How to Add BCC in Outlook: A Complete Guide

If you've ever wanted to send an email to multiple people without revealing everyone's addresses to each other, BCC is the feature you need. Whether you're using Outlook on your desktop, the web, or your phone, adding BCC recipients is straightforward — but the exact steps vary depending on which version of Outlook you're working with.

What Does BCC Actually Do?

BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy. When you add someone to the BCC field, they receive the email just like any other recipient — but their name and email address stay hidden from everyone else on the thread. People in the To and CC fields have no idea the BCC recipients even exist.

This is different from CC (Carbon Copy), where all recipients can see each other's addresses. BCC is ideal for:

• Sending newsletters or announcements to a large group
• Protecting recipient privacy (e.g., a group of clients who don't know each other)
• Keeping someone silently informed without making it obvious
• Avoiding accidental "Reply All" chains that expose everyone

One important note: BCC recipients cannot see each other, even if you BCC multiple people at once.

Why Isn't BCC Visible by Default?

In most versions of Outlook, the BCC field is hidden when you open a new email. This is intentional — most everyday emails don't need it, so Microsoft tucks it away to keep the compose window clean. You have to manually reveal it the first time, and depending on the version, Outlook may remember your preference going forward.

How to Add BCC in Outlook for Windows (Desktop App) 🖥️

This applies to Outlook versions included in Microsoft 365, Outlook 2021, 2019, and 2016.

1. Open Outlook and click New Email to start composing a message.
2. In the compose window, go to the Options tab in the ribbon at the top.
3. Click the BCC button in the "Show Fields" group.
4. A BCC field will appear below the CC field in your email.
5. Type the email addresses of your BCC recipients directly into that field.

Once you've enabled the BCC field this way, Outlook typically keeps it visible for all future new emails in that session — and often permanently. If it disappears after restarting, just repeat the steps.

Keyboard shortcut tip: You can also click inside the To field area and look for the BCC option in some layouts, depending on your Outlook build.

How to Add BCC in Outlook on the Web (Outlook.com / Microsoft 365 Web)

If you're using Outlook through a browser — whether that's outlook.com or your organization's Microsoft 365 portal — the process is slightly different.

1. Click New mail to open a compose window.
2. In the compose pane, look for the BCC link. It typically appears to the right of the To field or near the top of the compose area.
3. Click BCC and a new input field will appear.
4. Enter your BCC recipients' addresses in that field.

On the web version, the BCC field usually resets between sessions, so you may need to enable it each time you compose a new message.

How to Add BCC in Outlook on iPhone or Android 📱

The Outlook mobile app (available on both iOS and Android) also supports BCC, though it's tucked away.

1. Tap the compose icon to start a new email.
2. Tap on the To field — a small arrow or chevron (▾) should appear to the right of it.
3. Tap that arrow to expand the recipient options.
4. CC and BCC fields will appear below the To field.
5. Tap the BCC field and type in your recipients.

The exact placement of the expand arrow can vary slightly between app versions and operating systems, but it's almost always triggered by interacting with the To field area.

Key Differences Across Outlook Versions

Variables That Affect Your Experience

How BCC behaves — and how easy it is to find — depends on a few factors:

• Your Outlook version and build number. Microsoft regularly updates the interface, especially for Microsoft 365 subscribers. The location of BCC controls can shift between updates.
• Whether you're using a personal or organizational account. IT administrators can sometimes customize the Outlook interface, which may affect what's visible by default.
• Desktop vs. web vs. mobile. Each platform has its own UI logic, and the same task takes different steps across them.
• Operating system. Outlook for Mac has a slightly different ribbon and menu structure than the Windows version.

A Few Things Worth Knowing About BCC Behavior

BCC recipients receive the full email — attachments and all. They can reply to you directly, but their reply won't go to anyone else on the thread (unless they manually add those addresses).

If a BCC recipient hits "Reply All," some email clients may inadvertently expose their address to other recipients — this is a known quirk worth being aware of if privacy is critical.

Also, BCC is not a security or encryption tool. It simply hides addresses from the visible header. It doesn't prevent recipients from forwarding the email or sharing its contents.

How useful BCC is in practice — and which version of Outlook you're navigating — really comes down to where you're checking email, what kind of account you have, and how often your organization's IT environment gets updated. Those are the pieces only your own setup can answer.