LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 660 million users worldwide. As a social media platform focused on career and business connections, LinkedIn allows users to connect with other professionals in their industry or location. One of LinkedIn’s most useful features is the ability to view your connections and their information. But can you download a list of all your LinkedIn connections?
Downloading Your LinkedIn Connections
The short answer is yes, it is possible to download a list of your LinkedIn connections. However, LinkedIn does not provide an automated tool or one-click option to download your entire connections list. Instead, you need to use some workarounds and manual exporting to get a list of your connections off of LinkedIn.
There are a few different ways to approach downloading your LinkedIn connections list:
- Use the LinkedIn Connections Exporter Chrome extension
- Export connections manually from the LinkedIn website
- Use a third-party tool or app to extract your connections
Let’s look at each of these options in more detail.
1. LinkedIn Connections Exporter
One of the easiest ways to download your LinkedIn connections is to use a Google Chrome extension called LinkedIn Connections Exporter. This handy extension will automatically export your LinkedIn connections to a CSV file.
To use the LinkedIn Connections Exporter extension, first install it from the Chrome Web Store. Then when you are logged in to LinkedIn, click on the extensions icon in Chrome and choose “Export LinkedIn Connections”. The extension will extract your connections and prompt you to download a CSV file containing the connection data.
The exported CSV file will contain columns with information like profile name, headline, company, location, and more for each of your connections.
2. Manual Export from LinkedIn
If you don’t want to use a third-party extension, LinkedIn does provide an option to manually export your connections right from their website. Here are the steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn connections page
- Scroll down and click “See all”
- On this page, click the button “Add Connections to a list”
- Select all connections on the current page
- Click “Add to: New list”
- Give the list a name like “My Connections”
- Repeat the process for any additional pages of connections
- Once all are added, view your created list under “Lists” on your profile
- Click the “Export list” button to download the list as a CSV file
While a bit more time consuming than using the exporter extension, this gives you full control to export your connections directly from LinkedIn. You can then save the CSV file for your records.
3. Third-Party Tools
There are also dedicated third-party tools and apps that provide the ability to export your LinkedIn connections and their data. Some examples include:
- LeadsBridge – browser extension to export LinkedIn connections
- LinkedIn Exporter – desktop app to extract LinkedIn data
- LinkedHelper – web-based LinkedIn analytics and exporter
- Dux-Soup – web scraper tool to extract LinkedIn profile info
These tools work similarly to the LinkedIn Connections Exporter extension, automatically interacting with the LinkedIn API and your account data to extract your connections list. The advantage they provide is letting you export additional profile fields beyond just name and company.
What Data Can You Export from LinkedIn?
When you download your LinkedIn connections, what specific data will you get? The exported data may vary slightly depending on the exact tool or method used, but here are some of the key data fields that can be extracted for each connection:
Data Field | Description |
---|---|
Full Name | First and last name of the connection |
Headline | The connection’s current job title or headline |
Company | Name of the company the connection works for |
Location | City and country location listed on profile |
Industry | Industry the connection works in |
Profile URL | URL link to the connection’s public LinkedIn profile |
Profile Photo | URL link to the connection’s profile photo |
Last Updated | Date the connection last updated their LinkedIn profile |
In addition to these fields, you may also be able to export data like profile summary, education history, skills, interests, and more depending on the tool used.
What Can You Use a LinkedIn Connections Export For?
So what can you actually do with a list of your LinkedIn connections? Here are some potential uses:
Maintain a Backup of Connections
Downloading a list of your connections serves as a handy backup if anything ever happens to your LinkedIn account. You’ll have a separate record of your network.
Connect Outside of LinkedIn
You may want to connect with LinkedIn contacts outside of LinkedIn directly via email or phone. The exported list gives you this contact data.
Segment Your Network
Analyze your connections list to categorize connections by location, industry, company, or other attributes. See who you want to target.
Identify Influencers
Review connections’ positions and companies to identify influential contacts who are worth reaching out to.
Cross-Reference with CRM
Sync your LinkedIn connections with your CRM or other database to cross-reference known contacts.
Feed into Other Tools
Use connections data as input for other tools like sales prospecting software or recruiting platforms.
Keep History of Connections
Download and save your connections list periodically to keep a record of how your network grows over time.
Limitations of Downloading LinkedIn Connections
While downloading your list of LinkedIn connections can be useful, there are some limitations to be aware of:
- Manual process – there is no one-click download option within LinkedIn itself.
- No messaging history – you won’t get any message threads between you and your connections.
- Only standard fields – advanced profile fields may not get exported.
- May violate ToS – downloading data via unofficial tools could violate LinkedIn’s terms.
- Data may be outdated – connections may change jobs and not update their LinkedIn profile.
- No contact email/phone – direct contact info is not exported.
Given these drawbacks, you’ll want to use any downloaded connections list thoughtfully and combine it with other sources of information and outreach to get the most value.
Conclusion
Downloading and exporting your LinkedIn connections is possible using extensions, manual exports, or third-party tools. This gives you a database of your network outside of LinkedIn that can serve as a useful backup and input for other applications. However, there are limitations to the data you can extract. While not a complete solution, exporting your LinkedIn connections can provide additional visibility into your most important professional relationships.