LinkydyYou ran the perfect search — 400 people who match your ICP, filtered by title, location, and industry. Now you want them in a spreadsheet. And that's where LinkedIn stops you: people search has no "Export" button anywhere in the interface.
That's deliberate. LinkedIn monetizes access to its data through Sales Navigator and Recruiter, so it has no incentive to let lists walk out the door for free. What you're left with is four realistic options, each with different coverage, effort, and wait time.
The short answer: your four options
| Method | What you actually get | Time to spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn "Get a copy of your data" | Your 1st-degree connections only — not search results | Up to 24–72 hours |
| Sales Navigator | No export; CRM sync only on Advanced Plus | Never (Core/Advanced) |
| Manual copy-paste | Anything you can see, typed by hand | ~1–2 min per 10 results |
| Linkydy extension | Search results + verified emails & phones | Minutes |
Method 1: LinkedIn's built-in export (connections only)
LinkedIn does have one native export, and it's worth knowing exactly what it covers. The click path: your profile photo → Settings & Privacy → Data privacy → Get a copy of your data. Choose "Want something in particular?", tick Connections, and click Request archive.
LinkedIn emails you a download link — usually within about 10 minutes for the connections-only file, but the full archive can take 24–72 hours. The CSV contains: First Name, Last Name, profile URL, Email Address, Company, Position, and Connected On date.
Use it for what it's good at: backing up your network or moving your existing contacts into a CRM. For prospecting lists, it's the wrong tool.
Method 2: Sales Navigator — still no export button
A common assumption: "I'm paying ~$99/month, surely I can export my lead lists." You can't. Sales Navigator Core and Advanced let you save leads into lists, but those lists live inside Sales Navigator — there's no CSV or Excel download.
The only official way data leaves Sales Navigator is CRM sync (Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics 365), and that's exclusive to Advanced Plus, the enterprise tier sold on annual contracts. If you're a founder or a small sales team, that path is realistically closed.
Sales Navigator is still excellent as a search engine — its filters (title, seniority, headcount, geography, industry) are far sharper than regular search. You just need something else to get the results out. That's exactly the combination covered in our Sales Navigator tools page and the Sales Navigator + AI guide.
Method 3: manual copy-paste (fine under ~50 rows)
For a small shortlist, honest manual work is a real option. Open the search, and for each result copy the name, title, and company into a spreadsheet, then right-click the profile link and copy the URL. LinkedIn shows 10 results per page, and a practiced pace works out to roughly 1–2 minutes per page once you factor in formatting fixes.
That's tolerable for 3–5 pages. Beyond that it decays fast: a 400-result search is 40 pages — over an hour of copy-paste, with typos, inconsistent company names, and no emails at the end of it.
Method 4: one click with Linkydy
Linkydy is a Chrome extension that adds the missing export path: it collects search results into a lightweight CRM in your browser, enriches them with verified business emails and phones, and exports everything to CSV. It works on both regular LinkedIn people search and Sales Navigator.
Run your search
Use LinkedIn people search or Sales Navigator with your usual filters — job title, company, location, industry, language, past role, school.
Collect in one click
Click Collect in the Linkydy panel on the results page. Names, titles, companies, and profile URLs land in the built-in CRM — no copy-paste.
Enrich & export
Optionally run Find Email / Find Phone on your saved leads, then hit Export to CSV. The file opens directly in Excel or Google Sheets.
What's in the exported CSV
- Full name — split cleanly, no "John Smith · 2nd" artifacts
- Job title and company
- LinkedIn profile URL — for re-checking or importing elsewhere
- Verified business email — after 1-click enrichment via the email finder
- Phone number — where one can be found
- Status — invited, accepted, replied, so your pipeline history travels with the file
The same CSV format works in reverse: you can import a list of profile URLs back into Linkydy and process them there. Full details on the CSV export feature page.
A note on volume and rules
Whatever method you use, export data you'll actually work. LinkedIn's terms restrict bulk scraping, and privacy laws such as GDPR apply once you store personal data — a focused list of 200 relevant prospects beats a dump of 5,000 you'll never contact. Linkydy enforces daily caps and human-like pacing for exactly this reason; the trade-offs are covered honestly in Is LinkedIn automation safe? and LinkedIn connection request limits.
FAQ
Can I export LinkedIn search results to Excel natively?
No. LinkedIn people search has no export button on any plan — free, Premium, or Sales Navigator. The only native export is "Get a copy of your data" in Settings & Privacy, and that covers your own 1st-degree connections, not search results.
Does LinkedIn's data export include my connections' email addresses?
Mostly not. The Connections CSV has an Email Address column, but it is only filled for connections who explicitly allow their connections to see or download their email in their privacy settings — for most people it is blank. Phone numbers are not included at all.
Can Sales Navigator export leads to CSV?
No. Sales Navigator Core and Advanced have no CSV export for lead lists or search results. Direct CRM sync (Salesforce, Dynamics 365) is only available on Advanced Plus, which is sold on enterprise contracts. Saved lists otherwise stay inside Sales Navigator.
How does exporting search results with Linkydy work?
Run a LinkedIn people search or Sales Navigator search, click Collect in the Linkydy panel to save the results into the built-in CRM, optionally enrich them with verified emails and phones, then click Export to CSV. The file includes name, title, company, profile URL, email, phone, and status.
Is it OK to export LinkedIn data?
You are responsible for how you collect and use LinkedIn data. LinkedIn's terms restrict bulk scraping, and privacy laws like GDPR apply to personal data. Linkydy works inside your own logged-in browser session with daily caps and human-like pacing, and is built for building normal-volume B2B prospect lists you actually work — not mass harvesting.