What do the CC and the Bcc mean when your sending emails?

Question

I've just always wondered that.

Answer 1

Originally, CC meant "carbon copy" -- an abbreviation leftover from the days of typewriters and carbon paper. Its meaning was changed to "Courtesy Copy" because so few people understand what a "carbon copy" is.

BCC stands Blind Courtesy Copy. You add people to the CC field if they don't need to respond to your email because they aren't the primary recipients. Addresses you add to the BCC don't show up on anyone else's email address field, so others won't know that they are also getting the email.

Answer 2

CC means "carbon copy". It allows you to send copies of emails to other people. It's important in business, because the To: field is the person to whom the email is directed and the "CC:" is FYI to other people, but they don't have any expected action items or response. All persons seeing the note also see the CCed persons.

BCC means "blind carbon copy". It means that the receivers of the note do not see that you sent the note to the emails in the BCC list. When you have emails that have conflict, then BCC allows you to send a copy to someone without the "audience" (To:, CC:) knowing. This is good for audits or issue management.

Carbon copy comes from the "old" days of writing memos at work when we manually made copies of letters using carbon paper. You put the carbon paper between two sheets of paper and as the typewriter or pen struck the page, it would transfer the letters to the 2nd sheet of paper (and 3rd). The original note went to the addressee and the carbon copy went to others as an FYI. Copy machines pretty much did away with carbon paper in the 1980's.

Answer 3

CC stands for carbon copy. BCC stands for blind carbon copy. In an e-mail the CC textbox is for addresses for people who you'd like to see the letter, but aren't the primary intended addressee.

BCC in an e-mail textbox is for addresses who will receive a copy but whose e-mail address will not be known by the primary intended adressee.

By the way, the term "carbon copy" comes from the old use of carbon paper to make duplicates while typing notes. Instead of putting regular paper into a typewriter, carbon paper with between 2-5 extra sheets as copies could be placed in the typewriter. It was a messy and sloppy process - typos were impossible to erase (you couldn't use white-out) and you had to very carefully tear apart the sheets once you were finished. At the end of the process, there would be a spent carbon page that would have a black filmy covering on one side. You would have to be very careful to destroy the carbon copy if the information on it was sensitive. This was often the case when using credit card transaction sheets as they would contain the customer's signature.

I just thought I'd add that little bit of history since there are so many young people on Yahoo Answers. Carbon paper really was the letter-writing equivalent of walking through the snow uphill both ways to school each day. :)

Answer 4

Carbon Copy
&
Blind Carbon Copy

CC means that anyone who receives the email will be able to see who you referred to in the CC field

and

BCC means that only you will know who you sent the email message to.

Beware though, BCC doesn't always work and everyone might be able to see the BCC as a CC.

Answer 5

CC relates to manual typewriter days when a carbon copy was made while typing the original, usually for file purposes. Now it means a copy is sent to the person in the CC box. Bcc stands for blind carbon copy, a copy is sent to the persons in the Bcc box but no notification is indicated to the recipient or other CC persons ie, they don't see the name (blind)

Answer 6

CC is short for Carbon Copy. This is usually used in an office regarding correspondance between employees and business recipients. People usually CC associates if it concerns them or they wish to include them in the email being sent to a recipient.

I've never used BCC but I believe it stands for Blind Carbon Copy and it means that if you sent something to Person 1... and you BCC Person 2 - Person 1 won't see that you sent a carbon copy to Person 2.

I hope that made sense.

Answer 7

Carbon Copy and Blind Carbon Copy, respectively. It comes from the days when all copies of correspondence could be made by using paper with a sheet of carbon paper attached to the back of it, which when struck by the typewriter keys would imprint the image from the front or "original" page. Blind Carbon Copy was just a note administrators would give to indicate that someone (or a file) should receive a copy of the letter, although their name would not be included in the addressee (TO:) line or the copy (CC:) line of the letter. In other words, to BCC: someone means that you only want you and that person to know that you sent them that particular message. If you CC someone, it means you don't care or even want others (like the person you sent it TO:) to know that the person CC'd also received a copy.

Answer 8

CC is, of course, carbon copy.. but, it doesn't mean they don't have to answer, it means that they can if they wish.
I send a message to myself, in my other email, and then BCC everybody else so that the phishers can't see the addresses of my other friends..
And, of course, BCC is Blind carbon copy, where nobody else sees it.
Also, when I get a message that is forwarded, and has a bunch of addies in it, like seems to be about a thousand, I delete those addies before forwarding..

Answer 9

What do "Cc:" and "Bcc:" mean?
Cc: stands for "carbon copy." Anyone listed in the Cc: field of a message will receive a copy of that message when you send it. All other recipients of that message will be able to see that the person you designated as a Cc: recipient has received a copy of the message. The Cc: field is useful in instances when you wish to share a message with someone but are not requesting that they reply or take any direct action in response.
Bcc: stands for "blind carbon copy." This is similar to the Cc: feature, except that Bcc: recipients are invisible to all of the other recipients of the message (including other Bcc: recipients). For example, if you send a message To: [e-mail] and Bcc: [e-mail], then johndoe will see himself as the message's only recipient, while janedoe will see that you have also sent the message to johndoe. The Bcc: field is useful in instances when you don't wish to share your recipients' email addresses with everyone who receives your message.

To send a message, you must always specify at least one recipient in the To: field. If you don't, an error message will appear when you attempt to send the message.

Answer 10

It's a carry-over from typed letters and/or reports that had carbon copies. The CC listing shows the people who receive a "carbon copy" of the message. The bcc represents "blind carbon copy" and are the people who receive a copy, but their name(s) doesn't show on all the other copies. The list is usually insignificant to everyone, i.e., the file copy and/or FYI copies.