How do I export from LinkedIn to Excel?

LinkedIn is a great platform for building your professional network and managing your career. With over 750 million members worldwide, it’s likely that many of your professional contacts are already on LinkedIn.

One of the key benefits of LinkedIn is having access to a massive database of professional contacts. As your network grows, you may find it helpful to export your LinkedIn connections into a spreadsheet to better organize and manage your relationships.

Exporting your LinkedIn connections to Excel gives you the flexibility to sort, analyze, and track your network outside of LinkedIn. For example, you can add additional columns in Excel to track communication touchpoints, filter and segment your contacts by company or industry, and integrate your LinkedIn data into other systems.

In this article, I’ll walk through the step-by-step process for exporting your LinkedIn connections to Excel. I’ll also provide tips for getting the most out of your exported LinkedIn data in Excel.

How to Export LinkedIn Contacts to Excel

Exporting your LinkedIn contacts to Excel is a relatively simple process that only takes a few clicks once you know where to find the export option.

Here are the steps to export your LinkedIn connections:

1. Login to your LinkedIn account on the desktop site (exporting is not available in the mobile app).
2. Go to the “My Network” section under the “Network” tab at the top of the page.
3. On the left side you will see a panel titled “Manage my network.” Click on “Contacts” below your list of connections.
4. On the “Contacts” page, click on the “Export LinkedIn connections” button near the top right.
5. A popup will appear asking you to confirm exporting your connections. Click “Export.”
6. Your browser will automatically download an Excel (.xlsx) file containing your LinkedIn connections.

And that’s it! LinkedIn makes it simple to get your connections data into Excel in just a few clicks. Now let’s look at what’s included in the exported file and how to make the most of it.

What’s Included in the Exported Excel File

When you export your LinkedIn connections, the downloaded Excel file will contain the following columns:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Occupation
• Current Company
• School

The Excel file will have one row for every 1st degree connection in your network. The data comes directly from what’s displayed on each contact’s LinkedIn profile.

Some things to note:

• You must be connected to someone directly in order to export their data. Second and third degree connections will not be included.
• Not every column may be populated for every connection. The export includes whatever data the user has added to their profile.
• Customizing your LinkedIn profile columns in Contacts will not impact what data gets exported. It exports standard profile fields.

Overall, the exported Excel sheet provides a useful snapshot of your most important LinkedIn profile data that can be leveraged in many ways.

5 Ways to Use Exported LinkedIn Data in Excel

Here are 5 great ways to use your exported LinkedIn contacts file in Excel:

1. Create a Network Tracker

Add columns in Excel to track your latest communication touchpoints with each connection, upcoming follow-ups, and your overall relationship strength. Maintaining this outside of LinkedIn gives you more flexibility in tracking and segmenting your network.

2. Identify Gaps and Duplicates

Use Excel’s filtering and sorting to quickly identify gaps or whitespace in your network by company, industry, job function, etc. You can also use it to catch duplicate connections or contacts you may want to remove.

3. Segment for Outreach

Segment your network in Excel by criteria like current company, past company, school, occupation, etc. Then target batches of contacts for customized outreach campaigns based on those shared attributes.

4. Cross Reference with CRM

Upload contacts data into your CRM to identify overlaps between LinkedIn and existing contacts. You can uncover lots of hidden connections this way.

5. Save History and Track Changes

Export your LinkedIn contacts regularly (e.g. monthly, quarterly) to save a historical record and easily track growth trends over time.

Tips for Managing Exported LinkedIn Data

Here are some additional tips for getting the most mileage from your exported LinkedIn contacts file:

• Customize columns and formatting in Excel to fit your needs. Add dropdown lists, color coding, etc.
• Look into Excel add-ons that enrich contact data like Clearbit (company info) or ZoomInfo (contact info).
• Sort contacts by last outreach date and use filtering to create targeted outreach lists.
• Flag VIPs/decision makers for priority follow-up when doing outreach.
• Connect your CRM to Excel using APIs to automatically sync data.
• Use VLOOKUP() or other formulas to match LinkedIn contacts with other data sources.
• Export regularly to stay on top of your growing network.

Important Things to Keep in Mind

While exporting your LinkedIn data to Excel provides some great benefits, there are a few important caveats to keep in mind:

• The export only includes 1st degree connections, so you’re limited to people who you are directly connected with.
• Profile data may be incomplete or outdated depending on how well your connections keep it up to date.
• It’s against LinkedIn’s terms of service to scrape profile data or use exported data for spamming/cold outreach. Use responsibly!
• The export only captures a moment-in-time snapshot. Profile data can quickly go out of date.
• You’ll need to re-export regularly to capture new connections and updated info for existing ones.

Overall though, exporting to Excel provides a great way to leverage your LinkedIn network data outside of LinkedIn. Use it thoughtfully as a starting point for enhancing and tracking your professional relationships.

Conclusion

Exporting your LinkedIn connections to Excel is a handy way to bring your network data into a flexible spreadsheet environment for further enrichment, tracking, analysis, and integration with other tools.

With just a few clicks, you can download your 1st degree connections from LinkedIn and uncover ways to get more value from your network using Excel. So give it a try and see how it can complement your process of building and managing professional relationships.