Contact Group e-Mail without showing ALL addresses

[Andy_XP_Devotee]

Sorry to bother the group with an e-mail question, but this is the only
place I've found where I can actually get answers to my questions about
Microsoft products. (I have this fantasy that, one day, Microsoft will
finally grow up and ask Google to manage the search functions of the
Microsoft Help pages!)

I need to send a group e-mail. I have never done this because of the
security problems inherent in group e-mails. But I know I've gotten group
e-mails that showed only my own e-mail address, and I'm guessing that this
can be done with Hotmail.

Can anybody tell me how to send a group e-mail (using a Contact Group
listing), that will not show all of the recipients' addresses to everybody in
the group?

I would be VERY pleased if one of you folks could tell me how to do this.

Thank you,

Andy

 

[Richard in AZ]

The process you want to use is called BCC (blind carbon copy).
The steps you use to put people in the BCC is a function of the email program you use.
The process is easy if you use Windows Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc.
It requires a bit more work to find out how to configure if you use MSN mail
and it is a bitch to use if you use AOL mail.
Here is a starting point
http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/web1/bcc_field.htm

|
| Sorry to bother the group with an e-mail question, but this is the only
| place I've found where I can actually get answers to my questions about
| Microsoft products. (I have this fantasy that, one day, Microsoft will
| finally grow up and ask Google to manage the search functions of the
| Microsoft Help pages!)
|
| I need to send a group e-mail. I have never done this because of the
| security problems inherent in group e-mails. But I know I've gotten group
| e-mails that showed only my own e-mail address, and I'm guessing that this
| can be done with Hotmail.
|
| Can anybody tell me how to send a group e-mail (using a Contact Group
| listing), that will not show all of the recipients' addresses to everybody in
| the group?
|
| I would be VERY pleased if one of you folks could tell me how to do this.
|
| Thank you,
|
| Andy
|

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Sorry to bother the group with an e-mail question, but this is the only
place I've found where I can actually get answers to my questions about
Microsoft products. (I have this fantasy that, one day, Microsoft will
finally grow up and ask Google to manage the search functions of the
Microsoft Help pages!)

I need to send a group e-mail. I have never done this because of the
security problems inherent in group e-mails. But I know I've gotten group
e-mails that showed only my own e-mail address, and I'm guessing that this
can be done with Hotmail.

Can anybody tell me how to send a group e-mail (using a Contact Group
listing), that will not show all of the recipients' addresses to everybody in
the group?

I would be VERY pleased if one of you folks could tell me how to do this.

I don't use hotmail, and don't know anything about it, but the general
answer to your question is to address the message to yourself, and put
all the other recipients in the BCC (blind carbon copy) field. I
assume the same capability exists in hotmail.

 

[Milt]

Quote:"and it is a bitch to use if you use AOL mail".

In AOL, all you have to do is place the recipient addresses in "Copy To" and
enclose them all within a pair of tarentheses. It's no big deal.

Milt

 

[Richard in AZ]

It is a big deal if you try to teach that option to a 60+ year senior citizen who has a computer,
but no desire to understand how it works.

| Quote:"and it is a bitch to use if you use AOL mail".
|
| In AOL, all you have to do is place the recipient addresses in "Copy To" and
| enclose them all within a pair of tarentheses. It's no big deal.
|
| Milt
|
| "Richard in AZ" wrote:
|
| > The process you want to use is called BCC (blind carbon copy).
| > The steps you use to put people in the BCC is a function of the email program you use.
| > The process is easy if you use Windows Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc.
| > It requires a bit more work to find out how to configure if you use MSN mail
| > and it is a bitch to use if you use AOL mail.
| > Here is a starting point
| > http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h/web1/bcc_field.htm
| >
| > | > |
| > | Sorry to bother the group with an e-mail question, but this is the only
| > | place I've found where I can actually get answers to my questions about
| > | Microsoft products. (I have this fantasy that, one day, Microsoft will
| > | finally grow up and ask Google to manage the search functions of the
| > | Microsoft Help pages!)
| > |
| > | I need to send a group e-mail. I have never done this because of the
| > | security problems inherent in group e-mails. But I know I've gotten group
| > | e-mails that showed only my own e-mail address, and I'm guessing that this
| > | can be done with Hotmail.
| > |
| > | Can anybody tell me how to send a group e-mail (using a Contact Group
| > | listing), that will not show all of the recipients' addresses to everybody in
| > | the group?
| > |
| > | I would be VERY pleased if one of you folks could tell me how to do this.
| > |
| > | Thank you,
| > |
| > | Andy
| > |
| >
| >
| >

 

[Andy_XP_Devotee]

Mark, hi.

