What a LinkedIn connections export actually is
A LinkedIn connections export is a copy of your own account data, requested from LinkedIn and delivered to you by email. Anyone asking how to export contacts from LinkedIn to Excel is asking for one file inside that archive: the list of people you are connected to, which opens in any spreadsheet.
It is not a list of everyone you can see on LinkedIn. LinkedIn Help states plainly that you currently cannot export a list of contacts who are not 1st-degree connections, so second and third degree profiles stay outside the file.
That one sentence sets the boundary for this guide. Everything below uses the data download built into Settings, which LinkedIn made for this purpose, and nothing that copies data off pages you are only allowed to look at.
Contacts, connections and followers: what each word means
People search for LinkedIn contacts, but LinkedIn itself uses several different words, and only one of them is the list most people are trying to export. Getting the vocabulary straight stops you downloading the wrong file.
| Word | What LinkedIn means by it | In the export? |
|---|---|---|
| Connections | Members you are connected to, counted by degree | Yes, in the Connections file, 1st degree only |
| Contacts | Contacts imported on LinkedIn from another address book | Yes, in a separate Contacts file with names, phone numbers and email addresses |
| Followers | Members who follow your posts without connecting | No follower list is described in the download categories |
| Members you follow | People whose posts you chose to follow | Yes, in the Member Follows file |
When people ask how to export contacts from LinkedIn, they almost always mean their 1st degree connections. If you once imported an address book, those contacts sit in their own file, and the two lists overlap only by coincidence.
Why this guide uses the official route only
Most pages on this question answer it with a browser extension or a search scraper. The LinkedIn User Agreement is short and direct about that, and it is worth reading before you install anything that promises more rows than your own archive gives you.
- No scraping software. The User Agreement says you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots or other processes, such as crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons, to scrape or copy the Services, including profiles and other data.
- No bots for contacts. It also says you will not use bots or other unauthorized automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages, or otherwise drive inauthentic engagement.
- No redistribution. You agree not to copy, use, display or distribute information obtained from the Services without the consent of the content owner, and not to rent, sell or otherwise monetize the Services or related data.
- Laws still apply. The Dos section asks you to comply with applicable laws, naming privacy laws and anti-spam laws among them. An export does not sit outside those laws.
The consequence is not theoretical. Accounts get restricted, and the file you wanted is then harder to reach, not easier. Our note on a restricted LinkedIn account covers what that looks like from the inside.
How to export contacts from LinkedIn to Excel, step by step
These steps follow the LinkedIn Help article on exporting connections. The feature is not available on mobile, so use a computer, and LinkedIn asks you to download your data from a personal machine rather than a public one.
Open Settings and Privacy on a computer
Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage and select Settings & Privacy. LinkedIn says the data download is not available on mobile, and asks you to use a personal computer rather than a public one.
Go to Data privacy
Click Data privacy on the left rail, then find the section headed How LinkedIn uses your data.
Open Get a copy of your data
Click Get a copy of your data. LinkedIn labels the same screen Download your data in its general help article. Both lead to the request form.
Choose what you want
Select the larger data archive including connections, or tick the Connections category on its own if you only want that file, then select Request archive.
Wait for the email
LinkedIn sends a link to your primary email address. Its help says specific categories arrive within minutes and the larger download within 24 hours, and lists Connections in the group available within 48 hours.
Download within 72 hours
Follow the link, download the zip and unzip it. LinkedIn keeps the archive available for 72 hours, so save the files somewhere you will find them again.
Open the connections file in Excel
Open Connections in Excel or Google Sheets, and check that the row with column names is the first row before you sort, filter or import anything.
Which archive to request: one file or the whole account
| Request | What LinkedIn sends | Timing LinkedIn publishes |
|---|---|---|
| Specific categories | Only the data types you tick, such as Connections | An email within minutes |
| Larger data archive | Connections, verifications, contacts, account history and information LinkedIn infers about you | An email within 24 hours |
| Data Access Request Form | Data outside the listed categories | May take several days for a response |
LinkedIn's dedicated article on exporting connections tells you to pick the larger archive. Its general download article lets you tick single categories instead. Both end with the same connections file, so take the narrow request when you only want the list, and the wide one when you are backing up an account.
How long the LinkedIn export takes
LinkedIn publishes two timings for the same download, and it saves frustration to know both before you start refreshing your inbox.
