Email Address Fields and what they really mean (and tips)

There are plenty of email address terms you might have come across but get confused on how to use them. When you send an email, you need to select the address that will receive it. You can add them to one of three fields: To, Cc and Bcc. All three fields can send an email to several recipients in one go; however, they work slightly differently.

 

To: The "To" line is for the primary recipient. Put the email address here if the message is for this recipient’s action and attention only. This line is visible to all other recipients (Cc, and Bcc) by default.

 

CC: Stands for Carbon copy. Put email address(es) here if you plan to send a copy to other recipients in addition to those listed in the ‘To’ field. This is used if you don’t mind recipients seeing who else is getting a copy, because the list of recipients is included in the header message.

 

BCC: Like Cc, Blind Carbon Copy sends a copy of a message for the information of many people. It is used if you are sending someone a copy of an email, and you don’t want the other recipients to see that it was also sent to this email address. Bcc recipients can see those listed in the To and Cc list.

 

From: The From header field contains the email’s author and this always has the author's email address included in the From field. You can also include a name to appear alongside your email address by updating the Personal Information settings in your email client. Including your name will not only look more professional to outsiders, but it also removes any ambiguity over who is sending the message.