# How to find someone's email on LinkedIn: 5 ways > Five ways to find someone's work or direct email from LinkedIn: Contact info, the company's email pattern, a Chrome extension, a B2B database and your AI assistant. - URL: https://salesql.com/blog/how-to-find-someones-email-on-linkedin - Published: 2026-11-06 - Author: https://salesql.com/blog/author/ari-camino ## Key takeaways - By default, LinkedIn shows someone's primary email in Contact info only to their 1st-degree connections, and they can hide it. - A work email usually follows the company's pattern, so you can work it out, as long as you verify it before you send. - A Chrome extension such as SalesQL shows the work email and, when there is one, the direct email of the profile you have open. - For a large list of people, search a B2B database or ask your AI assistant instead of opening profiles one by one. Most people you want to reach are on LinkedIn, but their email usually isn't on their profile. This guide covers five ways to find someone's email from LinkedIn: what each one can return, what it costs and where it falls short. It isn't a ranking. The right method depends on whether you need one person or a list, and on which kind of email you're after. ## Work email or direct email: what you're looking for There are two kinds of email you can find for someone, and some methods only find one of them. - A **work email** is on the company's domain, like `ana.ruiz@company.com`. It reaches the person while they work there. - A **direct email** is the person's own address (Gmail, Outlook…), also called a personal email. It stays the same when they change jobs. For B2B outreach, the work email is the usual starting point. A direct email helps when someone has just changed jobs, when the company's domain is hard to pin down, or when you're recruiting and the person may not want a message at their current employer's address. SalesQL labels each email as work or direct, so you always know which one you're using. ## Method 1: check their LinkedIn profile (and ask) Start with what the person already shares on LinkedIn. It costs nothing, and sometimes it's all you need. :::steps 1. **Open Contact info.** On the profile, select **Contact info**, the link under their name and headline. 2. **Look for an email.** If they share one with you, it's listed there. It's the primary email on their LinkedIn account, which may be a personal address rather than a work one. 3. **Check the rest of the profile.** Some people put an email in their About section, in Featured or in the banner image. Search the page for "@". ::: ### Why you might not see an email By default, LinkedIn shows a member's primary email only to their 1st-degree connections. Each member can change that in their Email visibility setting, and choose between only themselves, 1st-degree connections, 1st and 2nd-degree connections, or anyone on LinkedIn. So unless you're connected, or the person opened that setting to more people, Contact info won't show an email. ### Ask for it If the email isn't there, send a connection request with a short note that says why you'd like to talk. Once you're a 1st-degree connection, Contact info shows their primary email unless they hid it. Without Premium, LinkedIn lets you add a note to 3 invitations a month, of up to 200 characters, so keep the note for the people who matter most. ### Export your connections If you're already connected to many of the people you need, download your connections from LinkedIn: go to **Settings & Privacy**, then **Data privacy**, then **Get a copy of your data**. LinkedIn emails you a link to download the file. The export includes emails only for the connections who allow it. ## Method 2: guess the company's email pattern and verify it Companies usually use one format for every work email. If you know the person's name and the company's domain, you can make an educated guess, then verify it before you send. First, find the company's domain on its website. Then work out the pattern from an address you already know, such as one on the contact page, and apply it to the person's name. :::table{caption="Common work email patterns" source="Illustrative examples for Ana Ruiz at company.com" checked="2026-11-06"} | Pattern | Example | | --- | --- | | first.last | `ana.ruiz@company.com` | | first | `ana@company.com` | | firstlast | `anaruiz@company.com` | | f.last | `a.ruiz@company.com` | | flast | `aruiz@company.com` | ::: If you don't know any address at the company, Google search operators help you find pages that show one. Team, press and careers pages often do. Replace `company.com` with the real domain: - `"@company.com" -site:company.com` finds the company's addresses on other sites, such as press releases and event pages. - `site:company.com "email"` finds pages on the company's own site that mention an address. - `"Ana Ruiz" "@company.com"` looks for the person's own address. A `site:linkedin.com` search finds profiles, not emails, so it won't help with this step. :::callout{type="warning" title="Always verify a guessed address"} A guessed address can bounce, and bounces hurt your sender reputation. Run it through an [email verifier](/email-verifier) before it goes into a sequence. SalesQL's Free plan includes 100 email verifier credits a month. Never guess a direct email: it doesn't follow a company pattern. ::: ## Method 3: use a Chrome extension on the profile A Chrome extension can show the email of the profile you have open, so you don't have to leave LinkedIn. Several extensions do this. If you use SalesQL as your [LinkedIn email finder](/), its [Chrome extension](/linkedin-email-finder) works like this: :::steps 1. **Install the extension.