Profile Edit API

  • Article

Note

The use of this API is restricted to those developers approved by LinkedIn and subject to applicable data restrictions in their agreements.

Profile Edit API allows you to include functionality in your application to modify LinkedIn profiles (including changing existing fields as well as adding and deleting data from the profile sections). In order for your application to modify any member's profile, the member's authorization (via OAuth) is required.

Permissions

Permissions Description
w_compliance Required to manage and delete data for compliance. This is a private permission and access is granted to select developers.

How to Perform a Profile Edit

You must use an access token to make an authenticated call on behalf of that specific user. Only existing profiles can be edited using this API, a new profile can be created by a user using https://www.linkedin.com/. The Profile Edit API uses the response headers documented in the Request and Response Headers section. A successful profile edit will return the response code 200 OK.

All basic profile fields will follow the sample request below. Keep in mind when you update a field, the entire value will update. For example if you are adding a firstName in another language, you will need to include the original values or else it will be deleted. If you want to delete the entire field, then you will pass in a empty string or array depending on the specified object type. Alternatively, you can also use the delete field method described below.

The complex fields will require calling the corresponding sub-resources. For more information, please click on the complex field you want to perform an action on.

Note

In order to make the sample calls below succeed, you must include X-RestLi-Protocol-Version:2.0.0 in your request header.

POST https://api.linkedin.com/v2/people/(id:{person ID})

Sample JSON request body to change all the values in the field:

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "FIELD": {
                "VALUE1": "value1",
                "VALUE2": "value2",
                "VALUE3": "value3"
            }
        }
    }
}

Sample Json to delete one or more profile Basic Fields. To delete entries within Complex Fields, please refer the specific Field page for more information. If you attempt to delete a field that is mandatory, the API will return a 422 Error Response.

{
    "patch": {
        "$delete": [
            "field1",
            "field2"
        ]
    }
}

Requirements

You must adhere to the following requirements when editing LinkedIn member profiles:

  • The user must request the change to their profile
  • The users change must be posted unaltered to the profile

Supported Fields

Basic Fields

address | associations | backgroundPicture | birthDate | certificationsOrder | contactInstructions | coursesOrder | educationsOrder | firstName | geoLocation | headline | honorsOrder | ims | imsOrder | industryId | interests | languagesOrder | lastName | legacyHonors | location | maidenName | memberRichContents | organizationsOrder | patentsOrder | phoneNumbers | phoneticFirstName | phoneticLastName | positionsOrder | profilePicture | projectsOrder | publicationsOrder | selectedContactInterests | skillsOrder | specialties | summary | supportedLocales | testScoresOrder | vanityName | volunteeringExperiencesOrder | volunteeringInterests | websites

Complex Fields

certifications | courses | educations | honors | languages | organizations | patents | positions | projects | publications | skills | testScores | volunteeringExperiences

MultiLocaleString Fields

The following fields are the object type MultiLocaleString, which represents a textual fields with values for multiple locales. See here for more description on this object type.

Field Name Description
address Localizable address that a member wants to display on the profile.
associations Localizable description of organizations and associations. Deprecated on favor of "organizations" and only used for DELETE.
contactInstructions DEPRECATED. Use "phoneNumbers" and "websites" instead. Localizable notes on how to contact the member.
firstName Localizable first name of a member.
headline Localizable headline of choosing to be put on the profile.
interests DEPRECATED. Use "selectedContactInterests" instead. Localizable write-up of interests that a member wants to display on the profile.
lastName Localizable last name of a member.
maidenName Localizable maiden name of a member.
phoneticFirstName Localizable phonetic representation of firstName. Only applicable for Japanese profiles.
phoneticLastName Localizable phonetic representation of lastName. Only applicable for Japanese profiles.
specialties Localizable description of specialties. Deprecated in favor of "skills" and only used for DELETE.

Sample JSON request body to edit address :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "address": {
                "localized": {
                    "en_US": "2029 Stierlin Ct, Mountain View, CA 94043"
                },
                "preferredLocale": {
                    "country": "US",
                    "language": "en"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

MultiLocaleRichText Fields

The following fields are the object type MultiLocaleRichText, which represents a textual fields with values for multiple locales. See here for more description on this object type.

