How to Make Basic LinkedIn Account Changes

To review the settings under Accounts, begin by clicking the Me icon on the top navigation bar of any LinkedIn page. Then under the Account header, click Settings & Privacy. The Settings & Privacy screen appears. Click Basic if necessary (it’s usually selected by default).

Following are the basic settings you can update, either one at a time or all at once, depending on whether you’re in the initial setup phase or refining your account as time goes by. Here’s how to update the basic Account settings:

• To add another email address to your account:
  1. Scroll down a little bit to E-Mail Address, and click its Change link. The screen shown below appears. When you started your LinkedIn account, you had to provide a valid email address. But if you use multiple email addresses, or have a past email account that previous colleagues or friends used with you, you probably want to add them to your account so that more people can find you. Don’t worry; the email addresses are not publicly viewable unless you give the okay.
     Track the email addresses associated with your account.
  2. Click the Add E-Mail Address link.
  3. Add the new email address in the text box provided.
  4. Click the Send Verification button. LinkedIn sends a verification email to the address you’ve provided.
  5. Click the link in the verification email.
• To choose a new primary email: Click Make Primary next to the email address.
• To get rid of an email address: Click Remove next to the address. This feature is useful if an email account becomes inactive or is hacked, or you don’t want it associated with your account.
• To associate a phone number with your account:
  1. Click Change next to Phone Numbers.
  2. Click the Add Phone Number link and then choose the Country from the newly displayed drop-down list. Add the phone number in the New Phone Number box.
  3. Click the Send Code button to send the number to LinkedIn.
  4. When you receive a text message from LinkedIn with a 6-digit verification code, add that code in the appropriate text.
  5. You might want to associate a phone number with your account so that LinkedIn can call or text your phone to verify your identity if you forget your password.
• To change your password:
  1. Click Change next to the Change Password setting. Below the Change link is a date for the last time you changed your password.
  2. Type your new password twice, and then verify that you’re not a computer or robot.
  3. Click the Save button. LinkedIn updates your account with your new password.
• To change the language, name, location or industry associated with your account: Scroll down and click Change next to the appropriate setting. Follow the steps presented and fill in the information as appropriate for you, and then click Close.

  If you get married and your name changes, you may want to update your name here. And of course, if you move, you’ll want to change your Location setting. If a new job means you are now working in a different industry, change your Industry setting so people see the appropriate setting on your LinkedIn page.

• To see where you have an open, active LinkedIn session: Scroll down a little bit, and click Change next to Where You’re Signed In. When you’ve finished reviewing this section, click Close.

  Every time you bring up LinkedIn on your computer, tablet, smartphone, or other Internet-capable device, you create a new session tied to your account. When you expand this option, you see not only your current session, but also any additional sessions and the length of time those sessions have been open.

  The list of current open LinkedIn sessions.

  To close any sessions that you’re no longer using, click Sign Out of All These Sessions or click Sign Out for an individual session. In this way, someone else with access to your device won’t also have access to your account.

• To update the sources used to build your LinkedIn news feed, click Change next to Feed Preferences. You can change the sources of your news feed if you choose.
• To allow other people to mention you in LinkedIn posts and comments: Click Change next to Mentions by Others, and change the setting to Yes.
• To make videos on your LinkedIn screen play automatically: Click Change next to Autoplay Videos, and make sure the setting is set to Yes.
• To hide the profile photos of people you see on LinkedIn: Click Change next to Showing Profile Photos. Change the Select Whose Photos You’d Like to See setting to No One. These settings can be helpful if you have a slow Internet connection and want to optimize how much data is coming through when you use LinkedIn. If you prevent videos from playing and pictures from displaying, your LinkedIn web pages should load faster if you have a slow connection.
• If you frequently use LinkedIn to apply for jobs: Click Change next to Saving Job Application Answers. Set to Yes the filter that allows LinkedIn to save the answers to your job application. Now when you apply to jobs on LinkedIn, you’ll be able to store certain answers so you can reuse them on future applications. In addition, you’ll be able to use the Stored Job Applicant Accounts setting to manage which account info you want saved as part of your LinkedIn account.
• To download your LinkedIn data from the server: Click Change next to Download Your Data. A number of options are available for data you can retrieve from LinkedIn’s servers.
• To manage which websites you’ve authorized to share data with LinkedIn: Click Change next to Permitted Services. Or click the Partners & Services link from the left sidebar. When you open your list of permitted services, you’ll see a list of processes that can interface with your LinkedIn account. To delete a function that you don’t want interfacing with your account, click the function’s Remove link.
  Manage the functions that can interface with your LinkedIn account.
• To connect your Twitter account to your LinkedIn account: Click Change next to Twitter Settings. You can add one or more Twitter accounts to your LinkedIn account, and set whether you want to display your Twitter account in your LinkedIn profile.One of the primary benefits of linking the two accounts is if you want to share LinkedIn updates, long-form posts, or articles with your Twitter followers. Be warned that sharing every post on Twitter, as well as LinkedIn, could be seen as off-putting to your Twitter followers, so share when appropriate.
• To upgrade your account to a paid Premium account: Click Change next to Try Premium for Free. Or click the Subscriptions link in the left sidebar.
• To close your LinkedIn account for good: Click Change next to Closing Your LinkedIn Account. main reason to use this setting is if you have more than one LinkedIn account, which is addressed next.
• To merge two LinkedIn accounts: Click the Change link next to Merging LinkedIn Accounts. Provide the login information for your duplicate account, and then click Submit.

  Perhaps you joined LinkedIn years ago and did a little business, but then forgot your login information and created a new account a few years later. When you have multiple accounts, people will find it confusing and wonder which account to connect with or send messages to. Therefore, LinkedIn enables you to merge accounts, without losing any connections on the old account.

  When you click Change, you see the account you’re currently logged into. In the boxes, enter the email address and password for your second account. After you click Submit, LinkedIn transfers your connections from the second account to the first account, and allows you to review and confirm the transfer. After you do that, LinkedIn closes the second account.
  Merge two accounts into one.