How to Use the Professional Email Finder

Before you start

• Awareness of safe usage:
  • Email discovery is not guaranteed. This Phantom can only return verified addresses when sufficient data is available.
  • Your number of successful results may be lower than your credits used.

Step 1: Provide your inputs

Tell the Phantom which names and companies you want to enrich in one of the following ways:

1. My Lists:
   Choose a saved LinkedIn Leads list you’ve already created in PhantomBuster.
2. A URL:
   • Paste the URL of a Google Sheet (make sure it’s shared with “Anyone with the link”).
   • Or upload a CSV file (make sure it’s publicly accessible, and note that CSV upload is only available on paid plans).
3. My Phantoms:
   Use results from another Phantom as input.

Step 2: Configure processing settings

• Number of spreadsheet rows to process per launch (optional):
  • Default = 10.
  • If left empty, the Phantom processes all of them in one run.

Result file settings (dropdown in setup)

• Fields to keep (optional)
  • Export only the fields you care about by listing them (comma-separated).
    Example: profileUrl, job, location.
  • This generates a second CSV file with just those fields.
  • Learn more in our guide: Customize how your Phantom results files are saved.

Step 3: Choose your email discovery method

Reminder: 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)
     • This option is powered by BetterContact's waterfall enrichment, which queries 20+ data sources and runs multi-layer email verification to deliver higher match rates and more valid emails.
     • Each plan includes monthly email discovery credits that determine how many profiles can be processed.
     • 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
     • If you connect an external service, the number of profiles processed will depend on your remaining credits with that provider.

Step 4: Select launch frequency

Choose how often the Phantom should run:

1. Launch manually: Start the Phantom yourself whenever you need.
2. Launch once at a specific time: schedule a one-time run at a set date and time.
3. Launch repeatedly: schedule regular runs (e.g. once per day, several times during working hours).
4. Launch after another Phantom: chain automations together so this Phantom starts right after another finishes.
5. Advanced scheduling: customize the exact minutes, hours, days, or months when the Phantom should run.

→ For a complete walkthrough of scheduling options, see our guide to scheduling Phantoms automatically.

Step 5 (Optional): Advanced settings

Advanced settings are available if you want to fine-tune how your Phantom 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:

1. Click Launch to start your Phantom.
2. Once it finishes, open the Results tab in the Phantom console.
   • How results work:
     The Phantom keeps all your original columns and simply adds a new one with the emails it finds.
     → In other words, you’ll get the same spreadsheet back, just enriched with verified email data.
3. Download your results as a CSV or JSON file.

→ 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 Phantom, and everything you’ll receive once it completes.

What you get (Output)

Tips and troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• Using a private spreadsheet (make sure it’s set to “Anyone with the link”).
• Wrong column titles (must match expected fields or be mapped in custom setup).
• Expecting 100% email discovery: not every profile will return a verified email.

If you run into issues

• Check how to troubleshoot your phantom using Logs.
• 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 Search Export → Build a list of LinkedIn profiles to pair with the Professional Email Finder Phantom for enrichment.
• LinkedIn Profile Scraper → Collect LinkedIn bios and company info before running email discovery.
• AI Advanced Enricher → Qualify and score leads based on their enriched profiles and email data.