Personal CRM for LinkedIn
Your LinkedIn connections deserve better than a forgotten export file
Most of the people who matter to your career are already in your LinkedIn connections — and most of them haven't heard from you in over a year. The tools that promise to fix this with automatic sync have a structural problem: LinkedIn forbids third-party API access to your connection list. There, "sync" really means scraping, and scraping means your account is one markup change or one detection sweep away from a restriction. Endearist takes the slower, safer route: the official CSV export LinkedIn itself provides, imported into a private database on your device. From there you decide who actually matters, how often you want to show up — and what you talked about last time.
Using Endearist with LinkedIn
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Request your connections archive from LinkedIn
Click your profile photo → Settings & Privacy → Data privacy → "Get a copy of your data". Select only "Connections" and request the archive. The connections-only export typically lands in your inbox within about ten minutes, even though LinkedIn officially quotes up to 24 hours. The download contains a Connections.csv with each person's name, current position, company, and the date you connected — email addresses only for people who explicitly allow it.
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Import the CSV into Endearist
Open the import screen and pick your Connections.csv. The columns are mapped automatically, and the duplicate check makes sure people you already imported from your address book don't show up twice. Everything happens locally on your device — the file is never uploaded anywhere, and there is no server that ever sees your connection list.
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Triage into circles, not an endless list
1,500 connections aren't a network, they're a list. Go through it once and sort by Dunbar logic: the inner circle, the active working relationships, the wide periphery. Anyone you can't place stays in the archive — that's a decision too. What comes out of the triage pass is the short list of people genuinely worth keeping warm.
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Set a cadence per person
For each person in your closer circles, decide how often you two should hear from each other — every four weeks, once a quarter, twice a year. The warmth score shows you at a glance which relationships are cooling off, and the reminder arrives before "haven't talked in a while" turns into "too awkward to reach out now".
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Capture context when you actually talk
After a good conversation, share the message or a screenshot into Endearist via the share sheet — the moment lands in that person's relationship journal. Next time you reach out, you'll remember they changed jobs or had a second kid on the way. That context is exactly what separates a contact list from a relationship.
What works — honestly
| Capability | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Import of Connections.csv from the official data export | Works | Columns are mapped and duplicates reconciled against existing contacts. The import runs entirely locally on your device. |
| Triage into circles, cadences, and warmth score | Works | This is exactly what Endearist is built for: distilling a dead export list down to the 50 relationships you actually want to nurture. |
| Logging conversations via the mobile share sheet | Works | Share a message, screenshot, or link from any app into Endearist — the entry lands in the right person's journal. |
| Keeping job titles and employers current | Manual | Without API access, positions go stale over time. Re-run the export every few months, or update the people who matter by hand. |
| Automatic LinkedIn sync | Not supported | LinkedIn forbids third-party access to connection data. Tools that "sync" anyway are scraping — and scraped accounts get banned. An export you trigger yourself is slower, but ToS-clean and safe. |
| Browser extension that captures profiles as you browse | Not supported | There is no Endearist extension — deliberately. Capture-as-you-browse is scraping in a friendly wrapper, and your account is worth more than that. |
| Background profile enrichment | Not supported | Endearist never pulls data about your contacts from external sources. Whatever is on a profile, you imported or wrote it yourself. |
Frequently asked questions
- How do I export my LinkedIn connections to a CRM?
- Profile photo → Settings & Privacy → Data privacy → "Get a copy of your data" → select only "Connections" and request the archive. You'll get a download link by email — often within about ten minutes, officially within 24 hours. Then import the Connections.csv straight into Endearist.
- Why doesn't Endearist sync with LinkedIn automatically?
- Because there is no permitted way to do it. LinkedIn offers no third-party API for your connection list; every tool promising automatic sync is scraping the site — and gambling with your account. We think a deliberate import is the more honest trade: a few minutes of effort for zero risk.
- Can LinkedIn ban me for exporting my connections?
- No. The data export is an official LinkedIn feature and, under GDPR, your right to a copy of your data. What's risky are the unofficial routes: scrapers, automation plugins, and browser extensions, which LinkedIn actively detects and penalizes.
- How often should I re-run the export?
- Every three to six months is plenty for most people. The duplicate check on import updates existing people instead of creating copies — your journal entries and cadences stay untouched.
Last updated: 2026-06-10
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