How do I delete a contact in LinkedIn?

I'm a big fan of LinkedIn and find it a very useful tool for both professional networking and job hunting, but as I have used it for a year or two I have found that my list of connections no longer reflects my current career direction and I would like to axe a few people from the list. I still like them, just don't want to have a formal LinkedIn connection. How the heck do I delete LinkedIn connections, Dave??

Dave's Answer:

With so many different social network sites cropping up, it's pretty amazing to me how few actually let you edit the connections you establish. There are two facets to this: deleting obsolete contacts and adjusting or changing the "strength" or "quality" of a connection, for those few sites that allow you to specify how well you know someone else rather than just a simple know/don't know.

LinkedIn doesn't yet allow you to grade the quality of your contacts, but it does let you axe a connection that is no longer necessary, relevant or desired. Getting to it, however, can be a bit tricky.

Here's how...

Log in to your LinkedIn account, then click on Connections within the "My Contacts" area. On the right side you'll see:

Click on "Remove Connections" and you'll be taken to an area of LinkedIn that looks curiously similar to an old-fashioned Rolodex:

Simply check the name or names you want to remove - they'll show up immediately on the right side - then click the big "Remove Connections" button.

You'll then be asked to confirm the action and reminded that it's irreversible:

LinkedIn: Confirm Remove or Delete Connection

Ready to proceed? Just click "confirm". If you've changed your mind, go ahead and select "cancel" and your action will be cancelled.

Hope that helps you clean up your LinkedIn connection list.

Update! The interface on LinkedIn has changed. To see how to work with the latest version of the interface, please check out: How to Delete a LinkedIn Connection [updated]. Thanks!

Categorized: Twitter, LinkedIn and Social Network Help (Article 6730, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: linkedin, professional networking, professional networks, recruiting, social networks
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Comments

how do i delete linkendin from my firefox

Posted by: fredric leipsner at February 10, 2007 7:23 PM

Hello Dave

Thank you for writing the above. My question is what does the 'deleted contact' see or be told? Do they get an email saying 'you've just been deleted from XYZ'???

Thx/Rod

Posted by: Rod at June 30, 2007 5:30 AM

Hi... I still have the same question as this thread it titled.

How do I remove a CONTACT from LinkeIn. You show how to remove CONNECTIONS that are already established with CONTACTS.

I want to remove all the contacts I uploaded from Outlook that are not relevant.

Thanks!

Posted by: Bill Kennedy at November 9, 2007 7:57 AM

Thank you for this! The fact that the party being dumped is not notified sure helps. No point in hurting feelings if you can avoid it.

Posted by: Peter at December 28, 2008 3:21 PM

Can you tell me how to delete someone from LinkedIn? This is the partner of my niece who died recently and he remains in LinkedIn.

Posted by: Theodor Strauss at March 24, 2009 5:59 AM

Thanks, great support!

Posted by: Super at May 12, 2009 12:40 AM

I have deleted 1 contact and now i want to add it again. Linkedin does not allow me to do so. Please suggest.

Posted by: TD at May 25, 2009 7:22 AM

Thanks...This helps a lot. I was finally able to delete some contacts off my list.

Posted by: Shilpa at May 29, 2009 11:46 AM

I think there should be an option to let the axed person be notified... so that he knows.

Posted by: dave at June 9, 2009 10:06 PM

Thanks, very helpful.

Posted by: Alain at October 9, 2009 10:37 AM

when you delete a contact, is there a notification for him ? Can he see my network contact even if i delete him from my network ?

Posted by: FrenchLarket at November 2, 2009 1:31 PM

Wait - When I go to delete a contact Linkedin says they WILL be notified:

"Note: These connections will not be notified that they have been removed. They will be added to your list of contacts in case you want to reinvite them later."

Any way around this?

Posted by: Adam at November 20, 2009 3:15 PM

I'm still confused. Will a deleted contact be notificed that they have been removed from your linkedIn contact or not? Also, once removed will they still be able to see my network contact?

Posted by: Miss Jones at January 21, 2010 1:56 PM

Why can't I just eliminate the Linkedin account? I don't want to go through the research of all that have signed on from my address book. I am happpy using yahoo and don't need nor do I use Linkedin. What can be done???
John

Posted by: John Carstens at January 22, 2010 7:43 PM

Thanks.. Once the contact is removed wil that removed contact person be informed automatically that he is removed from list..???