** Add SalesQL to Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. It's free to install, and it works on Edge too. 2. **Open a LinkedIn profile.** The SalesQL panel opens next to the profile and shows how many emails it found for that person, and whether they're work or direct. 3. **Select Reveal Info & Add.** The extension lists each email on its own line, tagged Work or Direct, and adds the person to your SalesQL contacts. ::: Revealing a contact costs 1 credit, and if no email is found, you're not charged. The Free plan includes 50 credits a month, with no credit card required. On paid plans the extension also shows phone numbers; on Free they stay hidden. The extension also works on Sales Navigator, Recruiter, Recruiter Lite and RPS. It runs in your own LinkedIn session, so LinkedIn's rules on extensions apply to your account: see [LinkedIn limits](#linkedin-limits) below. ## Method 4: search a B2B database instead of profile by profile When you need a large list, opening profiles one by one doesn't scale. A B2B database lets you search for people by role and company, and see who has a work or direct email before you spend anything. In SalesQL's Prospector you can: - **Describe who you're looking for** in plain language with AI search, or set filters such as job title, company, industry and location. - **Keep only the people with a direct email.** In the Contact Details filter, under Type, leave only Direct checked. - **Reveal the contacts you'll write to.** Searching doesn't use credits. Select **Show details** to reveal a contact, at 1 credit each, and if no email is found, you're not charged. :::figure{src="/blog/ai-search-in-prospector/ai-search-box.webp" alt="Prospector's AI search box with the description Software engineers at Google or Microsoft in the United States, before the search" width="1600" height="1101" caption="Real screen"} ::: AI search turns your description into filters you can see and edit, so you can check what it understood before you reveal anyone. :::figure{src="/blog/ai-search-in-prospector/ai-search-filters.webp" alt="Prospector after an AI search: the United States and Software Engineer filters, marked Edited, next to the matching contacts with their masked work emails" width="1600" height="1102" caption="Real screen · personal data blurred"} ::: Prospector runs entirely outside LinkedIn, so it doesn't use your LinkedIn account. On Free, AI search has a lower daily limit. :::cta{flavour="prospector"} ::: ## Method 5: ask your AI assistant If you already work in an AI assistant, you can find emails without leaving the chat. SalesQL is an official plugin in ChatGPT. In Claude, Cursor and other AI assistants, SalesQL connects as a custom connector, and it also works in Gemini CLI. It's on every plan. On Free it runs with lower daily limits and without phone numbers. Give the assistant a profile URL, or a name and a company: :::prompt Find the work and direct email for this LinkedIn profile: ::: :::prompt Find the work email of , at ::: The assistant searches SalesQL, which doesn't use credits, then reveals the contacts you ask for with your plan's credits, each email labeled work or direct. A chatbot that only searches the web can return old or made-up addresses. Connected to SalesQL, it answers with SalesQL's data instead. :::figure{src="/blog/salesql-chatgpt-plugin/chatgpt-plugin-listing.webp" alt="The SalesQL listing in ChatGPT's plugin directory, with the Install plugin button and three example prompts" width="1188" height="1090" caption="Real screen · SalesQL in ChatGPT's plugin directory"} ::: The [MCP setup guide](/docs/mcp) shows how to connect each assistant, and you can [open SalesQL in ChatGPT](/chatgpt) to install the plugin. ## Which method should you use? For one person, start with their profile, then the pattern or the extension, which also works for a short list. For a large list, start in a B2B database or in your AI assistant, and reveal only the contacts you'll write to. :::compare{caption="What each method can return" source="LinkedIn Help and SalesQL product documentation" checked="2026-11-06"} | Method | Work email | Direct email | Cost | Lists | On LinkedIn | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Contact info | partial | partial | No cost | no | yes | | Pattern + verifier | yes | no | Verifier credits | no | no | | A Chrome extension (e.g. SalesQL) | yes | yes | 1 credit per contact | partial | yes | | A B2B database (e.g. SalesQL Prospector) | yes | yes | 1 credit per contact | yes | no | | An AI assistant connected to SalesQL | yes | yes | 1 credit per contact | yes | no | ::: Yes means the method can return it, not how often it finds one. "Lists" is whether it works for many people at once (partly means a short list), and "On LinkedIn" is whether it runs on your own LinkedIn account. Credits are per revealed contact: searching is free, and if no email is found, you're not charged. Contact info needs a 1st-degree connection unless the person opened their Email visibility setting to more people. ## Before you send Verify any address you didn't get from the person, and keep your list clean: bounces hurt your sender reputation. Then check the rules for the people you're writing to. - **EU and UK (GDPR).