How to add CC and BCC in Gmail on Mac: browser steps and keyboard shortcuts

Gmail on a Mac runs in your web browser. A setup guide from Mailbird, a company that sells a competing mail app, says Google has not released an official Gmail desktop app for Mac. These steps use Safari or Chrome. Apple Mail gets its own section near the end, for people who added a Gmail account there.

What Cc and Bcc do to your recipients

Cc stands for carbon copy. Bcc stands for blind carbon copy. Both send a copy of the message to people who are not the main audience. The difference is visibility. Everyone on the message can see the names in To and Cc. Names in Bcc stay hidden from the other recipients.

Use Cc for people who should see the conversation but do not need to act on it. Google's send-email help says Cc is commonly used that way. Use Bcc when a list of addresses should stay private, such as customers who should not see each other's emails.

Add CC and BCC in Gmail on Mac, step by step

The steps cover the whole flow, from opening Gmail to sending. Step 2 is optional. Skip it if you only plan to click the links and never use the keyboard.

Gmail changes its layout from time to time. The CC and BCC links described here come from Google's help pages and a 2022 walkthrough from How-To Geek. If your screen looks different, look for the same two options next to the To field. The fields work the same way once they appear.

Use keyboard shortcuts for Cc and Bcc

Google's keyboard shortcut table lists Add cc recipients and Add bcc recipients. Google writes the key as ⌘/Ctrl. On a Mac you press ⌘, so Cc is ⌘⇧C and Bcc is ⌘⇧B. The shortcuts do nothing until Keyboard shortcuts are turned on in Gmail settings.

Shortcuts help most when you write a lot of email. Start a new message, press ⌘⇧C, type the first Cc address, and keep typing. Press ⌘⇧B the same way for hidden recipients. Keep your hands on the keyboard and skip the mouse.

A worked example with three kinds of recipients

Say you send a project update. Priya Shah approves the budget, so Priya goes in To. Dan needs the update for records but has no task, so Dan goes in Cc. Forty beta testers should not see each other, so all forty go in Bcc.

Here is what each group sees. Priya and Dan see each other's names in the visible fields. Each beta tester sees Priya and Dan, but not the other testers. The total is 42 addresses, well under the 500 recipient limit in Google's help.

Change a recipient before you send

You can fix a recipient at any point before you click Send. Remove the wrong name from the field, then type the correct address. The message does not leave your outbox until you send it, so this is the safe moment to check.

Mistakes people make with Bcc

Mix-ups happen to careful people. A vendor survey of 1,043 American office workers, collected in October 2023, found that 19.1% had accidentally emailed everyone in their department. EmailTooltester ran that survey. It is not a peer-reviewed study, but it shows how easy a wrong field is to fill.

The most common error is a long list in To or Cc when it belongs in Bcc. Check the three fields before you click Send. Read the names, not just the count. One wrong field can expose a whole list.

Bcc is not a guarantee of privacy in every case. Google's send-email help warns that if recipients do not use Gmail, they may not see that they were added to the Bcc field. If the list is sensitive, tell people they are receiving a copy, or send them a separate message.

Sending limits for large emails

Google's sending limits help says a message can hit a limit if it goes to more than 500 total recipients in a single email. A separate limit applies after more than 500 emails sent in a day. Google says you can usually send again within 1 to 24 hours.

The page does not say whether To, Cc and Bcc count together. Assume they do when you are near 500. Add up every address in all three fields. If the total is high, split the list into smaller sends.

Before you start: check which account you write from

If you use more than one Google account, Gmail opens the one you signed in with. Check the account picture in the top right corner before you add recipients. Sending from the wrong account is an easy mistake, because the compose window looks the same.

Gmail in Apple Mail: the Bcc Address Field

If you added your Gmail account to Apple Mail, the steps change. Apple's Mail guide says that if the field is not listed, you should click the Header Fields button in the message toolbar, then choose Bcc Address Field.

Apple's guide says to leave the To field blank to show Undisclosed-recipients instead of a list of names. Use this when every recipient is in Bcc.

Older guides differ. A 2014 Apple Community reply, written for Yosemite 10.10.1 and Apple Mail 8.1, says to open the View menu and choose BCC Address Field. It also says Command-Option-B toggles the field. That path predates the Header Fields button, so check your own menu first.

Apple's Mail guide has a version selector that lists macOS 27 Golden Gate, macOS Tahoe 26, macOS Sequoia 15 and older releases. The guide does not say which version its steps match. Follow what you see on your Mac.

Checklist before you click Send

• Check the To, Cc and Bcc rows one at a time.
• Put long lists in Bcc, not in To or Cc.
• Use Cc only for people who need to follow the thread.
• Count every address if the total is near 500.
• Tell Bcc recipients who do not use Gmail that they may not notice the copy.

Where to go next

Once Bcc feels natural, turn on Gmail keyboard shortcuts for the rest of your mail. The keyboard shortcuts guide covers the settings in full. If a message went to the wrong group, read the undo send guide for Gmail and Apple Mail.