Linkedin Connections Download: No More Email

LinkedIn Data Download: Email Address is Missing

It’s happened to you. You accepted a LinkedIn invite and suddenly you find yourself on that person’s email newsletter. The email appears in your inbox and you think, “Wait, I didn’t opt in! Why are they emailing me?”

It was an easy thing to do and super tempting. Log into LinkedIn, navigate to the privacy settings and click Download Your Data. Within a few minutes, a link to a spreadsheet that contained FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, EMAIL, COMPANY, POSITION appeared. Armed with that file, the next thing a person had to do was upload the list into MailChimp or some other email marketing automation platform and boom, SPAM!

Well, the game has changed, my friends!

I downloaded my contact list today for backup purposes and the email column is EMPTY!

Is it because of the GDPR regulations? Is LinkedIn simply trying to curb SPAM? Perhaps it’s both.

Email Address Field is still there but content it is missing

The email address column is still there and emails can appear, it’s now up to the user whether they allow their email address to appear in the file. The default setting is NO. I have 29,172 first degree connections and only ONE person opted to have their email address displayed in the connection download file.

You can access this privacy section by clicking here.

But I NEED that email address! What do I do?

So what if you actually used the email address for non-nefarious purposes? Perhaps you uploaded the file to your CRM so you can better track relationships and conversations. Sadly, it appears you are out of luck. You will have to manually add new connections, checking their LinkedIn profile‘s contact info for the email address.

Here’s how to manually add email addresses to your LinkedIn contact list spreadsheet

1. Download your data file
2. Go to My Network and choose to view your connections. The list defaults to recently added and so the most recent additions are at the top.
3. Right-mouse click on the top contact’s name and choose “Open in New Tab.” Their profile will open.
4. Click Contact Info. Their contact information will appear.
5. Copy the email address and paste it in the spreadsheet.

Yes, I know this is a lot of work but this is the only workaround for right now.

There were numerous companies out there that depended on this file and the email addresses for marketing purposes. I am sure there are people working on a workaround.

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