I did exactly what you suggested, and it worked perfectly.

I'm especially pleased that hiding the addresses turned out to be so simple
because it's not actually *my* group e-mail that needs sending this way. I
want my neighbor to start hiding the addresses when she sends out the
neighborhood news bulletins, and it'll be 10x easier to ask her to do this
now that I know it's such an easy thing to do.

THANK YOU for taking the time to help me with this. I know typing takes time.

Andy

 

[Andy_XP_Devotee]

Thank you very much.

I've tested using the BCCs, and they work just the way I was hoping.

I looked at the Refrigerator Door site, too, and that also helped. The
explanation given there will be useful to pass along to others, especially
those who are not always eager to learn new things about using their
computers.

I, personally, thought the Refrigerator Door site had some interesting
things for me to read, too. So I added it to my bookmarks for later.

Thank you very much for your reply,

Andy

 

[Andy_XP_Devotee]

Milt, hi.

I'm glad you added your comments here! I just checked, and the neighbor
lady whom I'm going to ask to start sending out the neighborhood bulletins
with hidden addresses happens to use AOL! I'd have been in a fix if I'd
gotten over there and discovered that I couldn't use the BCC feature found in
other e-mail services.

I don't use AOL, but, if I understand you correctly, I'll find a "Copy To"
button or box where the group list goes. I still separate the addresses with
commas, right? And the the whole thing gets parentheses. So it would look
like this:

Copy To:
([email protected],[email protected],
(e-mail address removed),[email protected])

If I'm missing anything, let me know, OK?

THANK YOU. This info about AOL turned out to be the 2nd shoe, so to speak,
that I needed here.

Andy

 

[Andy_XP_Devotee]

Yep. I get it now. Thank you for your reply. I've been wondering about
this for quite some time, but I never wanted to hunt down the answer.

And, just a comment/suggestion, . . . if you work with Microsoft, it would
be SO great if, one day, somebody at Microsoft got real about the Microsoft
Help Pages. I use lots of non-Microsoft products, and the #1 joy in
switching away from Microsoft is always that I know I can get answers to my
questions if I need them. I do not doubt that *someplace* the answers are
available to all of my MS questions, but I can never, ever, ever find them!

I suspect that the Pooh Bahs at Microsoft who are in charge of the Help and
Support pages would say that I just didn't know how to use their pages.
Well, they're right. And it's not for a lack of trying. I have never had
such a hard time finding answers with any of the other companies, and it's
not a minor degree of scale here. The difference between MS and the other is
more like night and day.

I use the handle "Andy_XP_Devotee" here because I really do respect and
enjoy using this version of Windows. It was the first Windows I was
comfortable with, and Vista makes me crazy. Which is grim, as I'd hoped MS
had finally figured out that we'd be happier with solid, reliable programming
rather than lots of razzle-dazzle atop weak coding. I also really appreciate
the fact that MS makes hotmail available to the public for free, and hotmail
is now a really excellent e-mail service. So I know Microsoft can do
excellent work; I just wish they'd give their programmers more authority and
their marketing people less!

OK. Enough of that. Thank you for your reply,

Andy

 

[Milt]

Hi Andy,

Glad it worked out OK. Yes you've got everything right.

By the way, if your friend who uses AOL keeps her e-mail addresses in the
AOL Address Book, she can just open her Write Mail form, then open her
address book, and then click the names she wants to send to in the address
book, and they will a appear automatically in the Send To, Copy To or in Copy
To with parentheses in the e-mail form.

Milt

 

[Andy_XP_Devotee]

Thanks, again, Milt.

I printed your additional AOL notes and will have them in my pocket when I
go see the neighbor who does the Bulletin. I don't know how she gets along
with computers, but I'll pick an option for her that'll suit. Always nice to
have some options! (Or, if she's interested, I pass along all of it.)

I appreciate your help,

Andy