the To: field.
  • If your Gmail address is %myemail%@gmail.com, for example, this would go in the To: field: Undisclosed recipients <%myemail%@gmail.com>.
• Click Add Bcc.
• Type the email addresses of all intended recipients in the Bcc: field.
  • Make sure you separate addresses by comma.
  • If you write the same group of recipients repeatedly, you can make it a list.
• Now type the message and its subject, and finally click Send.

If you use [tag]outlook[/tag] express, the first steps are a bit more involved, but it is still fairly simple.First, we’ll create a convenient address book entry that makes sending emails to undisclosed recipients a lot easer:

• Select Tools | Address Book… from the menu.
• Click the New button in the toolbar and select New Contact….
• Type “Undisclosed” in the First: field.
• Type “recipients” under Last:.
• Type your email address under E-Mail Addresses:.
• Click Add.
• Now click OK.

To compose and deliver an email message to a group of undisclosed recipients in Outlook Express:

• Start with a new message.
• Click on the To: button with the address book icon.
• Highlight your “Undisclosed recipients” entry.
• Click To: ->.
• Highlight all other desired recipients.
• Click Bcc: ->.
• Click OK.
• Now you can add any additional recipients in the Bcc: field.
  • Make sure you separate recipients by semicolons.
  • If you do not see the Bcc: field, select View | All Headers from the menu.
• Compose and eventually send your message.

So remember folks, whenever your sending an email to several people, be sure to use this little technique. A lot of people don’t want their email address out there for everyone to see.