The phrase describes the act of including additional recipients on an email thread, often abbreviated in crossword puzzles due to space constraints. This inclusion ensures that those individuals are kept informed of the ongoing correspondence, even if they are not the primary parties involved in the initial exchange. As an example, if a project manager forwards an email chain regarding a task to a team member for their input, that action effectively performs the described function.
The practice of keeping individuals informed through email communication, including adding them to existing threads, is a fundamental element of professional collaboration and knowledge dissemination. It allows for wider awareness of developments, fosters transparency, and facilitates more informed decision-making across teams or organizations. Historically, the need for efficient information sharing has driven the development of email functionalities such as forwarding and carbon copying, which precede the modern iteration implied by this phrase.