Carbon copy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carbon copying, often abbreviated to c.c., was originally the technique of using carbon paper to produce one or more copies simultaneously with the creation of paper documents. On a typewriter, this would be done by placing carbon paper sheets between two or more sheets of paper in the machine, so that whatever was typed on the front sheet was copied onto the other sheets. This technique applies to written documents as well.
This practice declined with the advent of photocopying and other electronic means, although it is still used, for example, in manual receipt books which have a multiple-use sheet of carbon paper supplied, in order that the user can keep an exact copy of each receipt issued.
[edit] Printers
Dot Matrix and daisywheel printers are also able to use carbon paper to produce multiple copies of a document in one pass, and most models feature adjustable impact power and head spacing to accommodate up to three copies plus the original printout. However, arranging the "sandwich" of layered blank sheets and carbon paper requires some careful handling and must be manually fed in most models, thus requiring some extra time and effort.
[edit] E-mail
The term CC has found renewed use with the growth of the internet. Its purpose is similar even though its implementation has changed.
In e-mail, the abbreviation CC refers to the practice of sending a message as a "carbon copy" or "courtesy copy". That is, the receiver is not expected to reply or act. Typically, supervisory personnel are notified with CC.
Contrary to popular belief, CC is not meant for sending multiple copies, at least, not particularly. It is a perfectly legitimate practice to populate the To: field with several addresses.
The CC recipients are revealed to all recipients, and this may not be desirable, depending on the situation. An alternative field, BCC, or Blind Carbon Copy, is available for hidden notification. In common usage, To field recipients are the primary audience of the message, CC field recipients are others whom the author wishes to publicly inform of the message, and BCC field recipients are those surreptitiously being informed of the communication.