The download article says specific categories are emailed within minutes and the larger download within 24 hours. The category table in that same article places Connections in the group described as available within 48 hours. Plan in hours, not seconds, and do not submit the request twice.
| Stage | What LinkedIn states |
|---|---|
| Single categories | Emailed within minutes |
| Larger archive | Emailed within 24 hours |
| Connections category | Listed under data available within 48 hours |
| Download window | The data stays available to download for 72 hours |
| After account closure | You no longer have access to your LinkedIn account data |
If you are exporting because you plan to close your LinkedIn account, start days early rather than on the final afternoon. The archive has to arrive, and you have to download it, before the account goes.
What the LinkedIn data archive contains
The archive is a set of CSV files, one per data category, and you receive only the categories that apply to your account and activity. If you never listed a certification, there is no certifications file in the zip.
| File | What LinkedIn says it contains | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| Connections | First and last name, public profile URL, email address, company, position and connection date for 1st degree connections | The list everyone comes for |
| Contacts | Contacts imported on LinkedIn, including name, phone numbers and email addresses | Your own address book, not your connections' data |
| Invitations | Invitations sent and received, with names, URL, date sent and the message | Reading back what you actually wrote |
| Messages | Date sent or received, subject line, content and the member's public profile URL | Conversation history before a handover |
| Member Follows | Who you follow, with names and the follow or unfollow date | A light interest signal |
| Search Queries | The word or phrase and the date of searches you ran | Reconstructing how you worked |
Two limits matter more than the file list. LinkedIn states that it provides your own personal data and not that of other members, and that People You May Know and Who's Viewed Your Profile data are not included. Nothing richer is on offer through this route.
Which fields are included in the connections file
LinkedIn's description of the Connections category names the fields, and that list is the honest answer to the question of what you will actually get.
| Field | What it holds | How reliable it is |
|---|---|---|
| First name and last name | The name as the connection wrote it on their profile | Named by LinkedIn as part of the category |
| Public profile URL | The link to their profile | The most stable key in the file, and the one to match on |
| Email address | Their primary email on LinkedIn | Included only when the connection authorized it in their settings |
| Company | The company on their profile | Only as current as their profile is |
| Position | Their job title | Only as current as their profile is |
| Connection date | When the two of you connected | Named by LinkedIn as the connection date |
There is no phone number for your connections here. The separate Contacts file does hold phone numbers, but LinkedIn describes it as contacts imported on LinkedIn, which means your own address book. Keep the two files apart and never merge them without checking which is which.
Why email addresses are missing when you download LinkedIn connections
This is the surprise that sends most people looking for a plugin, and it is a setting rather than a fault.
LinkedIn Help says you will only see email addresses for connections who have allowed their connections to see or download their email address. The Connections category description repeats it: the address is included only when authorized by that connection in their privacy settings.
Two separate controls sit on each member's own account, and only one of them touches your export.
| Setting on their account | What it controls | Effect on your file |
|---|---|---|
| Email visibility | Who sees the address on the profile: only them, 1st degree, 1st and 2nd degree, or anyone on LinkedIn | Visibility on the profile, not the export |
| Who can see or download your email address | Whether connections may download the primary email in their own data export | Yes puts the address in your file, No leaves the cell blank |
A blank email cell is therefore a decision someone made about their own address. The right response is to work with it, not around it. Our page on how to find an email on LinkedIn covers the legitimate paths, and lead enrichment covers where business email data properly comes from.
Other pages quote a share of rows that come back with no email. LinkedIn publishes no such figure, so none is quoted here. Export your own file, count the blanks in the email column, and use that number instead.
Opening the CSV in Excel without breaking it
The files arrive as CSV inside a zip. Excel opens CSV directly, but a quick double click is also the fastest way to mangle names and lose a column, so use the import path whenever something looks wrong.
- Unzip first. Extract the archive to a real folder. Editing a file previewed from inside a zip is how people lose an afternoon of cleanup.
- Check the header row. Before sorting or filtering, confirm that the row holding the column names is the first row of the sheet, and remove anything sitting above it.
- Import as UTF-8 when names look wrong. In Excel use Data, then From Text or CSV, and choose UTF-8 encoding so accented names survive the trip.
- Expect some characters to fail anyway. LinkedIn states that the CSV and vCard formats do not support all characters, and that languages with extended character sets, such as Chinese, Japanese or Hebrew, are not supported.
- Keep the URL column. Names and companies change. The public profile URL is the value you will match on in six months.
- Save a working copy. Keep the original CSV untouched and do your cleanup in a copy, so you can always return to what LinkedIn actually sent.
