How to turn a LinkedIn export into a call list

What a LinkedIn export actually is

From LinkedIn, request a copy of your data and take the Connections file. LinkedIn emails you when the download is ready. You get a CSV, or a zip with the CSV inside. The file is a flat list of people you already connected with: name, company, title, and the date you connected. Sometimes an email, if they shared one.

That is a store of names. It is not a call list. It does not say who you have actually emailed, who only ever connected, or who is worth a call today rather than sitting in row 847.

This page is the how-to for one recruiter who already owns that file. The product walkthrough sits on How it works. If you are still deciding whether to leave the sheet, start with Annie vs spreadsheets.

The short version

1. Request your LinkedIn data and download Connections.csv, or keep the archive zip
2. Upload that file. Annie also accepts ordinary contact spreadsheets (CSV, XLSX, XLS, ODS)
3. Connect Google or Microsoft mail so last-emailed dates come from who you already write to
4. Work the ranked list of people you already know but have not worked with or reached out to
5. Re-import LinkedIn every six months so job moves in your network show up

You do not need every input on day one. Most desks connect email and upload LinkedIn. The rest of the CRM (jobs, candidates, invoices) is there when a live search needs it.

Step 1: Export Connections.csv

In LinkedIn, request your data export and take the Connections file. Wait for LinkedIn’s email, then download it. If LinkedIn gives you a zip, you can leave it zipped.

What you want from that download:

• Connections.csv, or the archive zip with that file inside
• A list that is yours, not a scraped stranger list
• The connected-on date, which stays on the record after import

Annie does not log into LinkedIn for you. You download the file LinkedIn already lets you take. If the export is thin, the list will be short. That is honest.

Step 2: Bring the file across

Upload Connections.csv, or drop the archive zip unopened. Every row is imported, merged, or skipped with a reason you can read. Annie does not silently drop names.

What happens on import:

• Every connection can become a contact
• Seniority and function help sort who sits near the top of a recruiter’s list
• The date you connected stays on the record
• Every row is accounted for: imported, merged, or skipped with a reason

A raw export in a spreadsheet tab is still a flat list. That is fine if you will rank it by hand. The gap is everything you do not type: last emailed, who only ever connected, and who to call today. Full comparison: Annie vs spreadsheets.

Step 3: Connect the mailbox so the list has who and when

Connect Google or Microsoft mail. Your password never touches Annie. Annie never sends by itself. Revoke access any time from your own mail settings.

What Annie uses from mail for this job:

• Who you already correspond with
• Last emailed dates
• Messages you sent that got no reply
• Replies you got and never went back to
• Dated notes on the contact from exchanges, so the record does not depend on you logging every call

Ranking works from who and when. When new mail arrives, Annie reads that message to write a one-line dated note on the contact, and sends it to Anthropic to do so. The message body is never stored: Annie keeps the note, the subject, who it was with and when.

A drafted message only goes from your mailbox, from your address, on your click. This is not a dialer and it is not a send tool. You make the call. You send the mail.

Step 4: Work the ranked call list

Everyone on the list is already in your contacts. Annie helps you see how you are connected and whether you have actually spoken or only ever connected, so you work the list in the right order.

You will see warm and cold style buckets in the product, and company views that group the people you know at one firm. The point is simple: call the people you already know, in a sensible order, instead of staring at a flat export.

Annie only ranks people already in your contacts. If the export is thin, the list is short, and she says so. She does not invent strangers to pad a queue.

Step 5: Keep the export from going stale

Re-import every six months. Annie ranks against your last export, not the whole history of connections you have made since, so a file that ages is a list that goes stale. Annie compares the fresh export to the last one and shows who changed role in your network, and reminds you on the dashboard when six months have passed.

When there is something worth a call, Annie can email you a short list. On a quiet day she sends nothing rather than an empty check-in. One click turns that email off.

What this is not

• Not a dialer. Annie ranks and reminds. You pick up the phone
• Not a send tool. Annie never sends by itself. A drafted message only goes on your click, from your mailbox and your address
• Not a sourcing database. She will not invent strangers to pad the queue
• Not a team ATS. There is no Team plan. Annie is built and priced for one desk

Same CRM objects you expect for search sit in the same place once the network is in: contacts, companies, jobs and mandates, candidates, pipeline, meetings, tasks, invoices. The wedge is the network that usually goes stale in the export.

If you need a team ATS first, look at Annie vs enterprise recruitment CRMs. If you need a sourcing database, look at Annie vs AI sourcing tools. The wider set is on alternatives. Annie is not trying to win those deals.

Pricing shape

One plan: Solo at $129/mo. Seven-day trial, no card to start, no minimum term. Cancel from billing before the trial ends and you are not charged. Details: Pricing.

See it on example data

Click through a running copy with sample contacts and jobs: meetannie.ai/demo.html. Then start a trial on meetannie.ai with your own export and mailbox.

Questions