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LinkedIn® Connector – Frequently Asked Questions

Important note: Internet Explorer 9 is not yet supported by Salesforce and there are several known issues, including one that impacts the in|force Connector. Salesforce is aware of the issue and working on a fix, but until they officially support IE9 we recommend that you use a supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari or IE8).

What is the in|force Connector?

The in|force Connector for Salesforce CRM combines the power of Salesforce.com’s leading CRM functionality with the wealth of information available in LinkedIn®. With the in|force Connector, you now have the ability to view your company’s contact data right alongside your contact’s LinkedIn® profile, providing the ultimate contact profile … After all, no one knows more about your contacts than they do themselves. Read more about the Connector here.

Who can use the in|force Connector?

The in|force Connector is a free utility Redkite created because we wanted to bring together two things we can’t live without, the power of Salesforce CRM and the wealth of information provided by LinkedIn®. Anyone can use the Connector. All you need is a valid Salesforce ID and a LinkedIn® ID. If you don’t already have a LinkedIn® ID, signup for a free account. Once you have an ID, and your administrator has installed the Connector in your Saleforce Org, you’re ready to go. You don’t even need to have a huge LinkedIn® network to view LinkedIn® profiles. Even better, the Connector makes it simple to add new people to your LinkedIn® network, so once you start using the Connector, your network will grow quickly. Enjoy!

How do I install the in|force Connector?

The Connector can be downloaded from the Salesforce AppExchange. Please have your Salesforce Administrator follow the deployment guide.

How do I add a LinkedIn® Profile to my Salesforce Contact?

When you view a contact in Salesforce, you will see a link “Click to Find LinkedIn® Profile“. When you click this link, the Connector will automatically search LinkedIn® for all contacts with the same Name and Company as your contact. Once you find the right person, simply click the Use this Profile button and you’re all set. If you cannot find the correct person, you can refine your search, or choose to not link any of the profiles.

Can I add the in|force Connector to my Leads page layout?

Presently the in|force Connector only works for Contacts. We are already planning the next version of the Connector and support for Leads is at the top of the list. We’ll be sure to let fans of the in|force Connector know as soon as the next version is available.

What if my organization uses Salesforce Person Accounts?

If your organization uses Person Accounts, the in|force Connector will not work as it is designed to work on the Contact page rather than the Account page. Person Accounts will be supported in a future release — if this is important to you, please let us know.

Does the Connector work in all editions of Salesforce?

With the release of 1.2, the in|force Connector works for all editions from Group Edition up. Better yet, as the in|force Connector is an Aloha app, it does not count the standard limits for AppExchange installs for these editions. Unfortunately, users of Contact Manager Edition may not install any AppExchange applications. If you’d like to cast your vote to allow Contact Manager users to install Aloha apps, you can do so on the IdeaExchange.

What browsers does the Connector support?

The Connector supports the same browsers that Salesforce fully supports: Firefox 3.0+, Safari 3.2+ and Internet Explorer 7+. Internet Explorer 6 is not supported at this time, but if there is enough demand we can look at including it. Chrome is not officially supported by Salesforce, but we use it all the time and the Connector looks great in it.

I see LinkedIn® profiles for people I haven’t linked. How does that work?

If someone in your organization adds a LinkedIn® Profile to one of your contacts, you will see that profile without having to add it yourself. Even if the contact is not in your LinkedIn® network, you can still see the LinkedIn® Public Profile. If you want to connect to this person on LinkedIn®, simply click on the link to “Add contact to your network“.

Can other people see my LinkedIn® contacts?

If you add a LinkedIn® profile to a contact, any person in your organization who can see that contact will also see the LinkedIn® Profile. If another user clicks on the link to “View profile in LinkedIn®“, they will only see data available to them based on their own LinkedIn® degree of relationship.

What if my contact has the wrong LinkedIn® profile?

Sometimes a contact might be linked to the wrong LinkedIn® Profile. If you think there is a better profile out there, simply click on the “Search LinkedIn®” link at the bottom right corner of the LinkedIn® Profile section and the Connector will search for a new profile. If you still cannot find the right person, you can either continue to use the existing profile, or remove the LinkedIn® profile from Salesforce directly from the search page.

When I search I get a message saying I’ve exceeded my maximum allowed searches for the day. What’s that about?

LinkedIn® currently limits the number of searches you can perform on a daily basis. Most days that’s ok. But occasionally, you might get a friendly reminder that you have exceeded the number of searches you’re allowed to perform. Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to view Profiles for people you have already linked. You might just have to come back tomorrow to add that new profile to your contact. And because we know you’ll like the Connector so much, Redkite is working with LinkedIn® to have that number increased.

I’m viewing a contact with a LinkedIn® Profile, but I see a message that says I’ve exceeded the maximum profile views for a day. Will I ever be able to see the LinkedIn® Profile for that contact?

