How To Import Contacts From LinkedIn

How To Import Contacts From LinkedIn UPDATED 12/13/2018 One of the frequently asked questions we get at JibberJobber is how to import contacts from Outlook and LinkedIn (and Gmail). In this post Im going to focus on just LinkedIn. However, the  three steps are pretty much the same for any system that exports to a .csv file. (you can even create your own .csv file and just skip to Step THREE). INSTRUCTIONS Step ONE: Export LinkedIn Contacts to a CSV file (NEW WAY)1.  Login to LinkedIn, click  My Network from the top menu: 2.  On the  left, click the  number of your contacts, which takes you to your contact list. 3.    On the right, click this elusive link: Manage synced and imported contacts: 4. On the right, click on the export contacts link: 5. In the next dialog, click on Imported Contacts and Connections, and then follow the steps to export those. You can also click on Me (your account dropdown on the top menu), Settings and Privacy, then scroll down to Download your data. That takes you to step 5. NOTE:  It looks like Mac users on Safari have one extra step.   It looks like the download is appending a .txt at the end of the file this makes it NOT open up the right way. all you have to do is delete the .txt from the filename, and it should import fine.   (added 10/21/2014) Thats it it is really that easy to export your contacts from LinkedIn!  The hardest part of this is knowing where your file was saved to but you should know how to find it. OPTIONAL Step TWO: Clean and prepare the file (this is all in Excel, not in LinkedIn or JibberJobber) Open the csv file in Excel. I delete all of the columns with blank data.  The last time I checked there are FIFTY FIVE(!) columns that had a header but no data delete all of these empty columns. I go through the first and last names and clean them up.  I take out things like middle initial, acronyms, email addresses (from the name fields), etc.  I simply want a first and last name.  This is the most time-consuming part of the process. Sometimes I add a few other fields, including: Tags (LinkedIn allows you to tag contacts, but they dont export them) Notes (they have a Notes column, but no data in it) Source (I always put LI_Import as the source, for every single record, to know where that record came from) Ranking (the values would be numeric, from 1 5) and anything else you want to import Now you have a clean file so no garbage in, garbage out! Step THREE: Import into JibberJobber Note: Importing into JibberJobber is a premium feature.  You can upgrade here. 1. As a premium user, mouse over Contacts and click on Import/Export.  (if you only have Export, you dont have a Premium account) 2. The default option you see on the Import page is to import contacts.  Click Choose File and browse to (and select/save or open)your CSV file. 3. The drop down says CSV file leave that alone.  The two checkboxes (Has Header and Advanced Import) should be checked leave them checked.  The Advanced Import allows you to see your data before you import it, and ensure you are mapping the fields correctly.  Really, you dont need to do anything on this step 4. Look at the rows and columns.  Anything that is WHITE will import.  If a row is colored yellow(ish), we think it is a duplicate, and we wont import it.  (you can override this by clicking the checkbox to the left of that record, and well import it).  If a column is colored, it is NOT MAPPED and we wont import it.  You can click the drop down on that column and choose a field to import it into (aka, map it to the right field). In this image you can see that we think the first record is already in the system, so we are not going to import it.  It is yellow(ish).  Hard to see, but on the left the checkbox is also unchecked. All of the columns are mapped, which we can tell because they are not colored yellow(ish). 5. Scroll down to the bottom and click the import button.  After the import you will get a confirmation message right under the main menu with the number of records imported. Once you get this down it can be very quick (Step TWO takes the longest but it is optional) Right now we try to not import duplicates. In the future we plan on merging duplicate records (in case there are title changes, etc.). Feedback?  Questions?  If you need technical help, use the Contact form and well get back to as soon as we can. How To Import Contacts From LinkedIn UPDATED 12/13/2018 One of the frequently asked questions we get at JibberJobber is how to import contacts from Outlook and LinkedIn (and Gmail). In this post Im going to focus on just LinkedIn. However, the  three steps are pretty much the same for any system that exports to a .csv file. (you can even create your own .csv file and just skip to Step THREE). INSTRUCTIONS Step ONE: Export LinkedIn Contacts to a CSV file (NEW WAY)1.  Login to LinkedIn, click  My Network from the top menu: 2.  On the  left, click the  number of your contacts, which takes you to your contact list. 3.    On the right, click this elusive link: Manage synced and imported contacts: 4. On the right, click on the export contacts link: 5. In the next dialog, click on Imported Contacts and Connections, and then follow the steps to export those. You can also click on Me (your account dropdown on the top menu), Settings and Privacy, then scroll down to Download your data. That takes you to step 5. NOTE:  It looks like Mac users on Safari have one extra step.   It looks like the download is appending a .txt at the end of the file this makes it NOT open up the right way. all you have to do is delete the .txt from the filename, and it should import fine.   (added 10/21/2014) Thats it it is really that easy to export your contacts from LinkedIn!  The hardest part of this is knowing where your file was saved to but you should know how to find it. OPTIONAL Step TWO: Clean and prepare the file (this is all in Excel, not in LinkedIn or JibberJobber) Open the csv file in Excel. I delete all of the columns with blank data.  The last time I checked there are FIFTY FIVE(!) columns that had a header but no data delete all of these empty columns. I go through the first and last names and clean them up.  I take out things like middle initial, acronyms, email addresses (from the name fields), etc.  I simply want a first and last name.  