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Always make sure you e-mail the
right people, in the right way.
The To field is for
people that the message directly affects, and that you require
action from. If you expecting someone to do something, they should
be in the To field.
It's also a good idea to include
all the people you put in the To: field in your opener line. This
lets the others know who is involved in the conversation.
Hi Bill, Ted, Mary, Suzy,
If you are sending to more than
four people, don't bother with this and just start with a single Hi
or Hello.
The To field can be used
for as many addresses as you like - some people mistakenly
think the Cc line is for multiple addresses.
The Cc (or carbon copy)
field is for people you want to know about the message, but
are not directly involved. It's mainly for people that do not
need to act or reply to the message, but to keep them
informed.
For those of you born after
the 1980's, the term "Carbon Copy" comes from when
typewriters were used to write letters. You would put two pieces
of paper in a typewriter at the same time, with a piece of
carbon paper in between. The letters would press through the
carbon paper, leaving a copy on the sheet at the back.
The CC field can be used
for a number of reasons.
- It keeps other people "in
the loop" on certain issues (often used to keep managers
up to date on issues).
- It lets people know if they
are expected to take action, or if they are just being
informed.
- It allows you to make the
receiver aware that other people know what is going on (in
case you want them to take the content more seriously, or
treat it as more important or urgent).
Finally, the Bcc field
(Blind Carbon Copy) is used when you want other people to receive
the message, but you don't want the other recipients to know they
got it.
When people get an e-mail,
they'll also see all the people in the To and Cc lines - but not
Bcc.
One good use of Bcc is
when sending an e-mail to hundreds of people. You don't want them
all to see each other's e-mail addresses so you use this field,
rather than the To or Cc lines.
| To |
People required to take
action |
| Cc |
Kept informed of the
content, but no actions required from them |
| Bcc |
Receive the message
without any of the other recipients knowing. Also used for
larger mailings (over 50) |
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Add a Reminder to Your Calendar
Want to come back to this site later? Use the button below to automatically create an event in your Windows Vista Calendar (or equivalent) program.
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Requires a compatible calendar program on your computer such as Vista Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Apple iCal, Mozilla
Sunbird(free) |
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