To export your LinkedIn connections, go to Settings & Privacy, then Data privacy, then Get a copy of your data, tick Connections, and click Request archive. LinkedIn emails you a link to a zip containing Connections.csv, usually within about ten minutes.
Step by step
- Open your settings. Click your profile photo in the LinkedIn navigation bar and choose Settings & Privacy.
- Go to Data privacy. In the left sidebar, open Data privacy, then click "Get a copy of your data".
- Pick the connections export. Choose "Want something in particular?" and tick Connections. This is much faster than the full archive.
- Request and wait for the email. Click Request archive. The download link lands in your email, typically within ten minutes for connections only.
- Download and unzip. The zip contains Connections.csv, which opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or any CRM import tool.
What the export file contains
Connections.csv has one row per connection with these columns: First Name, Last Name, URL (their profile link), Email Address, Company, Position, and Connected On. Two practical warnings: the email column is mostly empty because each person decides whether their address is exportable, and the file only covers people who already accepted you.
Opening the CSV in Excel or Google Sheets
Connections.csv is a plain comma-separated file, so it opens directly in Excel, Numbers, or any spreadsheet app by double-clicking it. Two small snags catch people. In Excel, LinkedIn puts a couple of notice rows at the top of the file, so if the columns look shifted, delete the header rows above the real column names. And if accented names show up garbled, the fix is the encoding: in Excel use Data, then From Text/CSV, and pick UTF-8; in Google Sheets use File, then Import, then Upload, which detects UTF-8 automatically. After that the columns line up cleanly for a CRM import.
Connections versus contacts: two different exports
LinkedIn uses two words that sound the same and are not. Connections are your first-degree network, the people who accepted you, and that is what Connections.csv holds. Contacts are people you imported or synced from an address book, phone, or email account, whether or not you are connected to them. If you tick more than just Connections in the export picker, the full archive can include a separate Contacts.csv plus files for messages and invitations. For seeding a CRM with your actual network, the connections-only export is the one you want; the contacts file is only useful if you synced an address book into LinkedIn at some point.
What LinkedIn leaves out of the export
| Data | In the native export? |
|---|---|
| Current connections with name, company, position | Yes |
| Date each connection was made | Yes |
| Email addresses | Only when the contact allows it, so mostly no |
| Pending sent requests | Not in the connections export; the full archive lists them without status |
| Declined or expired requests | No, nowhere |
| Accept rate or any outreach history | No |
In other words, the export answers "who is in my network today?" but not "what happened to my outreach?". For a sales team this means the export is great for seeding a CRM with accepted connections, and useless for reporting: if a prospect declined last month, no LinkedIn export will ever show it, because LinkedIn deletes that information rather than storing it.
Frequently asked questions
Why are most email addresses missing from my LinkedIn export?
Because each connection controls whether their email is exportable. In their privacy settings, most people leave "Allow your connections to export your email" off, so LinkedIn omits the address. This is expected behavior, not a broken export.
How long does a LinkedIn data export take?
The connections-only export usually arrives by email within about ten minutes. The full archive, which includes messages, invitations, and profile data, can take up to 24 hours. Both come as a download link that works for roughly 72 hours.
Can I export my sent connection requests too?
Partially. The connections-only export does not include them, but the full LinkedIn archive contains an invitations file listing sent and received invitations from the last several years with names, dates, and any note you attached. It still contains no status: nothing in the file says whether a request was accepted, declined, or is still pending.
Is exporting my LinkedIn connections allowed?
Yes. Exporting your own data through the official Settings export is explicitly supported by LinkedIn and required of them by data-portability law in many jurisdictions. What LinkedIn prohibits is scraping other people's profiles at scale with automated tools, which is a different activity entirely.
How often should I export my connections?
The export is a snapshot that goes stale immediately, so it depends on how you use it. For a one-time backup, once is fine. For keeping a CRM current, a monthly export and re-import is a common rhythm. For tracking outreach status, snapshots are the wrong tool because they never contain statuses.
How do I download my LinkedIn contacts?
Use the same official export: Settings and Privacy, then Data privacy, then Get a copy of your data. Tick Connections to download your network as Connections.csv. If you once synced an address book or email account into LinkedIn, ticking the full archive also produces a separate Contacts.csv of those imported people. Both arrive as a download link by email.
How do I extract contacts from LinkedIn to Excel?
The safe, allowed way is the native export, which gives you a Connections.csv that opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets. Avoid browser "extractor" tools that scrape profiles in bulk: that is the automated activity LinkedIn prohibits, and the fastest way to get your account restricted. Exporting your own data is fine; scraping other people's is not.