Avoid a Catastrophe: Get Your LinkedIn House in Order Now

Have you ever lost your cell phone (and all your contacts)? Had a toasted hard drive? Accidentally deleted a critical file or document?

Then you know the importance of backing things up.

Here are three quick steps you can take to safeguard your LinkedIn account and avoid a potential future disaster.

Save Your Connections List

This one is critical. If your LinkedIn account is compromised in any way and your list of connections is deleted, you can replace it in a matter of minutes.

Also, if you would like to add your LinkedIn connections to a new or existing mailing list, this download will be very helpful. (Be sure to follow your company’s CAN-SPAM policy when adding names to your email list). contacts

To create this backup list, go to “Contacts” on the top toolbar and select “Connections.” Then click “Export Connections” on the bottom right.

Next, choose the appropriate format — Microsoft Outlook (.CSV file), Outlook Express (.CSV file), Yahoo! Mail (.CSV file), Mac OS (.VCF file) or vCard (.VCF file) — and hit the “Export” button.

The information you will receive is the connection’s first name, last name, company, title, and email address.

Save Your Profile

If for any reason your profile is partially or totally deleted, you can quickly restore it if it’s been properly saved. The saved version is also a handy summary to share with people when you need a quick resume. This step will be a bit different depending on whether you have the new version of the profile or the old version.

New Profile:

Go to “Profile” on the top toolbar and select “View Profile.” Near the bottom of your top box you will see a light blue “Edit” button. Scroll over that and select “Export to PDF.” You will get a PDF version of your profile (minus the picture and any applications) that you can print and, more importantly, save.

Old Profile:

Go to “Profile” on the top toolbar and select “Edit Profile.” At the bottom of your top box you will see the the “View” box. From the pull-down menu, select “Export to PDF.” After clicking that, you will get a PDF version of your profile (minus the picture and any applications) that you can print and save.

By the way, you can do this for any profile, not just your own.

Change your password

Let’s not forget this summer’s LinkedIn password debacle that affected over six million accounts. Do this one now!

Click “Settings,” which pops up when you scroll over your name on the top right of any LinkedIn page. After you enter your password, you will be taken to the Settings page. Select the Account tab and then choose “Change password.”

Now you can rest peacefully, knowing your LinkedIn account is securely backed up.

http://humanwebsite.com.my/ Kent

Thank you very much for the tips in backing up all the important information on Linkedin.
http://www.sjfpc.com/home.html Steven J Fromm & Associates

Great post. I never thought about losing my LinkedIn stuff, so this is very important information. Thanks again.
http://www.patricia-weber.com Patricia Weber

Why does LinkedIn almost HIDE these safety features? Thank you so much for this valuable information.
http://twitter.com/AnnStrini Ann Strini

Fabulous post – such valuable information!
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Andy

Thats a very good point, like any online service (data related) I would expect them to ensure my data (profile, contacts, etc) is backed up. Are you saying thats not the case with LinkedIn?
http://www.powerformula.net/ Wayne Breitbarth

I am not privy to LinkedIn’s policies. I do know some of my readers have reported loss of their data, and they were happy they had backed up their information. Since most of us have free accounts, I think it’s in our best interest to protect ourselves. Better safe than sorry.

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