Field Name Description
legacyHonors Localizable description of honors and awards. Deprecated in favor of "honors" and only used for DELETE.
summary Localizable summary of the profile.

Sample JSON request body to edit summary :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "summary": {
                "localized": {
                    "en_US": {
                        "rawText": "Awesome summary of me."
                    }
                },
                "preferredLocale": {
                    "country": "US",
                    "language": "en"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Complex Objects Order

The following fields are long arrays that determine the intra-section order of complex fields. Each long value represents an id of the complex object. If an id is placed before another id, the former will show up before the latter on linkedin.com. If you input an id that does not map to a complex object in its field, then the API will return an error.

Field Name Description
certificationsOrder Certifications intra-section order.
coursesOrder Courses intra-section order.
educationsOrder Educations intra-section order.
honorsOrder Honors intra-section order.
imsOrder IMs intra-section order.
languagesOrder. Languages intra-section order.
organizationsOrder Organizations intra-section order.
patentsOrder Patents intra-section order.
positionsOrder Positions intra-section order.
projectsOrder Projects intra-section order.
publicationsOrder Publications intra-section order.
testScoresOrder TestScores intra-section order.
volunteeringExperiencesOrder Volunteering experiences intra-section order.

Sample JSON request body to edit educationOrder :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "educationsOrder": [
                2601123,
                2663456
            ]
        }
    }
}

Note

The education ids listed above should be retrieved from the educations field of the Profile API.

Background Picture

Edit the background picture for a member. You will first need to register, then upload the background picture image to LinkedIn and then update the member's profile with the image asset. We will walk through the following steps to update the background picture:

  1. Register the background picture image to be uploaded.
  2. Upload the background picture image to LinkedIn.
  3. Update the member's profile.

Note

Background Picture and Profile Picture edit requires the w_compliance permission

Register the Background Picture Image

Send a POST request to the assets API, with the action query parameter to registerUpload. This will need to be done twice, once for the originalImage and once for the displayImage. You can use the same image for both fields. The only difference is in the "recipes" value.

POST https://api.linkedin.com/v2/assets?action=registerUpload

We will need to provide the member's Person URN. Additional recipes and serviceRelationships define the type of content we're publishing. See the request body below for reference.

Register the Background Picture Original Image

{
  "registerUploadRequest": {
    "recipes": [
      "urn:li:digitalmediaRecipe:profile-originalbackground-image"
    ],
    "owner": "urn:li:person:ABCDEF",
    "serviceRelationships": []
  }
}

A successful response will contain an uploadUrl and asset that you will need to save for the next steps.

{
    "value": {
        "uploadMechanism": {
            "com.linkedin.digitalmedia.uploading.MediaUploadHttpRequest": {
                "headers": {},
                "uploadUrl": "https://api.linkedin.com/mediaUpload/C5604AQEMWf4Nl_mf2g/profile-original-uploadedBackgroundImage/0?ca=vector_profile&cn=uploads&m=AQKUInFL-Ndi6QAAAWhdlc4iYOO-4OMcrxikL9KS3DLPqXFLtoDF11AGYQ&app=5480656&sync=0&v=beta&ut=0Y9HvZ5fS4DoA1"
            }
        },
        "mediaArtifact": "urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifact:(urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5604AQEMWf4Nl_mf2g,urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifactClass:profile-original-uploadedBackgroundImage)",
        "asset": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5604AQEMWf4Nl_mf2g"
    }
}

Register the Background Picture Display Image

{
  "registerUploadRequest": {
    "recipes": [
      "urn:li:digitalmediaRecipe:profile-displaybackground-image"
    ],
    "owner": "urn:li:person:ABCDEF",
    "serviceRelationships": []
  }
}

A successful response will contain an uploadUrl and asset that you will need to save for the next steps.

