To automatically Bcc all outgoing messages

Outlook has a rule to automatically Cc another person on outgoing messages, but no equivalent for Bcc. This page discusses programmatic and other methods for adding such an automatic Bcc.

Method #1 | Method #2 | Method #3 | Notes | More Information

Method #1 (Basic)

If you want to have Outlook 2000 automatically add a particular address as a Bcc to all outgoing items, put this VBA code in the built-in ThisOutlookSession module (Press Alt+F11 to get to the VBA development environment):

Make sure you substitute the right e-mail address for "myaddress@mydomain.dom."

Note that this method will trigger an address book security prompt in some Outlook environments, because of the use of Recipients.Add. You could avoid security prompts by simply setting the Item.Bcc property to the address. However, in some Outlook configurations, this results in an unresolved address, even if you use a proper SMTP address; you'll get an error, and Outlook won't send the message.

Method #2 (with error handling)

This second version adds substantial error handling, to deal with the case where you get an Outlook Email Security Update address book prompt and don't click Yes on the dialog that pops up or where you specify a name, rather than an SMTP address, for the Bcc recipient and the name cannot be resolved.

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean) Dim objRecip As Recipient Dim strMsg As String Dim res As Integer Dim strBcc as String ' #### USER OPTIONS #### ' address for Bcc -- must be SMTP address or resolvable ' to a name in the address book strBcc = "someone@somewhere.dom" On Error Resume Next Set objRecip = Item.Recipients.Add(strBcc) ' handle case of user canceling Outlook security dialog If Err = 287 Then strMsg = "Could not add a Bcc recipient " & _ "because the user said No to the security prompt." & _ " Do you want still to send the message?" res = MsgBox(strMsg, vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton1, _ "Security Prompt Cancelled") If res = vbNo Then Cancel = True Else objRecip.Delete End If Err.Clear Else objRecip.Type = olBCC objRecip.Resolve If Not objRecip.Resolved Then strMsg = "Could not resolve the Bcc recipient. " & _ "Do you want still to send the message?" res = MsgBox(strMsg, vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton1, _ "Could Not Resolve Bcc Recipient") If res = vbNo Then Cancel = True End If End If End If Set objRecip = Nothing End Sub

Method #3 (Redemption)

This version uses the same basic technique as Method #1, only with the Redemption library to avoid security prompts in versions before Outlook 2003.

Make sure you substitute the right e-mail address for "myaddress@mydomain.dom."

Notes

Another approach, which would avoid security prompts without the need to use Redemption, would be to create a custom form with the desired address in the Bcc field, publish it to the Personal Forms library, and then modify the registry to substitute the published custom form for the default. See To change a default Microsoft Outlook form. (Thanks to Steven Teiger from the outlook-users@yahoogroups.com discussion list.) Note, though, that sending items with a custom form may result in non-Outlook recipients not being able to open attachments. Therefore, this method is not recommended.

More Information

Always Bcc -- Utility to always do a Cc or Bcc to specific recipients.

More samples for the Application.ItemSend event:


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