E-mail Anatomy 101: Addressing Messages
Susan Manley, Bradley University
Peoria, Illinois

My last article raised awareness of some e-mail privacy and confidentiality issues. In this article, we will explore the address lines in the top portion of the “compose e-mail” or “new message” screen.

E-mail programs usually include address books that – once they are set up – eliminate the tedious job of typing e-mail addresses into new messages. Somewhere near the top of a new message window, you should see buttons for “TO,” “CC,” and “BCC,” each with a nearby text box, where addresses are entered. Whether you type the addresses or enter them automatically from an address book, you should know the purpose and ideal use for each address line.

You are probably most familiar with the “TO” address line, which is typically used for entering the addresses of the primary recipients with whom you intend to communicate. In some situations, you may write to several people who are equally important in an e-mail “conversation.” In that case, you would place multiple e-mail addresses in the “TO” line.

If your message is sent to multiple recipients and requires a response, you should expect to receive a reply from each person who received the message. And, in some cases, the recipients might share their responses with each other by using the “Reply to All” feature.

Occasionally, you may want to send a copy of a message to a secondary recipient, a person who may observe the e-mail “conversation” but who is not necessarily required to take any action. In this situation, you would place the observer’s e-mail address in the “CC” line. If you are old enough to remember typewriters and carbon paper, you may think of “CC” as “carbon copy.” However, because we no longer use carbon paper, the meaning of “CC” has been updated to “Courtesy Copy.”

In business, the “CC” address line is used for people who, according to some policy or practice, should also receive the information that you are sending to a primary recipient. Consider this a line for “FYI” (For Your Information) correspondence. For example, if you are approving your assistant’s vacation request, but you are also supposed to inform another party about all vacation approvals, you could reply to the assistant, approve the request, and “CC” the other person at the same time. Just remember that when you place multiple addresses in the “TO” or “CC” lines, recipients can view each others’ addresses.

To keep message recipients from viewing or capturing others’ e-mail addresses, you can use Blind Courtesy Copy (“BCC”) quite effectively. Another advantage of using the blind copy is that it eliminates the long list of e-mail addresses from forwarded messages.

In the “BCC” line, all addresses are hidden once the message is sent. As the messages arrive, individuals see only their own addresses and that of the sender, so no one knows who else received the message. In most e-mail programs, you can send messages to “BCC” recipients without putting any address in the “TO” line. However, if your e-mail program requires you to put an address in the “TO” line, you can send the message to yourself, and put all intended recipients in the “BCC” line.

For business purposes, “BCC” can create a “secret recipient,” possibly a manager who should observe the e-mail interaction for some reason. In other words, “BCC” is used as a method of keeping an unrevealed person in the communication loop.

Using the three address lines properly can enhance your e-mail efficiency. Instead of sending separate messages, you can incorporate several addresses into one message and accomplish all of your purposes. And remember, you can always practice by sending messages to yourself.

Next time: how to use the subject line to get your messages noticed.

Susan Manley is Program Director in Continuing Education at Bradley University and co-host with John Iasiuolo of the Las Vegas-based Computer Outlook Radio Talk Show. For more information, visit: www.computeroutlook.com.