Deleting a LinkedIn account is a relatively straightforward process, but there are some things to consider before taking this step. LinkedIn has become the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 700 million users worldwide. For many professionals, a LinkedIn profile is an important part of their online presence and personal branding. However, there are times when deleting your LinkedIn account makes sense, such as if you are leaving the workforce, want to start fresh, or have privacy concerns. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through everything you need to know about deleting your LinkedIn account, including how to download your data, the implications of account deletion, and step-by-step instructions for permanent account removal.
Why Would You Want to Delete Your LinkedIn Account?
Here are some of the most common reasons people choose to delete their LinkedIn account:
Leaving the workforce
If you are retiring or taking a long break from your career, maintaining a LinkedIn profile may no longer serve a purpose for you. Deleting the account can help separate your professional life from your personal life.
Looking for a fresh start
Some professionals decide to delete their LinkedIn profile and start over with a clean slate. This allows them to remove old connections, delete their activity history, and revamp their personal brand.
Privacy concerns
LinkedIn requires sharing a significant amount of personal and professional information. Some users feel uncomfortable having so many details publicly available and prefer to delete their account.
Too many notifications and disruptions
For those who find LinkedIn to be more distracting than useful, deleting their account can help reduce social media noise. The constant notifications and emails from LinkedIn can become overwhelming.
Duplicate or old accounts
If you have multiple LinkedIn accounts or have an old account from many years ago, it can be prudent to delete the extra profiles. Maintaining one primary account reduces confusion.
Disagree with LinkedIn’s practices
Some individuals object to LinkedIn’s privacy policies, terms of service, or advertising/data practices. Deleting an account is one way to protest the platform’s rules and operations.
Pros of Deleting Your LinkedIn Account
While removing your LinkedIn presence has drawbacks, there are also advantages that come with account deletion:
Increased privacy
Without a LinkedIn account, your professional profile and activity are no longer publicly accessible online. This can provide peace of mind.
Avoid distraction
Many people report feeling more focused and productive after deleting social media accounts. Shutting down your LinkedIn eliminates the temptation to scroll endlessly.
Reduce digital clutter
Cutting back on unused online accounts streamlines your digital presence. Fewer accounts means less clutter and maintenance.
Break your social media addiction
For some, deleting social accounts, including LinkedIn, can be an important reset that helps them spend less time on social media overall.
Show your objection
Deleting your account sends a message to LinkedIn that you do not approve of their policies or behaviors.
Cons of Deleting Your LinkedIn Account
However, it is also important to recognize the potential downsides of removing your LinkedIn presence:
Lose connections
Your network of professional contacts is erased when your account disappears. Rebuilding this later takes significant time and effort.
Damage personal brand
Having no LinkedIn presence can negatively impact your professional reputation and personal brand, especially in certain fields.
Lose access to job opportunities
Many companies and recruiters use LinkedIn to search for talent. Deleting your account removes your visibility and access.
Miss out on industry news
The loss of your news feed means no longer getting personalized industry and career updates through your LinkedIn network.
Disappear from search results
Any mentions, recommendations, or other references to your LinkedIn profile will disappear from Google and other search engines.
How to Download Your LinkedIn Data
Before deleting your LinkedIn account, it is highly recommended you download a copy of your account data. This preserves your connections, profile details, messages, and other important information. Here is how to download your LinkedIn data:
- Go to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Under “Data privacy,” select Get a copy of your data
- Choose which data types you want to download (your entire account history is recommended)
- Enter your account password to confirm your identity
- LinkedIn will prepare an archive of your data
- You will receive an email when your download is ready (within 24-48 hours typically)
- Download your data archive and save multiple copies in safe places
Having backups of your LinkedIn data means you still have access to your connections, content, and profile details even if you decide to delete your account.
How to Temporarily Deactivate Your LinkedIn Account
Before committing to permanent deletion, you may want to temporarily deactivate your LinkedIn account. Deactivating your account hides your profile and removes you from search results, but leaves open the option to reactivate your account later if desired:
- Go to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Under “Account management” select “Deactivate your account”
- Follow the on-screen prompts to confirm deactivation
- To later reactivate your account, simply log in with your username and password
Deactivating first can give you a trial separation from LinkedIn without fully closing the door on your account. All your data and connections will remain intact in case you change your mind.
How to Permanently Delete Your LinkedIn Account
If you are fully decided on removing your LinkedIn presence for good, here are the steps to permanently delete your account:
- Go to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Under “Account management” select “Close your account”
- Follow the prompts to confirm your decision to permanently delete your account
- Click “Continue” to start the account closure process
- Select your reason for leaving LinkedIn from the dropdown menu
- Re-enter your account password to confirm your identity
- Solve the displayed captcha security challenge
- Click “Close Account”
Once you complete this process, your LinkedIn account will be scheduled for permanent deletion. LinkedIn states it may take up to 24 hours for your profile and data to be removed from their system. However, some user data may be retained in backups or aggregated statistics.
What Happens When You Delete Your LinkedIn Account?
Here is what you can expect once your LinkedIn account is deleted:
Your profile is removed
Your profile, connections, posts, recommendations, and all other data will no longer be accessible. Your profile will not appear in search results.
