How to Use the LinkedIn Search to Emails

*For a workflow targeting 10–20 LinkedIn leads, the full process typically takes around 5–10 minutes total, including exporting search results and enriching profiles with email discovery, plus a few extra seconds for the workflow to process.

Before you start

• This Workflow only works with LinkedIn people search URLs. For job searches, post searches, or other types, use the corresponding automation.
• LinkedIn only displays the first 1000 results of a search (2500 if you’re using Sales Navigator). To capture more, split your query into variations (e.g. by location, seniority, or keyword).
• Awareness of LinkedIn’s safety limits:
  • 40 profiles per day with LinkedIn.
  • 75 with Sales Navigator.
  • If you enable email discovery, cut this number in half, since the automation will perform additional page visits.

If you want to export from Sales Navigator searches, use the Sales Navigator Search to Emails instead.

Step 1: Connect your LinkedIn account

To let the automation act on your behalf:

1. Install the PhantomBuster browser extension and connect your LinkedIn session in one click.
2. If you’re not using Chrome or Firefox, you can retrieve your session cookie manually (see our cookie guide).

Check your browser user agent
Make sure your browser is up to date before connecting your account.
→ If your Chrome or Firefox version is outdated, your session cookie may expire much more quickly, and you’ll need to reconnect often.

Step 2: Add your people search URLs and set extracting limits

Tell the automation which people searches to process in one of the following ways:

1. Paste a single LinkedIn people search URL.
2. Provide a Google Sheet with LinkedIn people search URLs (make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link”).

3. Upload a CSV file with LinkedIn people search URLs (make sure it’s publicly accessible, and note that CSV upload is only available on paid plans).

   → If you’re using a spreadsheet, the automation defaults to the first column (A). To use a different column, enter the column’s header name in the field “Name of column containing searches URLs.”

Advanced settings (dropdown in setup)

1. Number of results to scrape per search (optional):
   • Default = extract up to the LinkedIn cap (1000, or 2500 with Sales Navigator).
2. Number of profiles to scrape per day (optional):
   • Default = 40 per day. Recommended safe limit is 40 profiles/day (75 with Sales Navigator).

This automation does not include customizable launch frequency. The schedule is fixed and cannot be changed.

Step 3: Enrich your leads with professional emails (optional)

You can choose to add verified professional email addresses to each LinkedIn profile.

Not every profile will return an email address. The match rate depends on the data available, so the number of verified emails may be lower than your credits used.

1. Click on the “Select your email discovery service” dropdown.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • PhantomBuster credits (default option)
     • Each plan includes monthly email discovery credits.
     • 1 credit = 1 attempt to find and verify an email for one profile.
     • Credits reset monthly.
   • Third-party services
     • Connect your own account by entering your API key for:
       • Dropcontact.io
       • Hunter.io
       • Snov.io

Enabling email discovery means the automation will spend more time on each profile, since it needs to process both the message and the email lookup. This increases execution time per launch.

Tip for safe use
When using email discovery, process about half of the default daily recommendation for your automation. This reduces the risk of hitting LinkedIn’s rate limits.

Step 4 (Optional): Advanced settings

Advanced settings are available if you want to fine-tune how your automation runs, but by default they’re already optimized for most use cases.

We recommend leaving them as they are unless a guide specifically instructs you to change something.

→ For a detailed overview of all advanced options (like execution limits, retries, email notifications, proxies, webhooks, and file management), see our Advanced settings guide.

Launch and results

When you’re ready:

• Toggle the ON/OFF switch to start your Workflow.

Once it finishes:

1. Open the Results tab in the Workflow console to see the data collected.
2. Download your results as a CSV or JSON file, or view them as a dynamic list on the LinkedIn Leads page.

→ To learn how to export your data to Google Sheets, integrate with other tools, or reuse it in more automations, check our Access and Export your Phantom Results guide.

Export and input limits on the Free plan
If you’re on the Free plan or Free trial, some features are limited:
- CSV exports include only the first 10 rows of results.
- CSV download links (for dynamic viewing in Google Sheets or integrations) are not available.
- JSON exports are not available.
- CSV upload as an input method is not supported.
To unlock all features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.

What you give (Input) and What you get (Output)

This section gives you a detailed breakdown of everything you need to provide to run this Workflow, and everything you’ll receive once it completes.

What you give (Input)

What you get (Output)

Tips and troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• Expecting emails right away → Email discovery happens after profiles are extracted, and not every profile will return an email.
  • Worker process: LinkedIn Search Export runs once per hour, retrieving ~50 results per launch. Then, LinkedIn Profile Scraper runs once per hour (up to 5 profiles per launch), enriching them until the daily cap is reached.
• Not enough email credits → You’ll need PhantomBuster email discovery credits or a third-party API key (Dropcontact, Hunter, Snov) to enrich profiles.
• Using a private Google Sheet → make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link.”
• Only 1000 results per LinkedIn search (2500 with Sales Navigator) → Use multiple variations if needed.
• No custom scheduling → The schedule is fixed and cannot be changed.
• If the automation stops working:
  • Errors may not always appear in the Dashboard.
  • To check hidden errors and execution details, open the Logs section from the console page of your automation. For step-by-step instructions, see How to Troubleshoot Errors in Workflows.

If you run into issues

• Browse the Fix Issues & Troubleshoot Errors section for solutions to common problems.
• Review our Automation Rate Limits by Platform guide.
• Check our Best Practices for Social Media Automation guide.

Suggested automations

• LinkedIn Outreach → send connection requests, follow-ups, and manage replies from the profiles you scraped in one dashboard.
• LinkedIn Auto Liker / LinkedIn Auto Commenter → engage with prospects’ posts to warm them up before outreach.
• LinkedIn Activity Extractor → monitor what your scraped leads are posting or engaging with, and use that to personalize follow-ups.
• CRM integrations → push your enriched leads directly into HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive for further sales workflows.