distribution lists and/or bcc: and/or other to hide names in To:

What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I put MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

Two options:
1. Use a mail merge if you want each recipient to see only their own name.
2. Create a dummy Contact that has the name of your DL and put it in the To:
field while you put the actual DL in the BCC field.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution
list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I put
MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message
looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

Displaying the DL name is not an option unless you're working with a server-based DL. The best you can do from Outlook alone is fake it with a dummy address.

To show individual names, use a mail merge with individual contacts.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Rebecca" wrote in message ...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I put MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

I've done a mail merge where the form is an MS-Word doc, the data is in MS
Excel and the output doc is an MS-Word letter that we print on paper. I've
never done a mail merge where the form is an email, the data is a DL and the
output doc is an email. Where can I find instructions to do that?


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Two options:
1. Use a mail merge if you want each recipient to see only their own name.
2. Create a dummy Contact that has the name of your DL and put it in the To:
field while you put the actual DL in the BCC field.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution
list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I put
MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message
looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

I could use a server-based DL for this situation, how would I do that?

As far as mail merge, I've done a mail merge where the form is an MS-Word
doc, the data is in MS Excel and the output doc is an MS-Word letter that we
print on paper. I've never done a mail merge where the form is an email, the
data is a DL and the output doc is an email. Where can I find instructions
to do that?


"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Displaying the DL name is not an option unless you're working with a server-based DL. The best you can do from Outlook alone is fake it with a dummy address.

To show individual names, use a mail merge with individual contacts.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Rebecca" wrote in message ...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I put MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

You can't mail merge to a DL. You'd have to create Contacts, which you
should have done all along. DL's are not a reliable way to store Contact
information.
For an overview of mail merges take a look he
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/printlabel.htm
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/mailmerge.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/as...186361033.aspx


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
I've done a mail merge where the form is an MS-Word doc, the data is in MS
Excel and the output doc is an MS-Word letter that we print on paper.
I've
never done a mail merge where the form is an email, the data is a DL and
the
output doc is an email. Where can I find instructions to do that?


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Two options:
1. Use a mail merge if you want each recipient to see only their own
name.
2. Create a dummy Contact that has the name of your DL and put it in the
To:
field while you put the actual DL in the BCC field.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of
the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks
like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution
list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I
put
MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message
looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the
BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

Ask your network administrators. They'd be the ones managing server-based DLs.

Or contract with free or commercial list host.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Rebecca" wrote in message ...
I could use a server-based DL for this situation, how would I do that?

Thanks, Russ, I'll look at these. For this purpose, creating Contacts would
not be correct, I don't think. These are temporary DL lists to send
one-time-only reminders to customers whose insurance premiums are due the
following month. I'm extracting the name and email info from a database and
putting it in a DL, unless you know a way to import name and email into a
Contacts folder that's unique?

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

You can't mail merge to a DL. You'd have to create Contacts, which you
should have done all along. DL's are not a reliable way to store Contact
information.
For an overview of mail merges take a look he
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/printlabel.htm
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/mailmerge.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/as...186361033.aspx


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
I've done a mail merge where the form is an MS-Word doc, the data is in MS
Excel and the output doc is an MS-Word letter that we print on paper.
I've
never done a mail merge where the form is an email, the data is a DL and
the
output doc is an email. Where can I find instructions to do that?


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Two options:
1. Use a mail merge if you want each recipient to see only their own
name.
2. Create a dummy Contact that has the name of your DL and put it in the
To:
field while you put the actual DL in the BCC field.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of
the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks
like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution
list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I
put
MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message
looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the
BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever

ha, ha, that's so funny...I am the network administrator!! Very
inexperienced, practically pathetic except that I'm such a darn nice person
;-)

I think it's very difficult to find complete and correct Microsoft
instructions for common everyday business tasks, even for an intelligent
person with good research skills. The Microsoft Help inside of software
applications such as MS-Office is usually quite good with bolded commands and
step-by-step instructions to complete smaller discrete tasks. But for
slightly more complex but common business needs such as "How to gather name
and email data from a database, import that info into Outlook and use it to
send an email to all recipients on that list" it's practically impossible to
get an answer.

You should see my so-far-unsuccessful attempt over in the Exchange
Administration newsgroup just to find out the correct way to rename a user's
login and Exchange email address without having a bunch of things go wrong.
Tons of other participants over there have submitted the exact same question
multiple times over the last several months, but all of the answers are
incorrect, incomplete or scattershot.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Ask your network administrators. They'd be the ones managing server-based DLs.

Or contract with free or commercial list host.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Rebecca" wrote in message ...
I could use a server-based DL for this situation, how would I do that?

If the data is already in a database, then putting it into Outlook is an extra step you may not need. Word's mail merge feature can use a database as its data source.

If each list is for one-time use, a DL would be an expensive solution in terms of time spent.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"Rebecca" wrote in message ...
Thanks, Russ, I'll look at these. For this purpose, creating Contacts would
not be correct, I don't think. These are temporary DL lists to send
one-time-only reminders to customers whose insurance premiums are due the
following month. I'm extracting the name and email info from a database and
putting it in a DL, unless you know a way to import name and email into a
Contacts folder that's unique?

"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

You can't mail merge to a DL. You'd have to create Contacts, which you
should have done all along. DL's are not a reliable way to store Contact
information.
For an overview of mail merges take a look he
http://www.slipstick.com/contacts/printlabel.htm
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/mailmerge.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/as...186361033.aspx


--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
I've done a mail merge where the form is an MS-Word doc, the data is in MS
Excel and the output doc is an MS-Word letter that we print on paper.
I've
never done a mail merge where the form is an email, the data is a DL and
the
output doc is an email. Where can I find instructions to do that?


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Two options:
1. Use a mail merge if you want each recipient to see only their own
name.
2. Create a dummy Contact that has the name of your DL and put it in the
To:
field while you put the actual DL in the BCC field.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Rebecca" wrote in message
...
What is the BEST way to send the same email message to a large group of
customers, but control what the recipient sees in the "To:" field of
the
email they receive?

Sample distribution list "MY CUSTOMERS"
Miles Smith )
Michael Dell )
Steve Ballmer )

I know by default that when I choose a distribution list such as
"MY CUSTOMERS" in the "To:" field when I create the message, it looks
like
To: + MY CUSTOMERS on my screen, but when the email is received by each
person,
their received email shows every individual name and email:
To: Miles Smith ; Michael Dell ); Steve
Ballmer
)

I would rather have the recipient's email display just the distribution
list
name
To: MY CUSTOMERS

or ideally display with only their own name
To: Michael Dell
even though it was sent to tons of people.

When creating the message, if I put nothing in the "To:" field and I
put
MY
CUSTOMERS in the BCC field, it does hide all the names, but the message
looks
too blank and impersonal:
From: Becky
To:
Cc:
Subject: whatever

If I put my own name in the To: field and the distribution list in the
BCC
then the received email really looks weird:
From: Becky
To: Becky
CC:
Subject: whatever