You lose connections
Your network of LinkedIn contacts will be erased. You have to start over building connections if you return.
Conversations are deleted
All LinkedIn Messages and conversations threads will be removed from your account and any contacts.
Activity history goes away
The history of your engagement on LinkedIn, including content you read, posts you liked, and groups you joined, disappears.
Credentials disappear
Any credentials like Certifications and Volunteer Experiences you added to your LinkedIn profile will be gone.
Skills are removed
The skills you added to your profile both on your own and those endorsed by your connections will no longer appear.
Content you shared is deleted
Any articles, updates, images, or other content you shared via your LinkedIn account will be erased.
Recommendations are removed
The recommendations colleagues wrote for you on LinkedIn will disappear, along with any recommendations you wrote for others.
Job seeking tools are deactivated
You will no longer have access to job postings, LinkedIn Salary tools, and other career-building tools.
Visitors may see errors
People visiting your old profile URL may see generic “page not found” errors until the link is fully removed.
Third-party apps lose access
Any third-party tools or apps you connected to your LinkedIn will have that access revoked when it is deleted.
Some data may remain
While most account data is removed, some usage analytics or backups may still retain fragments of information.
Overall, when you delete your LinkedIn account, almost all traces of your presence and activity will eventually be erased from the platform. It is a significant restart erasing your past identity and connections.
Alternatives to Deleting Your LinkedIn Account
Rather than a full account deletion, you may want to consider these alternative options:
Temporarily deactivate your account
As mentioned earlier, you can hide your profile and pause your account while keeping the option to later reactive it.
Increase your privacy settings
LinkedIn provides many options to limit the visibility of your profile and activity history. Tightening up your privacy can reduce exposure.
Remove connections
You can remove unwanted connections without fully deleting your account. This prunes your network contacts.
Delete all activity history
Under privacy settings, you can erase your entire LinkedIn activity history while keeping your profile.
Export your data
Even without deleting your account, you can download a copy of your LinkedIn data for reference later if you close it.
Create a new minimal profile
Make a fresh profile with new username and limited info and gradually transition activity to it.
Evaluating these intermediate options gives you more flexibility between a fully public profile and complete account removal.
Can You Recover a Deleted LinkedIn Account?
If you regret deleting your LinkedIn account, is it possible to recover it? Unfortunately, LinkedIn does not allow previously deleted accounts to be restored. Account deletion is designed to be permanent and irreversible even for the user who deleted it. Some steps you can take if you change your mind after account deletion:
- If it’s within 24 hours, contact LinkedIn support immediately – there is a small chance they can intercept the deletion process
- Reactivate the account if you had temporarily deactivated it first before permanent deletion
- Create a new LinkedIn account and slowly build connections/activity again from scratch
- Use your previously downloaded account data archive to recreate parts of your old profile and connections
- Contact your network connections asking them to send you their contact info again or reconnect
While recovering a deleted LinkedIn account is very challenging, all may not be lost if you act quickly and have backups of your data. But there is no guarantee a deletion can be reversed by LinkedIn itself.
Best Practices When Deleting Your LinkedIn
To make sure account deletion goes smoothly and safely, keep these tips in mind:
- Download your data archive first before deleting for backups
- Delete your account directly through account settings, do not just delete the app
- Log out of LinkedIn on all devices before deletion to terminate sessions
- If possible, let close connections know you plan to delete your account
- Consider doing a temporary deactivation first to test separation from the platform
- Double check your identity and decision before completing permanent account deletion
- Be aware there is NO going back after finishing the account removal process
- Accept that complete removal may take up to 48 hours due to backups
Planning ahead helps avoid issues and gives you important data backups in case you later regret the decision to delete your LinkedIn. Even if deleting your account, you can maintain professional connections offline.
FAQs About Deleting LinkedIn
Some frequent questions people have about removing their LinkedIn account include:
Does deleting LinkedIn delete your email contacts?
No, your email contacts and address book are separate systems and remain unchanged when your LinkedIn account is deleted.
Can you tell if someone deleted their LinkedIn?
Yes, trying to visit a deleted account’s profile results in a page not found error. Searching for the person will show no LinkedIn profile.
What happens to my LinkedIn URL if I delete my account?
Your custom LinkedIn profile URL (linkedin.com/in/username) will become inaccessible and show a “page not found” error after deletion.
Is there a way to temporarily hide my LinkedIn profile?
Yes, you can temporarily deactivate your account, which hides your profile until you reactive it again.
Can I download my LinkedIn data without deleting my account?
Yes, all users can download an archive of their account data while keeping their profile intact under account settings.
What should I do if I want to open a new LinkedIn account later?
If you think you may return to LinkedIn after deletion, first download your data archive as it can help rebuild your new profile.
Conclusion
In closing, deleting your LinkedIn account ends your relationship with the world’s largest online professional networking platform. While closing your account provides increased privacy and reduces social media noise, it also cuts off your access to networking and career opportunities. Evaluate both the benefits and costs before making your decision. If moving forward with account removal, be sure to first download backups of your account data wherever possible. While deletions are designed to be permanent, some user data may continue to reside in LinkedIn’s systems. With hundreds of millions of users, LinkedIn has become a key social platform – so remove your presence carefully and strategically if required for your situation, but don’t take the decision lightly.
