How to Add a BCC in Outlook (Desktop, Web, and Mobile)

BCC — Blind Carbon Copy — is one of those email features that looks simple on the surface but carries real practical weight. Whether you're sending a company-wide announcement, protecting a contact list's privacy, or quietly looping in a manager, knowing how to use BCC in Outlook correctly saves you from awkward (and sometimes serious) mistakes.

Here's everything you need to know about adding BCC in Outlook, across every major version.

What BCC Actually Does

When you add someone to the To or CC field, every recipient can see their name and email address. BCC works differently: recipients added to the BCC field receive the email, but no other recipient can see that they were included.

There's an important nuance worth knowing:

• BCC recipients cannot see each other, even if you've added multiple BCC addresses.
• BCC recipients can see the To and CC fields, so they know who the email was publicly addressed to.
• If a BCC recipient hits Reply All, their reply goes only to the sender — not to the full thread.

This makes BCC the right tool when you need to protect privacy, avoid exposing a mailing list, or include someone without making their involvement visible.

Why the BCC Field Isn't Always Visible by Default

Unlike To and CC, Outlook doesn't always show the BCC field automatically. It's a hidden field that you have to manually enable in the compose window. This is true across the desktop app, Outlook on the web, and the mobile app — though the steps differ slightly for each.

How to Add BCC in Outlook Desktop (Windows and Mac)

Windows (Microsoft 365 / Outlook 2016, 2019, 2021)

1. Open a New Email window.
2. Click the Options tab in the ribbon at the top.
3. In the Show Fields group, click BCC.
4. The BCC field will now appear beneath the CC field in your compose window.
5. Type or select your recipients in the BCC field as you normally would.

Once you enable BCC in a compose window, it stays visible for all future emails in that session — and typically remains on in subsequent sessions until manually turned off.

Mac (Outlook for Mac / Microsoft 365)

1. Open a New Email window.
2. Click Options in the toolbar.
3. Select BCC from the dropdown or button options.
4. The BCC field will appear in the header of your compose window.

Alternatively, on some versions of Outlook for Mac:

1. Go to the View menu at the top of your screen (not the ribbon).
2. Select BCC Field.

The exact menu location varies slightly depending on which version of Outlook for Mac you're running.

How to Add BCC in Outlook on the Web (OWA)

Outlook on the web — sometimes called OWA (Outlook Web App) or accessed via outlook.com or your organization's Microsoft 365 portal — handles BCC slightly differently.

1. Click New Message to open the compose pane.
2. In the To field area, look for a small label or link that says BCC — it typically appears to the right of the To field or in a collapsed options area.
3. Click BCC to expand the field.
4. Add your BCC recipients.

On some versions of OWA, you may need to click the three-dot menu (…) or More options within the compose window to reveal the BCC field option.

How to Add BCC in Outlook Mobile (iOS and Android)

The mobile Outlook app keeps things minimal, which means BCC is tucked away:

1. Tap the compose/new message icon.
2. In the compose screen, tap the small arrow or chevron (▾) next to the recipient fields — this expands the full header options.
3. A BCC field will appear below the CC field.
4. Tap it and add your recipients.

📱 On both iOS and Android versions of the Outlook app, the chevron or expand icon is the consistent way to surface the BCC field.

Key Differences Across Outlook Versions

Common BCC Scenarios — and Where It Gets Complicated 📧

Protecting a mailing list: If you're emailing a group of unrelated people (customers, contacts, event attendees), putting them all in BCC prevents each person's address from being visible to everyone else. This is a basic privacy practice.

Looping in a manager or colleague discreetly: BCC lets you silently include someone without signaling to the recipient that they're being watched or monitored.

Email threads and BCC: If a BCC recipient replies to the email, they drop out of the thread for all practical purposes. The original sender gets the reply, but the visible recipients won't see it — and the BCC recipient won't receive subsequent replies in the thread unless re-added.

Organizational policies: In some corporate Microsoft 365 environments, IT administrators can configure mail flow rules that affect how BCC works — including whether BCC data is logged for compliance purposes. What looks like a "hidden" recipient may still be visible in server-side audit logs.

Variables That Affect Your Experience

The steps above cover the most common configurations, but your actual experience depends on several factors:

• Outlook version and update channel — Microsoft 365 subscribers receive rolling updates, so the exact interface may shift between versions. Classic Outlook and the newer "New Outlook" for Windows have different UI layouts.
• Organization vs. personal account — Work accounts managed by an IT department may have customized Outlook configurations that hide, restrict, or rearrange features.
• Web browser — OWA behavior can vary slightly between Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox, particularly around how compose windows render.
• Mobile app version — The Outlook mobile app updates frequently, and the exact position of the expand arrow or BCC option can change with updates.

🔍 If you're using an employer-managed device or account, your version of Outlook may look meaningfully different from a standard consumer setup — which is worth checking before assuming the steps above map exactly to what you're seeing.