How do I export LinkedIn connections to excel?

Exporting your LinkedIn connections to Excel can be a great way to organize and manage your network. With all your connections in a spreadsheet, you can easily search, sort and filter your contacts to find the right people for sales leads or to expand your network.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process to export your LinkedIn connections and get them into an Excel file. We’ll also look at some tips for cleaning up the exported data and using it effectively.

Overview of exporting LinkedIn connections

LinkedIn provides a simple way to export your 1st-degree connections with just a few clicks. You can export up to 35,000 contacts every 6 hours.

Here’s an overview of the process:

• Go to your LinkedIn connections page
• Click the “Export connections” link
• LinkedIn will prompt you to enter your password
• Your browser will download a .CSV file containing your connections data
• Open the .CSV file in Excel (or Google Sheets or other spreadsheet software)
• The spreadsheet will contain profile info for each connection, like name, company, location, etc.
• Use Excel’s tools like filtering and sorting to organize and analyze your network

It only takes a minute to export your connections once you know where to find the export link. The trickiest part is getting the .CSV file into a format you can work with in Excel or Google Sheets.

In the steps below, we’ll go through the export process from start to finish.

Step 1: Go to your Connections page

The first step is simple – you just need to navigate to your Connections page in LinkedIn. Here’s how:

1. Log into your LinkedIn account in your browser.
2. At the top of your homepage, click “My Network” in the top nav bar.
3. This will open up your network dashboard. On the left side you’ll see a panel with different sections like Connections, Contacts, Groups, etc.
4. Click on “Connections” to go to your connections page.

Your connections page shows all of your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn. This is the list that you can export.

Step 2: Click the “Export connections” link

Once you’re on your main Connections page, you’ll notice a link towards the top right that says “Export connections”. Go ahead and click that link.

This will launch the connection export process.

Step 3: Enter your password

Since exporting your connections contains private information, LinkedIn wants to make sure it’s really you requesting the data.

When you click the export link, a popup will appear asking you to enter your LinkedIn password:

Go ahead and enter your account password and click “Confirm”.

Step 4: LinkedIn exports a .CSV file

After you confirm your password, LinkedIn will start assembling your connections data and prepare a .CSV file for download.

This usually only takes a few seconds. You’ll see a notification in your browser asking whether you want to open or save the .CSV file.

You’ll want to save the file to your computer. Just click the dropdown and choose “Save As”.

Step 5: Open the CSV file in Excel

Now you have the .CSV file exported from LinkedIn and saved on your computer. The last step is to open it in Excel.

Here’s how to import the .CSV into Excel:

1. Open Microsoft Excel on your computer.
2. Click “File” > “Open” in the top menu bar.
3. Browse to the .CSV file you exported and click “Open”.
4. This will launch the “Text Import Wizard” in Excel.
5. Make sure “Delimited” is selected and click “Next”.
6. Select “Comma” as the only delimiter and click “Next”.
7. In the next step, expand the “Column data format” section.
8. Choose “Text” as the column format and click “Finish”.

This will open the .CSV data in an Excel spreadsheet with each connection in a row and profile info in columns.

Now you’re ready to work with your exported connections!

Cleaning up the exported connections data

Once you get your spreadsheet imported, you may notice some cleanup is needed to make the data more usable.

Here are some tips for cleaning up your exported LinkedIn connections:

• Remove blank rows – Use Excel’s filtering to quickly delete empty rows.
• Split columns – Some columns like Company+Title need to be split into two columns.
• Fix capitalization – Names and companies are inconsistently capitalized, use proper case.
• Add columns – Include columns like Date Connected, Last Contacted, etc.
• Remove duplicates – Filter to find and delete any duplicate contacts.
• Categorize – Add a column with categories like industry, geography, role title, etc.

Putting in a little work to clean up the exported data will allow you to get much more value out of your LinkedIn contacts when managing them in Excel.

Analyzing your exported LinkedIn connections

Once your connections data is organized in Excel, here are some of the ways you can analyze and work with your network:

• Identify contacts by company, industry, or location using sorting and filtering.
• See your most connected titles like founders, directors, managers.
• Connect with the colleagues of your shared connections.
• Sort by Date Connected to prioritize your oldest contacts.
• Look for contacts you haven’t connected with recently.
• Use functions like COUNTIF to analyze data like industries.

Having your extended network in a spreadsheet gives you the flexibility to slice and dice your connections any way you need.

Exporting LinkedIn contacts

In addition to exporting your 1st-degree connections, you can also export your LinkedIn contacts:

• Contacts include your 1st-degree connections plus 2nd and 3rd-degree connections.
• But contacts can only be exported 500 at a time.
• Use the filters on the Contacts page to export subsets of contacts.
• Repeat the export process until you have your full network.
• Combine multiple exports into one master spreadsheet.

Exporting contacts takes more effort but provides insights into your extended network.

Important notes on exported connections data

Here are some important notes to keep in mind when working with your exported LinkedIn connections:

• Only export and use connections data for legitimate professional purposes.
• Don’t share the exported connections file with others.
• The data snapshot is only a point-in-time export.
• Some private profile fields will appear blank.
• You can export up to 35,000 of your connections once every 6 hours.
• Use Excel’s data tools to find insights – no manual sorting!

Follow these best practices to ensure you’re making the most of your exported connections while also respecting the privacy of your network.

Conclusion

Exporting your LinkedIn connections to Excel provides a simple way to manage and organize your professional network for sales prospecting, recruiting, research, and more.

Follow the step-by-step instructions to:

• Navigate to your LinkedIn Connections page
• Click the “Export connections” link
• Save the exported .CSV file
• Import into Excel using the Text Import Wizard
• Clean up and format the data
• Analyze using filtering, sorting, functions, and more!

With your exported contact data in Excel, you’ll gain unique insights into your connected network. Just remember to use the information professionally and responsibly.

Having your extended network in a spreadsheet gives you the flexibility to slice and dice your connections any way you need. You can identify contacts by company, industry, or location using sorting and filtering. See your most connected titles like founders, directors, managers. Connect with the colleagues of your shared connections. Sort by Date Connected to prioritize your oldest contacts. Look for contacts you haven’t connected with recently. Use functions like COUNTIF to analyze data like industries.

In addition to exporting your 1st-degree connections, you can also export your LinkedIn contacts:

– Contacts include your 1st-degree connections plus 2nd and 3rd-degree connections.
– But contacts can only be exported 500 at a time.
– Use the filters on the Contacts page to export subsets of contacts.
– Repeat the export process until you have your full network.
– Combine multiple exports into one master spreadsheet.

Exporting contacts takes more effort but provides insights into your extended network.

Here are some important notes to keep in mind when working with your exported LinkedIn connections:

– Only export and use connections data for legitimate professional purposes.
– Don’t share the exported connections file with others.
– The data snapshot is only a point-in-time export.
– Some private profile fields will appear blank.
– You can export up to 35,000 of your connections once every 6 hours.
– Use Excel’s data tools to find insights – no manual sorting!

Follow these best practices to ensure you’re making the most of your exported connections while also respecting the privacy of your network.