What you cannot export, whatever a tool claims
- Anyone beyond 1st degree. LinkedIn Help says you currently cannot export a list of contacts who are not 1st-degree connections. If the degrees are new to you, see what 3rd means on LinkedIn.
- Other members' personal data. LinkedIn states it will only provide your own personal data, not that of other members.
- People You May Know. Named in LinkedIn Help as data that is not provided in the download.
- Who's Viewed Your Profile. Also named as data the download does not include.
- Phone numbers of connections. The Connections field list names no phone field at all.
- Anything, once the account is closed. LinkedIn says that after you close your account you no longer have access to your LinkedIn account data.
Exporting contacts from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and search results
Sales teams ask this next, because a saved lead list in Sales Navigator looks exactly like something that should export to a spreadsheet with one click. Sales Navigator Help answers it without ambiguity.
LinkedIn states that it currently does not offer the option to export account and lead information from Sales Navigator into a CSV or XLS file. For Advanced Plus customers it points to CRM Sync instead, which links leads and accounts between Sales Navigator and Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics or HubSpot.
So there is no supported step that turns a Sales Navigator search into a CSV of contacts. The extensions that promise one work by scraping search results through your own logged in account, which is the behavior the User Agreement names. Our LinkedIn Sales Navigator guide covers what the product is actually for.
The same answer covers ordinary LinkedIn search results and group member lists. There is no official export, and the contacts you can legitimately take with you remain the 1st degree connections in your own data archive.
Importing the contacts file into a CRM
On its own, a connections export makes a weak CRM import: names, one URL, a job title that may be two years old, and an email column with holes in it. Import it deliberately, as a record of relationships, not as a campaign list.
- Decide the object first. Most CRMs take a CSV into contacts. Keep the company as a text field for now, and create account records only for the companies you genuinely work.
- Map every column by hand instead of accepting the defaults, and give the public profile URL its own dedicated field rather than a notes box.
- Set the source. Tag each row with the origin and the export date, so nobody six months from now mistakes the file for an opted-in list.
- Deduplicate on the profile URL first, then on email where you have one. Names collide across a large database; profile URLs do not.
- Import twenty rows as a test, inspect the mapping in the CRM, then run the rest once you are satisfied.
- Write down what may be sent to these records and what may not. The legal section below is that decision, in the form of rules rather than instincts.
If the goal is a working list rather than a backup, our guide on how to make a prospect list and the B2B data entry explain where the rest of the fields should properly come from.
What you may legally do with the file
The export is yours, and the rows inside it are other people's personal data. Two sets of rules decide what happens next, and they stack rather than replace each other. What follows points at the primary texts and is not legal advice.
In the European Union and the EEA
Under the GDPR, when you hold personal data you did not obtain from the person, Article 14 requires you to tell them who you are, the purposes and legal basis of the processing, the categories of data, and the source it came from. Article 14(3)(b) sets the deadline at the first communication with them.
Article 21(2) gives every person the right to object at any time to processing for direct marketing, and Article 21(3) says the data must then no longer be processed for that purpose. Article 21(4) requires that right to be brought to their attention clearly and separately, at the latest at the first communication.
For the email itself, Article 13 of the ePrivacy Directive requires prior consent for direct marketing by electronic mail, with a narrow exception for a seller's own similar products sold to an existing customer. It also prohibits disguising the sender identity or omitting a valid address for stop requests.
In the United States
The FTC guide states that CAN-SPAM covers all commercial messages and makes no exception for business to business email. It requires accurate header information, a subject line that matches the message, a clear disclosure that the message is an advertisement, a valid physical postal address, and a working way to opt out.
Opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days, the opt-out mechanism must keep working for at least 30 days after you send, and the FTC says you may not sell or transfer the addresses of people who opted out. It puts the penalty at up to $53,088 for each separate email in violation.
The practical reading for a connections file: writing to one person you actually met, about something relevant to them, is a normal professional message. Loading the whole export into a sequence is a marketing campaign, and every rule above applies to it in full.
The portability API for EU, EEA and Switzerland members
LinkedIn also runs an API program that lets members located in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland access their LinkedIn data programmatically, and lets an approved application read a member's data once that member consents to it.
LinkedIn says eligibility follows the location on your profile, and that members outside those regions receive error messages if they try to apply or to consent. Everyone else uses the Settings download described above. This is the only automated route LinkedIn itself offers to members.
