How to Automatically BCC Yourself on Every Email You Send in Outlook

Whether you need to keep a strict paper trail for legal compliance, log client communications in a third-party CRM system, or simply want a backup copy of your sent messages in your primary inbox, manually adding your own email address to the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field every single time you send an email is tedious. By setting up a custom rule in Microsoft Outlook, you can automate this process completely.

How to Create an Auto-BCC Rule in Outlook Desktop

The Outlook desktop application for Windows includes a powerful Rules Wizard that can intercept outgoing emails and append your address to the BCC line before the message leaves your outbox.

1. Open the Microsoft Outlook desktop application on your PC.
2. Ensure you are on the Home tab of the ribbon interface.
3. Click on Rules, then select Manage Rules & Alerts from the dropdown menu.
4. In the dialog box, click the New Rule… button.
5. Under the Start from a blank rule section, select Apply rule on messages I send, and click Next.
6. The next screen asks which conditions you want to check. Because you want this to apply to every email you send, do not check any boxes. Simply click Next. Outlook will display a warning asking if you want this rule applied to every message you send. Click Yes.

Configuring the Action

Now you must tell Outlook what to do with the outgoing messages.

1. In the Select action(s) list, check the box next to Cc the message to people or public group. (Note: Outlook’s Rules Wizard does not have a native “BCC” option, so we must use CC).
2. In the bottom pane (Step 2), click the blue underlined link for people or public group.
3. A contacts window will appear. Type your own email address into the To-> field at the bottom, and click OK.
4. Click Next to proceed to the exceptions screen. (Add exceptions here if you don’t want to copy yourself on emails sent to specific internal colleagues).
5. Click Next again.
6. Give your rule a descriptive name, like “Auto CC Myself”.
7. Ensure the box for Turn on this rule is checked, and click Finish.

Every email you send from this computer will now automatically send a copy to your inbox. Please note that because this is a client-side rule, Outlook must be running on your computer for the automation to work. If you send an email from your phone, this specific desktop rule will not trigger.