{
    "value": {
        "uploadMechanism": {
            "com.linkedin.digitalmedia.uploading.MediaUploadHttpRequest": {
                "headers": {},
                "uploadUrl": "https://api.linkedin.com/mediaUpload/C5616AQEoeGkp7U5GEA/profile-uploadedBackgroundImage/0?ca=vector_profile&cn=uploads&m=AQIdKBw1WIgAWwAAAWhdlwvlhH13JEO0ZxBHb2VRuyAILbzD_VgJ-4UyLg&app=5480656&sync=0&v=beta&ut=1SpRkaq8G5DoA1"
            }
        },
        "mediaArtifact": "urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifact:(urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5616AQEoeGkp7U5GEA,urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifactClass:profile-uploadedBackgroundImage)",
        "asset": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5616AQEoeGkp7U5GEA"
    }
}

Upload Image Binary File

Using the uploadUrl returned from Step 1, upload your image to LinkedIn. To upload your image, send a POST request to the uploadUrl with your image included as a binary file. The example below uses cURL to upload the image file. Do this for both the originalImage and displayImage uploads. You can use the same image file for both fields, but use the upload url returned in the respective registerUpload response.

Sample Request

curl -i --upload-file /Users/peter/Desktop/superneatimage.png --header "Authorization: Bearer redacted" 'https://api.linkedin.com/mediaUpload/C5616AQEoeGkp7U5GEA/profile-uploadedBackgroundImage/0?ca=vector_profile&cn=uploads&m=AQIdKBw1WIgAWwAAAWhdlwvlhH13JEO0ZxBHb2VRuyAILbzD_VgJ-4UyLg&app=5480656&sync=0&v=beta&ut=1SpRkaq8G5DoA1'

Update the profile with the Background Picture

After the image file has successfully uploaded from Step 2, we will use the asset from Step 1 to update the profile with the new background picture.

Note

It is necessary and recommended to specify both the originalImage and displayImage fields in the profile update API call with the corresponding asset URNs. This is to avoid mismatches between the original and display images.

Sample Request Body

{
  "patch": {
    "backgroundPicture": {
      "$set": {
        "originalImage": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5604AQEMWf4Nl_mf2g",
        "displayImage": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5616AQEoeGkp7U5GEA"
      }
    }
  }
}

Birth Date

Edit the member's birth date: day, month and year. See here for more description on this object type.

Sample JSON request body to edit birthDate :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "birthDate": {
                "day": 1,
                "month": 1,
                "year": 1974
            }
        }
    }
}

IMs

Edit the member's ims. See Im Fields for a description of the fields available within this object.

Sample request body to create an im :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "ims": {
                "bobsmith-linkedin": {
                    "id": "bobsmith-linkedin",
                    "provider": "GTalk"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

To create, update or delete an im, you will need to include all the other ims as this API edits the whole ims field instead of individual im.

You will need to make sure the value of the top value on an im object matches the id value in the same object. In addition, the provider needs to be one of the following enums in the Im Fields above. Lastly, you can have up to 3 ims at one time.

Industry ID

Edit the member's industry. Requires a standardized referenced industry URN.

Sample JSON request body to edit industryId :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "industryId": "urn:li:industry:47"
        }
    }
}

Location

New Location

Edit the member's current location. See geoLocation field for a description of the fields available within this object.

Sample JSON request body to edit geoLocation:

{
  "patch": {
    "$set": {
      "geoLocation": {
        "geo": "urn:li:geo:123456789"
      }
    }
  }
}

Legacy Location

Edit the member's current location. See location field for a description of the fields available within this object.

Sample JSON request body to edit location :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "location": {
                "countryCode": "us",
                "postalCode": "94101",
                "standardizedLocationUrn": "urn:li:standardizedLocationKey:(us,94101)"
            }
        }
    }
}

Member Rich Contents

Edit the member's rich content summary. This field is an array of MemberRichContentUrn.

Sample JSON request body to edit memberRichContents:

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "memberRichContents": [
                "urn:li:memberRichContent:(urn:li:person:yrZCpj2ZYQ,1586981719813)",
                "urn:li:memberRichContent:(urn:li:person:yrZCpj2ZYQ,1586981706752)",
            ]
        }
    }
}

Phone Numbers

Edit the member's phone numbers. See Phone Number Fields for a description of the fields available within this object.

Sample JSON request body to edit phoneNumbers :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "phoneNumbers": [
                {
                    "number": "123-444-5555",
                    "type": "WORK"
                },
                {
                    "number": "(222) 333-4444",
                    "type": "HOME"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Profile Picture

Edit the member's profile photo. You will first need to register, then upload the profile picture image to LinkedIn and then update the member's profile with the image asset. We will walk through the following steps to update the profile picture:

  1. Register the profile picture image to be uploaded.
  2. Upload the profile picture image to LinkedIn.
  3. Update the member's profile.