This is the most time-consuming part of the process. Sometimes I add a few other fields, including: Tags (LinkedIn allows you to tag contacts, but they dont export them) Notes (they have a Notes column, but no data in it) Source (I always put LI_Import as the source, for every single record, to know where that record came from) Ranking (the values would be numeric, from 1 5) and anything else you want to import Now you have a clean file so no garbage in, garbage out! Step THREE: Import into JibberJobber Note: Importing into JibberJobber is a premium feature.  You can upgrade here. 1. As a premium user, mouse over Contacts and click on Import/Export.  (if you only have Export, you dont have a Premium account) 2. The default option you see on the Import page is to import contacts.  Click Choose File and browse to (and select/save or open)your CSV file. 3. The drop down says CSV file leave that alone.  The two checkboxes (Has Header and Advanced Import) should be checked leave them checked.  The Advanced Import allows you to see your data before you import it, and ensure you are mapping the fields correctly.  Really, you dont need to do anything on this step 4. Look at the rows and columns.  Anything that is WHITE will import.  If a row is colored yellow(ish), we think it is a duplicate, and we wont import it.  (you can override this by clicking the checkbox to the left of that record, and well import it).  If a column is colored, it is NOT MAPPED and we wont import it.  You can click the drop down on that column and choose a field to import it into (aka, map it to the right field). In this image you can see that we think the first record is already in the system, so we are not going to import it.  It is yellow(ish).  Hard to see, but on the left the checkbox is also unchecked. All of the columns are mapped, which we can tell because they are not colored yellow(ish). 5. Scroll down to the bottom and click the import button.  After the import you will get a confirmation message right under the main menu with the number of records imported. Once you get this down it can be very quick (Step TWO takes the longest but it is optional) Right now we try to not import duplicates. In the future we plan on merging duplicate records (in case there are title changes, etc.). Feedback?  Questions?  If you need technical help, use the Contact form and well get back to as soon as we can. How To Import Contacts From LinkedIn UPDATED 12/13/2018 One of the frequently asked questions we get at JibberJobber is how to import contacts from Outlook and LinkedIn (and Gmail). In this post Im going to focus on just LinkedIn. However, the  three steps are pretty much the same for any system that exports to a .csv file. (you can even create your own .csv file and just skip to Step THREE). INSTRUCTIONS Step ONE: Export LinkedIn Contacts to a CSV file (NEW WAY)1.  Login to LinkedIn, click  My Network from the top menu: 2.  On the  left, click the  number of your contacts, which takes you to your contact list. 3.    On the right, click this elusive link: Manage synced and imported contacts: 4. On the right, click on the export contacts link: 5. In the next dialog, click on Imported Contacts and Connections, and then follow the steps to export those. You can also click on Me (your account dropdown on the top menu), Settings and Privacy, then scroll down to Download your data. That takes you to step 5. NOTE:  It looks like Mac users on Safari have one extra step.   It looks like the download is appending a .txt at the end of the file this makes it NOT open up the right way. all you have to do is delete the .txt from the filename, and it should import fine.   (added 10/21/2014) Thats it it is really that easy to export your contacts from LinkedIn!  The hardest part of this is knowing where your file was saved to but you should know how to find it. OPTIONAL Step TWO: Clean and prepare the file (this is all in Excel, not in LinkedIn or JibberJobber) Open the csv file in Excel. I delete all of the columns with blank data.  The last time I checked there are FIFTY FIVE(!) columns that had a header but no data delete all of these empty columns. I go through the first and last names and clean them up.  I take out things like middle initial, acronyms, email addresses (from the name fields), etc.  I simply want a first and last name.  This is the most time-consuming part of the process. Sometimes I add a few other fields, including: Tags (LinkedIn allows you to tag contacts, but they dont export them) Notes (they have a Notes column, but no data in it) Source (I always put LI_Import as the source, for every single record, to know where that record came from) Ranking (the values would be numeric, from 1 5) and anything else you want to import Now you have a clean file so no garbage in, garbage out! Step THREE: Import into JibberJobber Note: Importing into JibberJobber is a premium feature.  You can upgrade here. 1. As a premium user, mouse over Contacts and click on Import/Export.  (if you only have Export, you dont have a Premium account) 2. The default option you see on the Import page is to import contacts.  Click Choose File and browse to (and select/save or open)your CSV file. 3. The drop down says CSV file leave that alone.  The two checkboxes (Has Header and Advanced Import) should be checked leave them checked.  The Advanced Import allows you to see your data before you import it, and ensure you are mapping the fields correctly.  Really, you dont need to do anything on this step 4. Look at the rows and columns.  Anything that is WHITE will import.  If a row is colored yellow(ish), we think it is a duplicate, and we wont import it.  (you can override this by clicking the checkbox to the left of that record, and well import it).  If a column is colored, it is NOT MAPPED and we wont import it.  You can click the drop down on that column and choose a field to import it into (aka, map it to the right field). In this image you can see that we think the first record is already in the system, so we are not going to import it.  It is yellow(ish).  Hard to see, but on the left the checkbox is also unchecked. All of the columns are mapped, which we can tell because they are not colored yellow(ish). 5. Scroll down to the bottom and click the import button.  After the import you will get a confirmation message right under the main menu with the number of records imported. Once you get this down it can be very quick (Step TWO takes the longest but it is optional) Right now we try to not import duplicates. In the future we plan on merging duplicate records (in case there are title changes, etc.). Feedback?  Questions?  If you need technical help, use the Contact form and well get back to as soon as we can.