# Import Your LinkedIn Connections

> Bring the people you are connected to on LinkedIn into Groupthink, and choose who comes in.

Source: https://groupthink.com/docs/linkedin_import/
Last updated: 2026-10-23

You can bring the people you are connected to on LinkedIn into Groupthink. You download your connections from LinkedIn as a file, choose it in Groupthink, and pick who comes in before anything is added.

## Summary

- Start from **Import people** on the Relationships page and pick **LinkedIn connections**.
- The import screen shows the steps for getting your connections file from LinkedIn.
- Groupthink recognises the file and shows you everyone in it, split into new people and people you already have.
- You tick who comes in. The file's name, email, company and position columns are set up for you.
- A file can be up to 4 MB and hold up to 50,000 people.

## Import Your Connections

1. Go to the **Relationships** page and click **Import people** in the toolbar. If you have no contacts yet, click **Import people from a file** under the main button instead.
2. Under **Where are they coming from?**, pick **LinkedIn connections**. The steps for getting the file from LinkedIn appear under it. See [Getting the File from LinkedIn](#getting-the-file-from-linkedin).
3. Click **Choose file** and pick the `Connections.csv` file.
4. Check the list. Above it, Groupthink names your file and says how many people are in it, and that it is a LinkedIn connections export.
5. Tick who to bring in, then click **Import**. The button says how many people you ticked.

When the import finishes, you see who was added and anything that was not. [After an Import](/docs/relationships#after-an-import) covers that screen.

## Getting the File from LinkedIn

When you pick **LinkedIn connections**, the import screen shows these steps:

1. On LinkedIn, open **Settings**, then **Data privacy**, then **Get a copy of your data**, and ask for **Connections**.
2. LinkedIn emails you a link. Download the file and unzip it.
3. In Groupthink, choose the `Connections.csv` file from what you unzipped.

## What Comes In

Groupthink sets up the columns of a LinkedIn file for you:

- **First Name** and **Last Name** become the person's name.
- **Email Address** becomes their email.
- **Company** becomes their company.
- **Position** becomes their job title.

Each column shows a few sample values and a menu. If a column is set to something you don't want, change it or choose **Don't import**, then click **Update the list below** before you import. [Import Columns](/docs/relationships#import-columns) lists every choice.

### Adding your own notes

You can add a column headed **Notes** to the file before you choose it, and write a note next to anyone you want to remember something about. Groupthink sets that column to **Note about them**. Each filled-in cell becomes a note on that person's page, dated the day you imported. Importing the same file again does not add the same note twice. See [Import Columns](/docs/relationships#import-columns).

## Who You Already Have

Before anything is added, the list splits your connections into groups:

- **New people** start ticked.
- **Adds to people you already have** lists connections that share an email address with someone in Groupthink. Each says who matched and links to them. These start unticked, so tick the ones that are the same person. Where the file says something different from what you have, yours stays unless you tick **Use the file's value** on that detail.
- A new person with the same name as someone you already have is marked **Possible duplicate** and starts unticked. Tick them if they are a different person.

Each group has **Tick all** and **Untick all**. [Who an Import Brings In](/docs/relationships#who-an-import-brings-in) explains each group in full.

## Large Files

A file can be up to 4 MB and hold up to 50,000 people. A file of more than 5,000 people takes longer: the screen shows how far Groupthink has got while it reads the file. If the file is larger than 4 MB, split it into smaller files and import each one.

## Related

- **[Import People from a File](/docs/relationships#import-people-from-a-file)** - The same import for a spreadsheet or a contact card file (.vcf)
- **[Merging Duplicate Contacts](/docs/relationships#merging-duplicate-contacts)** - Fix someone who ended up in your contacts twice