The mirror image: what your connections can download about you
Every person in your file made a choice about their email address. You made one too, most likely without noticing it.
- Email visibility. Under Settings, Visibility, Email visibility, the options are only visible to me, 1st-degree connections, 1st and 2nd-degree connections, or anyone on LinkedIn. By default the primary address is visible to your direct connections.
- Download in exports. A separate control, labeled who can see or download your email address, decides whether connections receive your primary email in their own data exports. Yes includes it, No leaves it out.
- Connection visibility. By default your 1st-degree connections can see and browse your connections list. A toggle under Visibility turns that off for everyone, and you cannot hide it selectively.
If you sell for a living, set these deliberately rather than by default. The wider footprint of a sales profile is covered in our guide to LinkedIn prospecting.
What the export is genuinely good for
A copy of the network you built, kept somewhere a restriction or a closed account cannot reach.
Filter by company or title before approaching an account, and start from a warm path instead of a cold one.
Comparing an old file with a new one shows which companies and titles moved, which is a reason to reach out.
A clean record of who you connected with and when, so the next person does not start from zero.
Notice what is missing from that list: a ready made send list. Warm relationships are worth more one message at a time. The sales outreach hub covers sequencing, and LinkedIn automation covers what the platform actually permits.
Turning exported contacts into a sales workflow
A CSV is raw material. What turns those contacts into pipeline is the order you handle them in, and the tools you already run, not another layer of software.
- Rank the contacts you genuinely know. Sort by connection date and company. A contact you worked with last year is a different lead from someone whose invitation you accepted and never spoke to.
- Put an owner on every row. Where two reps share a territory, decide who owns which contacts before anybody clicks send on anything.
- Fill the gaps with enrichment, not a scraper. Business email and phone data belong to lead enrichment tools that source them lawfully and can tell you where each value came from.
- Pick one outreach channel per contact. A LinkedIn message and a cold email on the same morning read as a campaign, which is exactly what a warm contact did not sign up for.
- Keep the sales tools in sync. The CRM holds the record; your outreach tools should read from it rather than from a stray CSV on somebody's laptop.
- Review the list each quarter. Contacts who never respond after two attempts belong in a dormant segment, not in the next sequence.
None of that needs a new purchase. It needs one CRM field for the source, one for the export date, and a written rule about who may contact whom.
Keeping the export useful over time
When the export does not work
| Symptom | Likely reason | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No option to get a copy of your data | You are in the mobile app | LinkedIn says the feature is not available on mobile; open a desktop browser |
| The email has not arrived | The archive is still being prepared | Single categories are quoted in minutes, the larger archive within 24 hours, and Connections sits in the 48 hour group |
| The download link no longer works | The window closed | LinkedIn keeps the download available for 72 hours; request the archive again |
| A file you expected is missing | That category does not apply to your account | LinkedIn only sends the categories relevant to your account and activity |
| Names appear as symbols | Encoding | Reimport as UTF-8, and accept that some character sets are not supported in CSV |
| You need data outside the categories | It is not part of the standard download | LinkedIn points to its Data Access Request Form and says a response may take several days |
| The email column is mostly empty | Your connections' privacy settings | Nothing to fix; that is the setting doing its job |
Common mistakes with a LinkedIn export
- Installing an extension that promises second and third degree rows, and losing the account instead.
- Treating the export as an opted-in mailing list because the names are familiar.
- Requesting the archive on the same day you planned to close the account.
- Letting the download link expire, then repeating the whole request a week later.
- Importing into a CRM without tagging the source or the date, so the rows age invisibly.
- Matching records on name rather than on the public profile URL.
- Quoting a fill rate for the email column that no primary source publishes.
- Assuming a two year old job title is still correct, and writing to the wrong role.
The message that makes an export worth having
The template below was written for this page. It is for one person from your file whose title changed since you connected, and it works because the detail is real and the exit is easy.
Subject: {{company}} and the {{topic}} question Hi {{firstName}}, We connected on LinkedIn in {{year}}, when you were at {{oldCompany}}. I was going through my connections this week and saw you are now {{title}} at {{company}}. I am not pitching anything today. I am curious how {{topic}} is handled on your side now, because {{reason}}. If it is a dead end, ignore this and nothing follows. {{yourName}}
Sent to the whole export at once. The file is a list of people you already met, and a mass send tells every one of them that you did not remember which.
Send it one at a time, and only where the old detail is real.
Frequently asked questions
How do I export contacts from LinkedIn to Excel?
