Is there a way to make an Exchange server set the To:
header in the message sent to a bcc recipient?
We have admin access to the server. Other email programs do this, so it should be possible.
Example – if I send an email to user1@a.com, and bcc it to user2@a.com, user1 will see his own email address in the To:
header. User2 will not see a To:
header at all. I want user2 to see To: user2@a.com
.
For background, the reason I (think I) need this is that we use a CRM tool called Insightly
. We copy client emails to project-specific Insightly email addresses, but Insightly cannot cope if we put the email address in the bcc
field in Outlook. It copes if I send the same email from a linux-based mail account, and comparison of the headers highlighted the missing To
field as the most likely problem.
Obviously my preferred solution would be to get Insightly to fix their software and read something like the Received for
header, but their customer service team are adamant that this bug is staying.
Edit:
A bit of further clarification – when I send email via my personal (linux webmail) email account, the person receiving the bcc sees their own address in the To header. When I send email via my work (Outlook) account, the person receiving the bcc sees no To header at all.
Best Answer
Ian,
So first let me share some background on how Exchange processes BCC information, there's a good article here: http://gsexdev.blogspot.com/2011/06/processing-bccs-in-exchange-transport.html
You can also find information that alludes to how Exchange processes BCC's here: https://superuser.com/questions/476620/finding-bcc-in-internet-mail-headers
Further, I'm going to simply copy/paste this MS employee's answer since it explains it well enough: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/faa6a8f4-7192-406f-bf7c-f41b52473e37/exchange-or-outlook-rule?forum=exchangesvrsecuremessaging
So let's get to the heart of the matter. Exchange processes it differently than what you are used to on your Linux mail server.
What can you do though if Insightly won't change their programming?
Here's a few ideas I can think of that might work:
1) Continue with the BCC idea but make 2 hops. What I mean by this is create resource mailboxes or similar in Exchange for the Insightly projects email addresses. Then BCC those addresses and have those mailboxes auto forward all email to the "real" Insightly project email address. At that point Insightly should see it as an actual TO address. Not sure how the FW: info would be handled by it, but worth a shot.
2) Consider simply CCing the Insightly address. I get why you want to do the BCC but maybe this is an option?
3) Same as #1 above, but put the email addresses on the Linux mail server. Then have that server trigger to BCC Insightly upon receiving a BCC from Exchange. You'd need to use a different mail domain on the Linux server and Outlook users would BCC email that domain (like Project1@insightly.internal). Then Exchange would deliver mail destined for insightly.internal domain to the Linux server. The Linux server would then trigger a BCC to Project1@realdomain.com. Frustrating and silly, but should work as well.
Hope that helps a little. It's a tricky situation to be in, and you can't exactly just nix the CRM software because of this I'm guessing.