So, you just sent an e-mail TO: your office manager, and a “carbon copy” CC: to your office’s assistant manager. In that message you discussed how difficult it was becoming to work with the female owner of a home you have listed.

You cited how she was adamant about setting a price that was wildly inflated and how her four dogs were out of control, as well as a complaint about her personal hygiene.

You also sent a blind carbon copy (BCC) of that same e-mail message to your partner and office mate, Shirley, because you work on listings together. But egad!!! Now that you think about it, did you really send that BCC copy to Shirley, or did you accidentally send it to the woman whose house you just listed?

How could that happen? Well, perhaps because you started out to send that woman an e-mail message and then later decided to delete that e-mail and instead send one to the managers. But what if her address had somehow been transposed to the BCC box when you added Shirley’s name there?

You race to your “sent” file and eeeeeeeeeeeeek, there’s no mention there of who got BCCs. Not one. Nowhere! You push every button you can find on every window that you can open in your Microsoft Outlook Express e-mail interface that shows the directory for In Box, Sent and Deleted e-mails …..and still there’s no place that shows you who just got BCCs from you. You need to know if you messed up because if you get to the woman first and apologize, she just might not cancel the listing with you. Whatever will you do?

The rule here is: Be 100 percent sure every time you use BCC that you’re using it correctly. Most people don’t. Many don’t even know HOW to send a BCC copy, or even have it showing as an option in their new (blank) e-mail window whenever they send an e-mail.

How to Activate BCC

If you’ve never seen a BCC option on your outgoing blank e-mail box, here’s how to get one. This is what the Help box tells you when you click on “Help” after you open a typical e-mail box that says “new message” at the top of it, and you search for “BCC” in its table of contents. When you do, you get this:

1. To use the Bcc box, on the View menu, select All Headers.
2. In the Subject box, type a message title.
3. Type your message, and then click Send on the toolbar.

This cryptic Microsoft instruction above does not say that after you select and click on “All Headers” that a NEW box labeled BCC magically appears on your new message window between CC and Subject. (Duh) But it does.

And if you type an e-mail address into the BCC box and other e-mail addresses into the TO and CC boxes, the latter two categories of recipient will be unable to see who got the BCCs (i.e. those copies are “blind” to them) of the same e-mail. But they will be able to see each other’s name or e-mail address.

I often send colleagues or staff nonconfidential BCC copies of e-mails that I’ve sent to clients, because these often contain something useful or educational to such people. Once I sent my daughter a BCC of EVERY e-mail that I sent out because she didn’t think I worked very hard as a consultant and I wanted to show her that I did. Sometimes I send BCCs to my wife to serve as notices of household actions completed, or progress on ones that we each need to perform, say in the planning of a vacation where we each have assigned ourselves duties.

But the big question I hear from so many agents is this: “Once I send an e-mail that has a BCC, where on earth do I go to find out who got the BCCs since I cannot see it anywhere in my Sent file.”

How to find BCCs you’ve sent

Okay, here it is and it is so simple. (Note that I’m covering only Microsoft’s Outlook Express here (and not Netscape browsers which are only about 6% of users.)

Once your e-mail has been sent, go to your Sent file, which is found under the “Local Folders” section of your Outlook Express. Open up the Sent file by clicking on it and then read the Subject lines of all the e-mails that you have sent. (You’d be wise to have already told Outlook Express to keep the most recently sent ones at the top of the list.).

Look at the subject lines of the e-mails listed there. Determine which is the one that you’re seeking. From this point on, there are two ways to see who got BCCs.

1. In the list of e-mails that you’ve sent, make sure that the e-mail you’re seeking is highlighted. Right-click on the highlighted e-mail. A menu opens up. Click on “Properties.” Now click on “Details.” Look in the BCC section to see who is listed there as receiving BCC copies. You can also see who got TOs and CCs as well, although these are already apparent just by looking at the copy of the actual Sent e-mail.
   Or….
   
2. Highlight the “Sent” e-mail that you are looking for, or highlight it and open it. Go to the top of the “Sent Items” window that you are on and click on “File.” Then click on “Properties,” then on “Details.” Again, you can read who got what in the categories of TO, CC, and BCC. Other, more technical data about that e-mail message will also be displayed in Details.

Never use BCCs to “get” someone else! For example, when your older sister bad-mouths your younger sister, do not BCC the younger sister your replies (including the bad-mouthing itself) to your bad-mouthing older sister. Why? First off, you are betraying the confidentiality with which your elder sister holds your communications. In some cases, you could even be prosecuted for libel. Secondly, it is just plain sneaky. Thirdly, you usually and eventually get “found out” when you play such games using BCCs, so why even bother?

Just remember---BCCs are a great, often timesaving way to inform others of your communications and pass on data. But think before you hit SEND. You have to use extreme caution with BCCs.

One can easily end up in the wrong hands with possibly grave consequences---either personal and sometimes even legal and financial---for you, your company and even your career!

Try it right now. If you don’t already have BCC showing on your Outlook Express e-mail box, go activate it. If you already have it showing, practice the methodologies above for checking on who got BCCs.

Published: July 23, 2002

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Bill Koelzer is a Web marketing consultant to web-proficient agents nationwide. He is co-author, with Barbara Cox, Ph.D., of the Prentice-Hall books, Internet Marketing in Real Estate and Internet Marketing. Bill is also webmaster of Orange County Real Estate, among the most-awarded known Realtor® sites. Visit his website, Koelzer.com or e-mail him at .