Here is how to export contacts from LinkedIn to Excel: click the Me icon, select Settings & Privacy, click Data privacy, then Get a copy of your data. Select the larger data archive including connections and click Request archive. The connections CSV then opens in Excel.
Can I export only my connections and nothing else?
Yes. LinkedIn's download screen lets you pick specific categories instead of the larger archive, and Connections is one of them. LinkedIn says single categories are emailed within minutes, while the larger download is emailed within 24 hours.
How long does a LinkedIn export take?
LinkedIn Help says specific categories arrive by email within minutes and the larger download within 24 hours. Its category table lists Connections in the group available within 48 hours. Once the link arrives, the archive stays available to download for 72 hours.
What does the LinkedIn data archive contain?
A set of CSV files, one per category you requested, and only the categories that apply to your account. Common files include Connections, Contacts, Invitations, Messages, Member Follows and Search Queries. LinkedIn says it provides your own data, not other members' data.
Which fields are in the LinkedIn connections file?
LinkedIn describes the Connections category as the first and last name, public profile URL, email address, company, position and connection date for your 1st-degree connections. The email is included only when that connection authorized it in their privacy settings.
Why are email addresses missing when I download LinkedIn connections?
Because members choose whether connections may download their email. LinkedIn Help says you only see addresses for connections who allowed their connections to see or download the address. A blank cell means that person turned the setting off, and there is no official way around it.
Can I export 2nd and 3rd degree connections?
No. LinkedIn Help states that you currently cannot export a list of contacts who are not 1st-degree connections. Tools that promise those rows work by scraping, which the User Agreement forbids and which can get an account restricted.
Is the LinkedIn export available on the mobile app?
No. LinkedIn says the download feature is not currently available on mobile, so start the request in a desktop browser. LinkedIn also recommends downloading your data from a personal computer rather than a public one.
Can I export LinkedIn connections with phone numbers?
Not through this route. LinkedIn's Connections description names no phone field. The separate Contacts file holds phone numbers, but LinkedIn describes it as contacts you imported to LinkedIn, which is your own address book rather than data your connections gave you.
Can I export contacts from LinkedIn Sales Navigator to a CSV file?
No. Sales Navigator Help states that LinkedIn currently does not offer the option to export account and lead information into a CSV or XLS file. Advanced Plus customers can use CRM Sync with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics or HubSpot instead.
Can I email everyone in my LinkedIn export?
Not as a campaign without checking the rules. The FTC says CAN-SPAM covers all commercial email with no exception for business to business messages.
In the EU, the GDPR requires you to inform people and to honor objections to direct marketing, and the ePrivacy Directive requires prior consent for marketing email.
How do I import LinkedIn connections into a CRM?
Map the columns by hand rather than accepting defaults, store the public profile URL in its own field, tag every row with the source and export date, deduplicate on the URL, then test with a sample of rows before importing the rest.
Why do some names look wrong in the CSV?
Encoding. Reimport the file in Excel with UTF-8 selected. LinkedIn also states that the CSV and vCard formats do not support all characters, and that languages with extended character sets such as Chinese, Japanese or Hebrew are not supported.
Should I export my connections before closing my account?
Yes. LinkedIn says that once you close your account you no longer have access to your LinkedIn account data, so request and download the archive first. Allow more than a day, since the larger download is quoted at within 24 hours.
- LinkedIn Help, Export connections from LinkedIn, for the export steps, missing emails, character limits and the 1st-degree rule, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Download your account data, for the archive categories, the Connections field list and the timing windows, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Visibility of your email address, for the email visibility options and the download toggle, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Who can see your connections, for the default connection visibility setting, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- LinkedIn Help, Member portability APIs, for the EU, EEA and Switzerland API program, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- Sales Navigator Help, Export account and lead information from Sales Navigator, for the absence of a CSV export and the CRM Sync alternative, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- LinkedIn User Agreement, section 8 Dos and Don'ts, for scraping, automated contact downloads and redistribution, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business, for the United States rules on commercial email, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Articles 6, 14 and 21, for lawful basis, the duty to inform and the right to object, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- Directive 2002/58/EC (ePrivacy Directive), Article 13, for consent and sender identity in marketing email, checked Sep 23, 2026.
- Jeluvi entries this guide builds on: find email on LinkedIn, lead enrichment, LinkedIn prospecting, delete your LinkedIn account.
- The reconnect message, the CRM import order and the checklists were written for this page. No share of blank email rows is quoted, because LinkedIn publishes no such figure.