How to upload your LinkedIn archive to Istos

Import your connections on Leads

1. Open Leads and press Add leads

   In Istos, open Leads and press Add leads at the top right. Choose Import LinkedIn network from the menu. On Starter you'll see it with a lock, and a note that it needs Pro.

2. Choose Connections.csv

   Press Choose file and pick Connections.csv from the archive folder. The file can be up to 5 MB, which is far more than most networks need.

3. Pick who to keep

   Founders, executives and directors only is ticked by default. It keeps people whose position reads like someone who can buy or introduce: founder, chief, head of, director, VP, partner and the like. Untick it to import everyone.

4. Import

   Press Import. Istos tells you what happened in one line, for example "Added 212 of 1480, 3 already here, 1265 skipped as not decision makers." Importing the same file again later only adds people who are new.

1Add leads

2Choose Connections.csv

3Pick who to keep

4Import

What Istos reads from Connections.csv

For each row: first and last name, the profile link, the email address when that person allows connections to download it, company, position and the date you connected. That's all the file holds, and that's all Istos keeps. Each person becomes a lead with the note "Connected on LinkedIn" and the date.

Rows without a profile link are skipped, and people already in your leads are matched by their profile link, so nobody is added twice.

Upload your own words on Knowledge

The other six files describe you, so they belong in your knowledge base, which every agent reads before it writes.

1. Open Knowledge and press Upload

   Open Knowledge and press Upload at the top right. A small form opens under All documents.

2. Choose one file

   Pick one of Shares.csv, Positions.csv, Profile.csv, Education.csv, Skills.csv or Recommendations_Received.csv. Files can be up to 25 MB. Upload them one at a time.

3. Leave the kind to Istos

   For these six files you don't need to set Kind. Istos recognises each one by its name, turns it into a readable document and files it for you.

4. Keep it pinned and upload

   Pin it so it goes into every prompt is ticked by default. Keep it ticked for Shares.csv and Positions.csv. Then press Upload. Istos confirms the document's title and how many words it read.

1Upload

2Choose one file

3Leave the kind to Istos

4Keep it pinned and upload

Here's what each file becomes:

• Shares.csv becomes LinkedIn posts, a voice document: your posts, each with its date. This is the one that teaches Istos how you sound.
• Positions.csv becomes Work history from LinkedIn: each role with its company, dates, location and description.
• Profile.csv, Education.csv and Skills.csv become resume documents: your headline and summary, your schooling, and your skills as a list.
• Recommendations_Received.csv becomes Recommendations from LinkedIn, a credentials document, so a draft can mention what someone said about you, with care.

Uploading a file with the same name again replaces the earlier copy, so you can refresh it next year without making duplicates. A very long file is clipped at 120,000 characters, with a note saying so.

What Istos doesn't read

Only the files you upload. Istos never sees the rest of the archive: not your messages, invitations, searches, ad data or anything else LinkedIn sends. It never logs in to LinkedIn, never reads LinkedIn pages and never sends anything on LinkedIn. Messages meant for LinkedIn are copy-and-send drafts that you paste and send yourself.

Where you'll see it

• The warm path on every job. Istos matches your connections to each role's company, so "People you know there" lists who works there, with what you have in common. On Pro you see their names and can draft a referral ask. On Starter you see how many people you know there. How to use the warm path on a job covers this.
• Leads. Your connections are leads like any other: scored, qualified and written to in your voice, but only when you choose.
• Every draft. Your posts and work history are read before Istos writes a job application, a first email or an investor intro. Pinned documents go into every one.
• Interview prep. Answers draw on your work history and recommendations, never on things you didn't write down.

If something goes wrong

• "This does not look like Connections.csv." Istos looks for LinkedIn's header row, the one that starts with First Name. Use the file straight from the archive. If you opened it in a spreadsheet and saved it again, the header may have changed.
• "That file is over 5 MB." Connections.csv is normally much smaller. Check you picked the right file.
• "Connections.csv is your network." You tried to upload it on Knowledge. Import it on Leads instead.
• "Has no rows we can read." The file is empty, or it isn't the one from the archive. Download the archive again if you need to.
• Import LinkedIn network has a lock. It's part of Pro. You can upgrade on Billing, or keep using the Knowledge upload, which works on every plan.

Next, the file employers actually open: your resume.