LinkedIn Data Export Files Explained
A LinkedIn export is a collection of source files. Start with the coverage report, then choose the tool for the records actually present. An absent category means unavailable data; it is not a confirmed count of zero.
Match files to a question
| Record family | Where to explore it | What the records describe |
|---|---|---|
| Connections, invitations and company follows | Connections | Exported relationships and recorded dates |
| Messages | Messages | Conversations, sender labels and exported text |
| Applications, saved jobs, positions and education | Career & Learning | Recorded career and application history |
| Skills, endorsements and Learning | Career & Learning | Exported labels and usable completion dates |
| Posts, comments, reactions, reposts and votes | Activity history | Included Complete-export content activity |
| Member follows, searches, ad clicks and account events | Activity history | Historical source records rather than live status |
Read coverage before counts
Diagnostics distinguish accepted records, skipped rows, recovered search text, exact connection duplicates and unknown dates. Identical connection rows are collapsed. Same-name people, repeated message rows and repeated activity records remain separate.
| Coverage | How to interpret it |
|---|---|
| Available | A supported file supplied readable records. |
| Included · empty | The category was included with no accepted records. |
| Not included | No supported file for that category was supplied. |
| Partial | Some source rows were skipped; inspect the diagnostics. |
| Unsupported structure | The filename was recognized, but its headers could not be read. |
Dates keep their source meaning
Connection dates are calendar days. Experience may have month precision, and education may have only a year. Explicit UTC clocks remain UTC; unzoned activity clocks remain export-local. Unsupported dates are shown as unavailable.
Timeline groups recorded dates from the current files. It does not reconstruct the size of your network in an earlier year, missing conversations or deleted posts.
Basic and Complete coverage
A Basic archive can still support connections, invitations, messages, career and Learning analysis. A Complete archive can supply additional searches, content activity and account-event files. Check the actual coverage rather than treating the archive's label as proof of its contents.
The importer recognizes supported account-number suffixes on activity filenames. That number is not used as your identity. Extra files remain outside the supported projection; attachments, contact details, resumes and inferred platform scores are not imported.
Related LinkedIn guides
Sources and responsibility
LinkedIn's documentation describes the export request and the records it can supply. The worked examples use independent fictional inputs and InstaScope's current reader. Account coverage and upstream file formats can vary.