Apparently when I send to a Group of Contacts they can all see every email address and this is not acceptable how do I avoid that

Question

I need to send to a group of about 50 parents. Their addresses are held in a Group of Contacts. I highlight the group name to distribute a message to all of them and what I am being told is that they can then all see every email address. This is not acceptable as many do not want their email address being made public in this way. Surely this should not happen or at least there should be a way to avoid it.

Answer 1

re: and I quote "they can then all see every email address. This is not acceptable "
I showed you the basic method of sending a group as Bcc - which is what you initially asked for.
As you now specify that not only do you want to know how to use Bcc but every email needs to be personalised - not just distributing a message to all of them, then I would agree with Matt and advise you use Mail Merge. This creates separate emails - not a bulk email to several recipients, so using a TO field will only send to that person - other people will not see other email addresses.
Matt has offered the link.
Here is some more info regarding Mail Merge.
'''How to install Add-ons:'''
download the .xpi file to your computer eg: desktop or downloads folder.
In Thunderbird
'Tools' > 'Add-ons' OR 'Menu Icon' > 'Add-ons'
click on the gear wheel icon and select 'Install addon from file'
see first image below as aid.
locate the file you downloaded and click on 'Open'
You may need to restart Thunderbird.
Mail Merge will appear in the list.
see second image below.
'''How to set up a Template emails for Mail Merge:'''
Create a Template email, which contains the 'personalised' sections.
see example - third image below.
I set the Subject as 'Mail Merge' so it is easily identifiable.
Save it as a Template email.
It will get stored in the 'Templates' folder. If you do not see a Templates folder, this is auto created when you create the first email and store as template.
'''When you want to use Mail Merge.'''
Select the Template folder.
Select the 'Mail Merge' template
either double click on the email in the list or right click on email and select 'Edit as new message'
you can then change the Subject and compose or edit the message - but do not change the sections in the curly brackets - the point of saving this as a template saves you from typing it each time.
'File ' > 'Mail Merge' (see third image)
This will open a new small window
see the fourth image below.
I would suggest you use 'Send Later' option . this will put all the emails in your Outbox, but it does allow you to check the email is correct - or do spot checks. Then you can choose to send them all in one go.
Right click on 'Outbox' folder and select 'Send unsent messages'.
Hope this info helps you.
As you are new to Thunderbird, you may or maynot have managed to locate all your toolbars.
The fifth image shows you how to enable all toolbars to make life much easier.
In addition some very useful info on maintaining a healthy Thunderbird and all about compacting- what it does and why it is important.
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_-_Thunderbird
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders