bccs no longer work
I have used Thunderbird for many many moons. Suddenly the bcc function has stopped functioning. I bcc'd an e-mail and right before sending it I remembered someone else to send it to, I added the name and was glad to see that it was added as a bcc just because all the other addresses were bccs (I didn't change the "to" to "bcc", the system did). However when I subsequently viewed the sent file I was shocked to see all the addresses listed rather than "undisclosed". So a friend and I started testing it and discovered none of my bccs were working. This was on an outlook e-mail so I went to their system and found that I could successfully send a bcc through them. I had to laugh when a poster in your forum said "good luck" getting microsoft to fix a problem as they take forever. Well, we'll see how Mozilla ranks because this is a Mozilla problem. I have deleted my long-trusted Thunderbird account from my pcc and am now receiving mail directly through Outlook.
There is another problem to, I think it may have happened around the same time or perhaps earlier. When you set up your account to "empty trash on exit" in the server settings, it will no longer do it. Again, this has worked for forever for me. Today it said there was 4 in the trash, I opened it to see several days worth and actually more like 25 rather than 4 were sitting in the trash. This is supposed to be zero each turn-on.
Good luck Mozilla, we'll see how your fixes fare with Microsoft's.
All Replies (7)
Are you saying that you put ALL addresses in BCC -- leaving "To" blank -- and they were switched to being ALL "To" addresses?
Regarding the problem of messages not getting delivered to BCC recipients, that seems to be a new problem with programs that use a standard IMAP+SMTP connections to Outlook/Live/Hotmail accounts. Here's a thread from over the weekend with more investigation results and links to Microsoft forums discussions: Bcc to myself with Hotmail account is not working anymore. I'm not aware of any built-in workarounds at this time.
If Microsoft doesn't re-enable BCC's for IMAP+SMTP clients, you might have to either:
- Switch to a mail client that supports Exchange server connections such as (Office) Outlook
- Add an extension to Thunderbird to use ActiveSync, such as the (non-free) https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbir.../exquilla-exchange-web-services/ (I haven't tested it myself to confirm that it works around this issue)
jscher2000 said
Are you saying that you put ALL addresses in BCC -- leaving "To" blank -- and they were switched to being ALL "To" addresses? Yes, it switched all the bcc addresses to "to" addresses showing all the addresses. At first I thought I must have made the mistake but then I specifically remember adding someone and being happy that I didn't have to change the "to" to "bcc" as the system automatically made it a "bcc" with all the others. When I asked one of the recipients if he had received it as a bcc; he said no and was shocked to see all the addresses disclosed. So, I have stopped using Mozilla and am just using outlook which keeps my "bccs" bccs. I can't tell you how long I have used Thunderbird but through several pcs and I'm sorry to see it go but I have chosen the 3rd option that you didn't list and that is to say goodbye to Thunderbird. Thanks for trying to help. I'm sorry I don't know IMAP+SMTP-eze.
You can not use BCC with Outlook or Hotmail as I prefer to call it. It works using their web interface, but when sending via an SMTP server (theirs) they strip the BCC information.
If you have an issue with this, I suggest you contact Microsoft and explain how silly it is to them. They have not replied to my post on the subject other than to offer dead ends and platitudes.
I read you write this before. So are you saying that if I am using Thunderbird, it is using outlook to send my mail and Thunderbird has nothing to do with the bcc failure?
I find that interesting because as I explained, after my bcc's stopped working, I started using outlook mail (abandoning Thunderbird) and my recipients said they could once again only see their own address. I was using Thunderbird when we could all see everyone's e-mail addresses. Based on your reply, I have sent another bcc "test" e-mail via outlook mail and when I get the responses, I'll let you know.
Thanks for your help.
Testing's first reply:
as due to my reply it obvious came in, yet with that even in the To: it was blank. But blank w/ everybody so guess it’s good to go?
So, my bccs seem to work using Outlook mail but not through Thunderbird. It is a new problem maybe even less than a month.
IF you are referring to outlook and mail client, it uses Microsoft Proprietary ActivDirecory or Microsoft's Proprietary EMAPI protocols to connect to the servers.
If you are refering to the oputlook web site. God only know what is used there. HTTP to mail all proprietary and in house developed probably.
But neither use SMTP. So what you are seeing in my personal opinion is yet another ploy from Microsoft to make non Microsoft products work poorly with their services. Anti competitive behavior is what I think I have seen such things called. That is either you license their technology and pay the license fees or they will make the smooth road rough.
Now a primer on how mail works..
When you use a mail client like Thunderbird is does everything about sending and receiving thought the mail providers servers. These actions are defined and ratified as internet RFC's That outlook.com/Hotmail/ Live /Whatever confusing marketing name Microsoft choose to use does not comply with those standards and suddenly stopped doing so is a matter that their customers should be addressing with them. Unfortunately most people know so little about Mail that they are here on this forum complaining about broken software, unaware that Microsoft's marketing reach is what is affecting them.
I have now been advised by Microsoft that they have rolled out a fix to about 75% of their servers and the rest should be patched within the week.
If you still have issues after a week please speak up as they are of the opinion they have fixed this issue.
I have finally made contact with a human at Microsoft that we can discuss these sorts of issues with, so perhaps we can fix this and a couple of other issues.