** B2B outreach often relies on legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f)), which applies only unless the person's interests or rights override it, so weigh both before you write. Recital 47 says direct marketing "may be regarded" as a legitimate interest, not that it always is. - **Tell them where you got their details.** If they didn't come from the person, such as from a database, say who you are, where you got their details, why you're writing and what their rights are, in your first email at the latest (Article 14). - **Stop when they object.** If someone objects to direct marketing, you must stop (Article 21), and you have to point out that right by your first email at the latest. - **UK (PECR).** The consent rule for marketing email covers individual subscribers, including sole traders and some partnerships, not companies. The UK GDPR still applies to the person's data. - **US (CAN-SPAM).** The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. Don't use false or misleading header information or subject lines, include your postal address, tell people how to opt out and honor opt-outs within 10 business days. National e-marketing rules can require consent, even for B2B, so check the ones that apply to you. This isn't legal advice. If you're on the other side, anyone can ask SalesQL to remove their details in the [Privacy Center](/privacy-center), under "Remove me from SalesQL". ## LinkedIn limits It's your account, so read the rules before you install anything. In practice: - Open profiles at a human pace, and stay within the limits LinkedIn sets for invitations and messages. - For a large list, use a B2B database or your AI assistant instead: SalesQL's Prospector and SalesQL in your AI assistant don't use your LinkedIn account. To try it on the profile you have open, [add SalesQL to Chrome](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/salesql-b2b-email-finder/lbdglhhdbgnknbdifhanfholehojlkgg). It's free to install. ## FAQ ### Can I find someone's email on LinkedIn for free? Yes. Checking Contact info and working out the company's email pattern cost nothing. SalesQL's Free plan includes 50 credits a month to reveal contacts and 100 email verifier credits a month, with no credit card required. Revealing a contact costs 1 credit, and if no email is found, you're not charged. ### Can someone get my email address from LinkedIn? Your 1st-degree connections can see your primary email in Contact info unless you change it. In LinkedIn, go to Settings & Privacy, then Visibility, then Email visibility, and pick who can see it, from only you to anyone on LinkedIn. To have your details removed from SalesQL, use the Privacy Center on salesql.com. ### Is it legal to email someone you found on LinkedIn? It depends on where the person is and why you're writing. In the EU and the UK, B2B outreach often relies on legitimate interest under the GDPR, which means weighing your interest against theirs, telling them where you got their details and stopping when they object. In the US, CAN-SPAM covers business email too. National rules can require consent, so check the ones that apply to you. This isn't legal advice. ### Can I find someone's email with just their name? A name alone is rarely enough, because many people share it. Add the company or the LinkedIn profile URL. With a name and a company, you can work out the company's email pattern and verify it, or look the person up in a B2B database such as SalesQL. ### What about phone numbers? On paid plans, from Basic up, SalesQL also shows phone numbers, such as a direct phone or the company's HQ phone, at no extra credit cost. The Free plan doesn't include phone numbers. ## How we checked - [LinkedIn Help: manage who can see your email address on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a523134) (checked 2026-11-04) - [LinkedIn Help: a member's contact info](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a570132) (checked 2026-11-04) - [LinkedIn Help: export your connections](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a566336) (checked 2026-11-04) - [LinkedIn Help: notes on invitations without Premium](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a563153) (checked 2026-11-04) - [GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), Articles 6, 14 and 21 and Recital 47](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj) (checked 2026-11-04) - [UK PECR, regulation 22](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2426/regulation/22) (checked 2026-11-04) - [FTC: CAN-SPAM Act, a compliance guide for business](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business) (checked 2026-11-04) - [SalesQL Chrome extension in the Chrome Web Store (version 1.5.0, updated October 21, 2026)](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/salesql-b2b-email-finder/lbdglhhdbgnknbdifhanfholehojlkgg) (checked 2026-11-04) - [SalesQL plans and credits](https://salesql.com/pricing) (checked 2026-11-06) - [SalesQL MCP setup guide](https://salesql.com/docs/mcp) (checked 2026-11-06)