Blank To: Field w/Bcc Only

Question

Level 1

55 points

Blank To: Field w/Bcc Only

When using only blind copy for sending mail, the To: field is left blank. Other mail clients such as Thunderbird insert something(such as Undisclosed Recipients). Would anyone know if there is a way to have Apple Mail plug something into the To: field in this situation?

Thanks in advance.

Posted on Sep 9, 2005 11:26 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 9, 2005 12:56 PM in response to Bud Cook

Hello Bud.

Not that I'm aware of but many ISP's and email account providers require one address/recipient placed in the To: field when using the Bcc field.

I recieve a number of messages on a regular basis from senders that place all recipients in the Bcc field but I've never recieved a message with "Undisclosed Recipients" seen in the To: field only since I always see a Group name or the sender's address in the To: field.

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Answer 2

Bud Cook Author

Level 1

55 points

Sep 9, 2005 1:23 PM in response to Allan Sampson

We could always send a copy to ourselves using the To: field. Thunderbird puts Undisclosed Recipients in the To: field if you use only Bcc: I think Netscape puts something in there too.

Since AOL(ugh!) doesn't support Bcc, I found that if you enclose the recipients addresses in parens that it will treat it like blind copy. With AOL, you have to send it to yourself if you do this.

I've trained relatives on AOL to use this procedure so my e-mail address isn't spewed all over the world.

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Answer 3

Sep 9, 2005 1:33 PM in response to Bud Cook

Understood.

One option is getting a free hotmail account with webmail access only and use it for inserting a valid email address in the To: field if required when using the Bcc field for all recipients.

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Answer 4

Bud Cook Author

Level 1

55 points

Sep 9, 2005 1:45 PM in response to Allan Sampson

Good idea. Thanks. BTW, is there a procedure for asking Apple to consider plugging something in there in a future release?

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Answer 5

Sep 9, 2005 1:51 PM in response to Bud Cook

You can provide Apple feedback using this link.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

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Answer 6

Lisa MM

Level 1

5 points

Oct 14, 2005 1:29 PM in response to Bud Cook

I have been wanting to send an email to one of my groups without having the names and/or email addresses visible to all the members of the group. I tried your suggestion of leaving the To: field blank and using Bcc. Worked perfectly. Thank you.

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Answer 7

Oct 14, 2005 5:26 PM in response to Lisa MM

You're welcome Lisa.

In addition, go to Mail > Preferences > Composng and deselect "When sending to a group, show all member addresses".

This way, you can insert the Group name in the To or Cc: fields and only the Group Name will appear to all recipients but using the Bcc: is best. I would deselect "show all member addresses" and you will be covered regardless.

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Answer 8

mv52

Level 2

197 points

Oct 19, 2005 7:38 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Hopefully, you can answer this related BCC question. When I send an email with BCC addresses as well as To and CC addresses and then later go to the Sent folder to review the email, the email that opens up from the Sent folder does not list the BCC addresses. This is frustrating because I need a record of all addressees. This happens when sending emails on all of my email services/companies. If I can't see and retain a record of all my addressees, I will not be able to continue using Mail. Hopefully, there is some preferences box that I forgot to check that will enable showing me the BCCs in my original email. Any ideas/recommendations?

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Answer 9

cue

Level 1

85 points

Oct 30, 2005 6:00 AM in response to mv52

From mv52:

"Hopefully, you can answer this related BCC question. When I send an email with BCC addresses as well as To and CC addresses and then later go to the Sent folder to review the email, the email that opens up from the Sent folder does not list the BCC addresses. This is frustrating because I need a record of all addressees."

Does anyone have an answer to this? Didn't see it elsewhere. It's important.

Thanks.

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Answer 10

Nov 17, 2005 8:03 PM in response to cue

I just found this answer to your question (and mine) elsewhere in the discussion group. I tried it and it works fine:

Open the Sent message and at the menu bar, go to View > Message and select Long Headers.

You're only selecting it for the open message, so you won't be bothered by long headers for non-BCC messages

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