Industry guru Dave Taylor offers free tech support on a wide variety of technical and business topics, including HTML, Apple iPhone, online advertising, Cascading Style Sheets, Web design, management, Unix, Linux, search engine optimization, online dating, Mac OS X, shell script programming and Microsoft Windows.

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.

Help others find this article at Del.icio.us, Digg, Netscape, Reddit, and Stumble Upon

Categorized: MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Social Network Help (Article 6730)
Tagged: linkedin, professional networking, professional networks, recruiting, social networks
Previous: How do I dispute a false charge on Paypal?
Next: How do I add stock quotes to my Web page?

Subscribe!

Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader.

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

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!