BCC problem

[Fred]

Whenever I send an email using the BCC, I get a copy of that email message
sent back to me also. Why?

 

[Duncan McC]

Whenever I send an email using the BCC, I get a copy of that email message
sent back to me also. Why?

RFC protocol *requires* a recipient in the TO field. So I suspect you
are not putting anything in the To field, so Outlook puts "you" in
there. And hence you get a copy back.

 

[VanguardLH]

RFC protocol *requires* a recipient in the TO field. So I suspect you
are not putting anything in the To field, so Outlook puts "you" in
there. And hence you get a copy back.

Not true. RFC 2822 stipulates that the To header appear a minimum of 0
times and a maximum of 1 time. That means its appearance (which is in
the *data* of the message) is optional but if present then there can be
only one instance of it.

ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc5322.txt
3.6. Field Definitions
Field name: to
Min number: 0 (that's ZERO)
Max number: 1

The To, Cc, and Bcc *fields* in the UI of an e-mail client are NOT used
in specifying the recipients of a message to the mail server. The
e-mail client compiles an aggregate of recipients from the To, Cc, and
Bcc fields from its UI display. It then sends one RCPT-TO command to
the mail server for each recipient in that list. That is followed by
the DATA command which contains the content of the e-mail (which
includes both the header section, blank delimiter line, and body section
-- and which are all *data* that can be anything the e-mail client wants
to put there).

There are some mail servers and e-mail clients that will reject an
e-mail if the To field is empty. They are NOT compliant to RFC
2822/5322 as the To header is optional. They consider it a safety
"feature". It is no surprise that Outlook isn't RFC compliant.

 

[Pat Willener]

Not true. RFC 2822 stipulates that the To header appear a minimum of 0
times and a maximum of 1 time. That means its appearance (which is in
the *data* of the message) is optional but if present then there can be
only one instance of it.

ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc5322.txt
3.6. Field Definitions
Field name: to
Min number: 0 (that's ZERO)
Max number: 1

The To, Cc, and Bcc *fields* in the UI of an e-mail client are NOT used
in specifying the recipients of a message to the mail server. The
e-mail client compiles an aggregate of recipients from the To, Cc, and
Bcc fields from its UI display. It then sends one RCPT-TO command to
the mail server for each recipient in that list. That is followed by
the DATA command which contains the content of the e-mail (which
includes both the header section, blank delimiter line, and body section
-- and which are all *data* that can be anything the e-mail client wants
to put there).

There are some mail servers and e-mail clients that will reject an
e-mail if the To field is empty. They are NOT compliant to RFC
2822/5322 as the To header is optional. They consider it a safety
"feature". It is no surprise that Outlook isn't RFC compliant.

Maximum of 1? That's funny; how come that Outlook allows me multiple To:
entries?

 

[Duncan McC]

Not true. RFC 2822 stipulates that the To header appear a minimum of 0
times and a maximum of 1 time. That means its appearance (which is in
the *data* of the message) is optional but if present then there can be
only one instance of it.

ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc5322.txt
3.6. Field Definitions
Field name: to
Min number: 0 (that's ZERO)
Max number: 1

The To, Cc, and Bcc *fields* in the UI of an e-mail client are NOT used
in specifying the recipients of a message to the mail server. The
e-mail client compiles an aggregate of recipients from the To, Cc, and
Bcc fields from its UI display. It then sends one RCPT-TO command to
the mail server for each recipient in that list. That is followed by
the DATA command which contains the content of the e-mail (which
includes both the header section, blank delimiter line, and body section
-- and which are all *data* that can be anything the e-mail client wants
to put there).

There are some mail servers and e-mail clients that will reject an
e-mail if the To field is empty. They are NOT compliant to RFC
2822/5322 as the To header is optional. They consider it a safety
"feature". It is no surprise that Outlook isn't RFC compliant.

Well, regardless - and also unsure of your RFC refs, I'm looking at:
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z8
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z58
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z7
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z56

Outlook is putting "you" in the To field.

I think that's what the OP really wants to know.

 

[VanguardLH]

Maximum of 1? That's funny; how come that Outlook allows me multiple To:
entries?

It doesn't. You get just one To header. That's the header name.
You're talking about having a *value* which is a string of multiple
recipients. The string value is NOT the header name.

To: Pat
That's 1 To header with 1 recipient.

To: Pat, Mark, Sara
That's 1 To header with 3 recipients.

To: Pat, Mark, Sara, Joseph, <26 more recipients>
That's 1 To header with 30 recipients.

Got the idea now? Just ONE and only one To header (if it exists). When
you throw a bolt into a bucket or throw several bolts into bucket, you
still just have one bucket. Hit Ctrl+F3 if you are really interested is
seeing what the headers really look like in your e-mails.

 

[VanguardLH]

Well, regardless - and also unsure of your RFC refs, I'm looking at:
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z8
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z58
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z7
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z56

RFC 822 was obsoleted by 2822 which was obsoleted by 5322 (the one that
I mentioned).

RFC 822 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc822.txt)
Ratified: August 1982 (that's almost 27 years ago!)

