How to Send an Email to Undisclosed Recipients

Keep email addresses private when sending to multiple recipients

By
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
  • University of Vienna
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Updated on December 15, 2020
Reviewed by
Jessica Kormos
Jessica Kormos
Reviewed by Jessica Kormos
  • Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
Jessica Kormos is a writer and editor with 15 years' experience writing articles, copy, and UX content for Tecca.com, Rosenfeld Media, and many others.
lifewire's editorial guidelines

What to Know

  • Enter all the recipients' email addresses in the Bcc: field so that they're hidden from each other.
  • Send the email to yourself under the name "Undisclosed Recipients" so that everyone knows the message was sent to multiple people.
  • If you do this regularly, make a new contact named "Undisclosed Recipients" that includes your email address.

This article explains how to send an email to undisclosed recipients. Instructions apply broadly to all email services.

How to Send an Email to Undisclosed Recipients

  1. Create a new message in your email client.

  2. Type Undisclosed Recipients in the To: field, followed by your email address in < >. For example, type Undisclosed Recipients.

    To: undisclosed recipients for a new email in macOS Mail

    If this doesn't work, make a brand new contact in the address book, name it "Undisclosed Recipients" and then type your email address in the address text box.

  3. In the Bcc: field, type all the email addresses that the message should be sent to, separated by commas. If these recipients are already contacts, it should be fairly easy to start typing their names or addresses so that the program will autofill those entries.

    Bcc: field in undisclosed recipients email in Mail app for macOS

    If your email program doesn't show the Bcc: field by default, open the preferences and look for that option somewhere so that you can enable it.

  4. Compose the rest of the message normally, adding a subject and writing the body of the message, and then send it off when you're done.

If you end up doing this often, feel free to make a new contact called "Undisclosed Recipients" that includes your email address. It'll be easier next time to just send the message to the contact you already have in your address book.

Why Send Emails to Undisclosed Recipients?

Sending an email to undisclosed recipients protects everyone's privacy and makes the email look clean and professional. The alternative is to send an email to multiple recipients while listing all their addresses in the To: or Cc: fields. Not only does this definitely look messy to everyone who looks at who the message was sent to, but it also exposes everyone's email address.

Instructions for Specific Email Programs

Although these general instructions work in most email programs, small variations might exist. If your email client is listed below, check its specific instructions for how to use the Bcc field to send a message to undisclosed recipients.

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