How to send a mass email without showing other recipients
To email many people without showing their addresses, put everyone in Bcc (blind carbon copy). Each person gets the email, but nobody sees who else received it. It protects people's privacy and stops reply-all storms.
In Gmail, click Bcc at the right of the To line and add the addresses. In new Outlook, open Options › Show fields › Bcc. Put your own address in To. Personal Gmail allows about 500 recipients per message and per day; Outlook.com allows up to 500 per message for Microsoft 365 subscribers and less for free accounts.
In Gmail
- Click Compose.
- Put your own address in To.
- Click Bcc at the right of the To line.
- Add the addresses, separated by commas, or type a contact label name.
- Write and send.
In Outlook
New Outlook and Outlook on the web: in a new message, open the Options tab and choose Show fields › Bcc (or click Bcc at the right of the To line). Bcc then stays visible for future messages.
Classic Outlook: in a new message, open the Options tab and click Bcc.
Send a mass email without showing other recipients
Bcc hides the list, but everyone still gets the same email, and a big Bcc list from a personal account is more likely to land in spam. For more than a few dozen people, send each person their own copy instead:
- Gmail: on Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise and some other paid plans, click Use mail merge to the right of the To line. Each person gets a separate email, and you can type
@firstnameto add their name. It allows up to 1,500 recipients a day. Free Gmail accounts don't have it: use Bcc in small batches, or a mail merge tool. - Outlook: in classic Outlook, use Word's mail merge (Mailings › Start Mail Merge › E-mail Messages), which sends one email per person. In new Outlook, click the arrow next to Send and choose Start mail merge: it sends a separate copy to each person, but without their name. See mail merge in Outlook.
- It runs in your browser.
Whichever you use, remember that every recipient counts toward your daily sending limit.
Recipient limits
| Account | Per message | Per day |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Gmail | About 500 | About 500 recipients |
| Google Workspace | 2,000 (max 500 outside your organization) | 2,000 messages |
| Outlook.com (Microsoft 365 subscribers) | 500 | 5,000 recipients (1,000 new contacts) |
| Outlook.com free accounts | Lower limits; Microsoft does not publish exact numbers | |
Every address in To, Cc and Bcc counts toward the limit.
Better options for bigger or personal sends
- Mail merge: sends each person their own copy with their name in it. See what mail merge is and how to mail merge from Excel.
- An email marketing service: for newsletters, use a service built for it. It handles unsubscribes, which the law requires for marketing email.
- Clean the list first: bad addresses bounce, and bounces hurt your sender reputation.
Bcc etiquette
- Not sure whether someone belongs in Cc or Bcc? See what CC and BCC mean.
- Use Bcc whenever recipients do not all know each other.
- Do not use Bcc to secretly copy someone into a private conversation; it tends to come out.
- Mention it if helpful: "I have Bcc'd everyone to protect your privacy."
Questions people ask
- How many people can I Bcc in Gmail?
- About 500 per message on a personal Gmail account, and 2,000 on Google Workspace (no more than 500 outside your organization).
- Can Bcc recipients see each other?
- No. Each Bcc recipient sees only the To and Cc addresses.
- Will Bcc emails go to spam?
- They can, especially when sent to many people at once from a personal account. Smaller batches, a clean list and a proper sending service help.
- How do I start an email to multiple people?
- A simple "Hi all," "Hello everyone," or "Hi team," works. For mixed groups, "Hello," on its own is fine.