RFC 2822 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2822.txt)
Ratified: April 1998 (just over 11 years ago)

RFC 5322 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5322.txt)
Ratified: October 2008

RFC 5322 is too new for many newsreaders to have caught up. However,
RFC 2822 is dated back in 1998 and all by abandonware should be caught
up by now. RFC 2822 (and RFC 5322) specify the min/max counts for
headers.

Outlook is putting "you" in the To field. I think that's what the OP
really wants to know.

Yep, as I mentioned. That Outlook does it doesn't make it correct.
That Outlook does it doesn't mean it is RFC compliant. Yep, Outlook is
forcing you to add a To header. It's not required by RFC.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

RFC protocol *requires* a recipient in the TO field. So I suspect you
are not putting anything in the To field, so Outlook puts "you" in
there. And hence you get a copy back.

Wrong on two counts. The To field is not required to contain anything.
Outlook doesn't put anything in the To field when it's empty.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Whenever I send an email using the BCC, I get a copy of that email message
sent back to me also. Why?

Using gmail? That's standard for gmail.

 

[Pat Willener]

It doesn't. You get just one To header. That's the header name.
You're talking about having a *value* which is a string of multiple
recipients. The string value is NOT the header name.

To: Pat
That's 1 To header with 1 recipient.

To: Pat, Mark, Sara
That's 1 To header with 3 recipients.

To: Pat, Mark, Sara, Joseph, <26 more recipients>
That's 1 To header with 30 recipients.

Got the idea now? Just ONE and only one To header (if it exists). When
you throw a bolt into a bucket or throw several bolts into bucket, you
still just have one bucket. Hit Ctrl+F3 if you are really interested is
seeing what the headers really look like in your e-mails.

Thanks for the explanation; I have never looked so deeply into the
protocol definitions

 

[Fred]

Using gmail? That's standard for gmail.

Another problem, unrelated; Whenver I get an email with a moving/animated
cartoon and try to save it, only the .GIF files work as received but the >BMP
will not. aAny ideas or should I open another problem box? Agai, THANKS to
all who helped!!!!

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Another problem, unrelated; Whenver I get an email with a moving/animated
cartoon and try to save it, only the .GIF files work as received but the
will not. aAny ideas or should I open another problem box? Agai, THANKS to
all who helped!!!!

I don't think bitmap files can contain animation. I could easily be wrong,
however.

 

[Pat Willener]

Another problem, unrelated; Whenver I get an email with a moving/animated
cartoon and try to save it, only the .GIF files work as received but the >BMP
will not. aAny ideas or should I open another problem box? Agai, THANKS to
all who helped!!!!

Try this http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/saveembeddedpictures.htm -
it's a bit complicated, and I have to admit that I never got it to work.

 

[Duncan McC]

Another problem, unrelated; Whenver I get an email with a moving/animated
cartoon and try to save it, only the .GIF files work as received but the >BMP
will not. aAny ideas or should I open another problem box? Agai, THANKS to
all who helped!!!!

Pat has suggested a link that has some code, that I've never tried. I
think from the same site? - or perhaps another, I found some VBA code,
that I still use, it works well for me. It will save out to disk the
image in it's native format (as you've discovered if you right click the
graphic and save it it always saves it as a .bmp file - and as Brian
says, bmp's don't animate).

I have commented out the original "save to" line, as I save to a
location that exists, that I prefer, you'll want to modify to your own
liking. Watch the word wrap on the code below...


' Save all Attachments in an (open) email=3F
Sub SaveAttachments()
Dim objCurrentItem As Outlook.MailItem
Dim colAttachments As Outlook.Attachments
Dim objAttachment As Outlook.Attachment

Set objCurrentItem = Application.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
Set colAttachments = objCurrentItem.Attachments
Set strFolderpath = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

For Each objAttachment In colAttachments
' objAttachment.SaveAsFile (strFolderpath.SpecialFolders("Desktop") &
"\" & objAttachment.FileName)
objAttachment.SaveAsFile ("\\SERVER1\Users\duncan\My Documents\email
attachments\" & objAttachment.FileName)
Next

Set objAttachment = Nothing
Set colAttachments = Nothing
objCurrentItem.Close (olDiscard)
Set objCurrentItem = Nothing

End Sub


I modified the code so that I also have a "delete" function - so that I
keep my emails nice n' small (without the embedded graphics), if I so
wish (and I usually do ...

' Delete all Attachments in an (open) email=3F
Sub DeleteAttachments()
Dim objCurrentItem As Outlook.MailItem
Dim colAttachments As Outlook.Attachments
Dim objAttachment As Outlook.Attachment

Set objCurrentItem = Application.ActiveInspector.CurrentItem
Set colAttachments = objCurrentItem.Attachments
' Set strFolderpath = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

While colAttachments.Count > 0
colAttachments.Remove 1
Wend

Set objAttachment = Nothing
Set colAttachments = Nothing
objCurrentItem.Save
objCurrentItem.Close (olDiscard)
Set objCurrentItem = Nothing

End Sub

 

[Fred]

Pat,

Thanks for he reply but like you, I also was unable to get it to work after
many 'debug' issues. Perhaps it's just a means to get you to buy the
software it references(?).

Thanks again!!

Fred

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Brian, No gmail..whatever that is. However, I did find if I BCC a bunch of
people and then put an old
non-active email address with the name "Undisclosed Recipient" , I no longer
get a copy back!

This really makes me think that it's happening server-side.