Yes. LinkedIn® currently limits the number of new Profile views you can perform in a day. Occasionally, you might exceed those limits. We think that means you deserve a break, but because you’re probably not going to get one, instead you’re going to friendly reminder that the profile cannot be viewed today. When you view that contact tomorrow, you’ll be able to see the LinkedIn® Profile just like you would expect. For most of your recently viewed contacts you will still be able to view their LinkedIn® Profile, but you won’t be able to refresh the profile until tomorrow.

Does the Connector save my LinkedIn® password?

No. Your password is never seen, passed or stored by anyone besides LinkedIn®. For the technically inclined, this is managed using OAuth authentication, which you can read more about here.

How do I log myself out of LinkedIn®?

When you authenticate yourself to LinkedIn®, you are given the option to log in for a period of time (one day, one week or thirty days), or to log in “until revoked”. To revoke the LinkedIn® authentication, visit LinkedIn® and go to Settings » Authorized Applications, select LinkedIn Connector for Salesforce and click Remove.

Why won’t LinkedIn® let me stay logged in?

There are two potential causes for this.

1. There is an issue with staying logged in when using Internet Explorer IE(see the Deployment Guide for more information). To fix this:

  1. In Internet Explorer, select Tools | Internet Options
  2. Go to the Privacy tab
  3. Click on the “Sites…” button
  4. Enter “force.com” for the Address of website and click “Allow“
  5. Click “OK“

2. If you share your Salesforce login, then the Connector is connecting to LinkedIn using different LinkedIn accounts and gets a bit confused. When you click to re-log in, LinkedIn will remember that you have previously logged in and it’s just one more click to log in again.

Why can’t I log into LinkedIn® at all?

Your browser may not be accepting third-party cookies. This page has information on how to change the setting in your browser.

Why do I need my own LinkedIn® API Key?

Because LinkedIn® has limits on the number of times per day an application can make calls to its API — and this is controlled by the API key — each organization installing the in|force Connector must have its own API key. For more information on API keys, see the deployment guide.

How do I get a LinkedIn® API Key?

See the deployment guide.

How do I give the Connector a 5-star rating on the AppExchange?

Easy! Redkite in|force Connector">Write a 5-star review here!

My company would like to customize the in|force Connector — can this be done?

The Connector is currently offered only as a managed package, meaning that it cannot be customized, but please get in touch and we can discuss your requirements.

Why can I only see very basic information in the profile?

This was caused by a change to LinkedIn®’s API that causes some hiccups with the Connector. If you’re still seeing this, then upgrade to the latest version of the connector.

Why can’t I see past position and education on some profiles?

LinkedIn® only provides the Past Positions and Education entries for contacts who you are directly connected to — for 2nd or 3rd degree relationships you will still have to navigate through to the LinkedIn® profile page to see this information.

In the “How You’re Connected to …” section, why are some names hyperlinks?

The names that appear as hyperlinks are contacts that exist in Salesforce and have been linked to LinkedIn profiles already. Clicking on the link will take you to that contact’s detail page.

What do I do when I see the error message “An error has occurred connecting to LinkedIn”?

Usually this means that the LinkedIn API Keys are not set, or are not correct. Repeat the steps in the deployment guide and see if that helps. Clicking on “Show Error Detail” will display technical information returned from LinkedIn — it’s probably not that useful, but if you can’t figure out what’s going on, copy and paste it into an email to us and we’ll see if we can help.

How can I tell what version of the connector I have installed?

In Salesforce, go to Setup » App Setup » View Installed Packages .

How do I uninstall the Connector?

To completely uninstall, you first need to remove anything that references the Connector, so remove components from your page layouts, and if you created a workflow rule (described above), delete that. This effectively removes the functionality from your org, but if you want to go further, go to Setup » App Setup » View Installed Packages and click on the uninstall link. However, this will delete all of the links between your contacts and their LinkedIn profiles, so you may just want to stop at removing the components from the Contact page layout.

I get an “Install Failed” error trying to deploy the connector – what’s up with that?

Honestly, we don’t know. However, we recommend trying again, but this time checking the box that says “Ignore Apex Test Errors….”. And keep your fingers crossed.

What does it mean if I get a “LICENSE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED” error message while installing ?

You can safely ignore this – repeat the installation step, but this time check the box that says “Ignore Apex Test Errors….” and it should install with no issues.

When trying to search for a contact in LinkedIn®, what does the error message – “Argument 1 cannot be null” – mean?

Usually this means that the LinkedIn® API keys have not be set up properly. Make sure that you have your LinkedIn® API keys and that you’ve entered them as described in the deployment guide.

Can I remove the Redkite logos?

Sure, but not in this free version. Get in touch to discuss pricing.