LinkedIn InMail messages do not automatically go to a recipient’s email inbox. InMail is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allows paid account holders to directly contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if they are not connected. InMail messages stay within LinkedIn and require the recipient to log in to LinkedIn to view and respond to them.
What is LinkedIn InMail?
LinkedIn InMail is a messaging feature available to LinkedIn Premium account holders that allows them to directly contact any LinkedIn member, regardless of whether they are connected or not. With a regular LinkedIn account, you can only message people who are in your network.
InMail provides a way to reach out to connections, prospects, and people outside your existing LinkedIn network. It can be useful for sales prospecting, recruiting, and making important professional contacts.
Some key features of InMail include:
- Ability to message anyone on LinkedIn
- Messages go to the LinkedIn inbox, not email
- Higher response rates than regular email outreach
- Limits on the number of messages that can be sent per month
Do InMails Go to Email?
No, LinkedIn InMail messages do not get delivered to someone’s email inbox automatically. InMail stays within the LinkedIn platform.
When you send an InMail, the recipient will receive a notification on LinkedIn that they have a new message. They can view and respond to the InMail only after logging into their LinkedIn account.
This keeps the communication within the LinkedIn ecosystem. The recipient does not have to share their external email address in order to respond.
Why Doesn’t InMail Go to Email?
There are a few key reasons why LinkedIn designed InMail to stay within their platform rather than sending messages to external email:
- Privacy – Recipients don’t have to share their private email address to get an InMail
- Relevance – InMail is intended for professional networking and communication
- Engagement – Requires recipient to visit LinkedIn to view message
- Control – Gives LinkedIn more control over messaging limits and abuse
Overall, routing InMails directly to a user’s email could violate privacy, clutter inboxes, and detract from the purpose of InMail for professional networking through LinkedIn.
Are There Any Ways to Forward InMail to Email?
There is no official way to automatically forward LinkedIn InMails to your email inbox. LinkedIn wants to keep the communication within their platform.
However, there are a couple of unofficial workarounds:
- You can manually forward InMails by copying and pasting the content into an email.
- Some email productivity tools like Mixmax and Yesware provide features to sync LinkedIn InMail conversations into your email.
But there is no setting within LinkedIn itself that will push InMail messages directly to your email. The only native options are to receive InMail notifications and respond within the LinkedIn platform.
Do All LinkedIn Accounts Get InMail?
No, you need a Premium LinkedIn account in order to send and receive InMail messages. Here’s a quick overview of who can use InMail:
- Free accounts – Can receive but not send InMail
- Premium Career accounts – Can send up to 30 InMails per month
- Premium Business accounts – Can send up to 150 InMails per month
- Sales Navigator accounts – Number of InMails depends on specific plan
So if you want to contact people outside your network via InMail, you need to upgrade to a paid Premium account. Free members can only respond to received InMails.
What Happens if You Reply to InMail?
When you reply to a received InMail message, your response will go back within the LinkedIn messaging system. The sender will get a notification that you responded.
Your reply will not go to the sender’s email address automatically. Just like the original InMail, the reply will be accessible only when the sender logs into their LinkedIn account.
All follow-up messages will continue as InMail conversations within LinkedIn. This allows you to communicate without having to exchange email addresses.
Can You Export LinkedIn InMails?
There is no built-in way to export the content of LinkedIn InMail messages to an external file or email account. However, there are a few manual workarounds:
- Copy and paste InMail text into a document or email draft to export it.
- Use a third-party email integration tool like Mixmax to sync InMail content to email.
- Use LinkedIn’s data export tool to request an archive of your account data and messages.
So you can manually export InMails one at a time or request your full account data from LinkedIn. But there is no batch export option or integration to automatically forward InMails outside of LinkedIn.
Limits of LinkedIn InMail
While InMail provides a way to directly contact people outside your network, there are some limitations to be aware of:
- Paid Premium account required to send InMails
- Sending limits per month (30 for Premium Career, 150 for Premium Business)
- Recipients may ignore messages from someone not in their network
- No option to automatically forward to external email
InMail can be a useful outreach tool but works best when used strategically and combined with building real LinkedIn connections.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn InMail allows paid users to message anyone but stays within LinkedIn, not email.
- Recipients must log into LinkedIn to view and reply to InMails.
- Replying to InMail keeps the conversation within the LinkedIn platform.
- There is no native LinkedIn option to auto-forward InMails to external email.
- InMail is useful but has limits, so combine it with networking and quality content.