Pl advise

Posted by: Arul Jeyaraj. S at February 5, 2010 1:53 AM

Thanks for this. Had a guy filling my inbox with announcements I did not care to receive!

Posted by: Black Bear Design at February 17, 2010 6:31 AM

great, thank you!

Posted by: whitney at March 11, 2010 10:46 AM

Thanks.

Posted by: Jay at April 8, 2010 6:51 PM

Hi Dave, I m having some problems with my linkedin profile and wonder if you could help me. Since lots of people I tried to be friends with claimed they didn t know me, Linkedin restricted my account and I can t ask new people to join my network.. I have already sent an e mail appologizing and saying understand the policy and won t do it again but still haven t received an ansewer..
What can I do? Is it possible they won t allow me back in?
Hope you can help me out!! Thankss

Posted by: Bernardita at April 27, 2010 8:42 AM

Thanks for the post. I was able to delete a contact via your instructions!

Posted by: Heather at August 10, 2010 1:30 PM

This is very useful post. Removing a contact in LinkedIn is tricky and without this post it might have been a struggle. Thanks!

Posted by: Amol at August 14, 2010 7:18 PM

thanks, was able to do it after reading ur post!

Posted by: Sam at August 25, 2010 11:13 AM

thankz

Posted by: aditi at August 31, 2010 8:50 PM

hi,
I have a question. If I delete a connection on my contacts, will the person I delete know I deleted her/him?

Posted by: Estela at September 26, 2010 7:41 PM

Dave - thanks so much for posting this. I needed to delete a connection on LinkedIn (The guy sent a pretty rude email to me regarding my wife), and this was the top #1 Google result guiding me through the process :)

thanks!
-- Jeff

Posted by: Jeff Finkelstein at October 4, 2010 10:29 AM

Like all other comments I see, this was not the top Google result for removing LinkedIn Contacts and very easy & helpful as well. Thanks Dave:)

Posted by: Suhel Banerjee at October 31, 2010 11:01 PM

Thanks, it worked !!

Posted by: Sudhakar at November 30, 2010 2:14 AM

Thankyou for your help.

Posted by: Candy at March 25, 2011 9:08 AM

Thanks so much for this. I guess I could've found it myself, eventually, but the website sure doesn't make it easy.

Posted by: Tze at April 13, 2011 6:48 AM

To answer a question that seems to be cropping up here a lot: no, the people you delete from your contacts will not be notified in any way by Linkedin that you have deleted them.

However, their names will no longer show up in your connections. So, if they go to your name, click on your connections list, and do not see their own names in your list, they WILL know that you have deleted them.

Posted by: Linkedin_User at May 30, 2011 1:50 PM

Hi Dave,

I was wondering if you could please help me out. I had a LinkedIn account a while back but, I never used it and decided to close it down about a year ago. But, when I google my name for some odd reason the LinkedIn file shows up. How do I delete that from the google search engine.
thanks

Posted by: Mary at June 25, 2011 10:53 AM

I think you need to update this info because LinkedIn changed the way it works. It is described in the help section of LinkedIn under "Removing connections".

All the best,
John

Posted by: JohnR at July 14, 2011 11:45 AM

I must be stupid or things have changed on linked in.
1. there is no "connections" tab when you sign in! The tabs are- Home, Profile, Contacts, Groups, Jobs, Inbox, Companies, News and More
So assuming you meant to say Contacts instead of connections. so I go there
2. There is no option for "My contacts" the options are-My connections, add connections, and network statistics once again having to assume you meant to say "My connections" I go there
now my third problem is on the right hand side of the page are modules or boxes titled "people you may know, ads by linkedin members, whos viewed your profile, your linkedin network, jobs you may be interested in, groups you may like, and companines you may want to follow. then nothing
Where is this box you describe???????????

Posted by: Manell at August 23, 2011 9:47 AM

Manell, you're not stupid. :-) LinkedIn has again changed their user interface and changed "contacts" to "connections" throughout the system.

Here, I have an updated article with the new UI featured:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/delete_a_connection_linkedin_updated.html

Hope that helps out!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at September 3, 2011 7:17 AM

Dave - You might be my last hope. My linkedin connections list has been mysteriously deleted. i ertainly didn't do it and I need to get this list reinstated. How might I do it? Linkedin have so far been worse than useless and haven;t managed to get back to me in over a week. Be grateful for any assistance.

Posted by: Alan Patison at September 13, 2011 6:54 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!