Note

Background Picture and Profile Picture edit requires the w_compliance permission

Register the Profile Picture Image

Send a POST request to the assets API, with the action query parameter to registerUpload. This will need to be done twice, once for the originalImage and once for the displayImage. You can use the same image for both fields. The only difference is in the "recipes" value.

POST https://api.linkedin.com/v2/assets?action=registerUpload

We will need to provide the member's Person URN. Additional recipes and serviceRelationships define the type of content we're publishing. See the request body below for reference.

Register the Profile Picture Original Image

{
  "registerUploadRequest": {
    "recipes": [
      "urn:li:digitalmediaRecipe:profile-originalphoto-image"
    ],
    "owner": "urn:li:person:ABCDEF",
    "serviceRelationships": []
  }
}

A successful response will contain an uploadUrl and asset that you will need to save for the next steps.

{
  "value": {
    "uploadMechanism": {
      "com.linkedin.digitalmedia.uploading.MediaUploadHttpRequest": {
        "headers": {},
        "uploadUrl": "https://api.linkedin.com/mediaUpload/C5604AQETz3tP1vbVrA/profile-original-uploadedImage/0?ca=vector_profile&cn=uploads&m=AQIMP2H3hPHVQgAAAWhdrSbB12VmhiQ0V0e5P2gkANXgOa512YhoXwQHCA&app=5480656&sync=0&v=beta&ut=0VMl1rOvOtDoA1"
      }
    },
    "mediaArtifact": "urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifact:(urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5604AQETz3tP1vbVrA,urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifactClass:profile-original-uploadedImage)",
    "asset": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5604AQETz3tP1vbVrA"
  }
}

Register the Profile Picture Display Image

{
  "registerUploadRequest": {
    "recipes": [
      "urn:li:digitalmediaRecipe:profile-displayphoto-image"
    ],
    "owner": "urn:li:person:ABCDEF",
    "serviceRelationships": []
  }
}

A successful response will contain an uploadUrl and asset that you will need to save for the next steps.

{
    "value": {
        "uploadMechanism": {
            "com.linkedin.digitalmedia.uploading.MediaUploadHttpRequest": {
                "headers": {},
                "uploadUrl": "https://api.linkedin.com/mediaUpload/C5603AQEZ69UT8-eyQg/profile-uploadedImage/0?ca=vector_profile&cn=uploads&m=AQL93-s4C9ABlAAAAWhdsCVA1e4g-pLr25mZkiJf_Oj8yalEZyrBe7wBZg&app=5480656&sync=0&v=beta&ut=2zm8ziQVmwDoA1"
            }
        },
        "mediaArtifact": "urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifact:(urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5603AQEZ69UT8-eyQg,urn:li:digitalmediaMediaArtifactClass:profile-uploadedImage)",
        "asset": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5603AQEZ69UT8-eyQg"
    }
}

Upload Image Binary File

Using the uploadUrl returned from Step 1, upload your image to LinkedIn. To upload your image, send a PUT request to the uploadUrl with your image included as a binary file. The example below uses cURL to upload the image file. Do this for both the originalImage and displayImage uploads. You can use the same image file for both fields, but use the upload url returned in the respective registerUpload response.

Sample Request

curl -i --upload-file /Users/peter/Desktop/superneatimage.png --header "Authorization: Bearer redacted" 'https://api.linkedin.com/mediaUpload/C5603AQEZ69UT8-eyQg/profile-uploadedImage/0?ca=vector_profile&cn=uploads&m=AQL93-s4C9ABlAAAAWhdsCVA1e4g-pLr25mZkiJf_Oj8yalEZyrBe7wBZg&app=5480656&sync=0&v=beta&ut=2zm8ziQVmwDoA1'

Update the profile with the Profile Picture

After the image file has successfully uploaded from Step 2, we will use the asset from Step 1 to update the profile with the new profile picture.

Note

It is necessary and recommended to specify both the originalImage and displayImage fields in the profile update API call with the corresponding asset URNs. This is to avoid mismatches between the original and display images.

Sample Request Body

{
  "patch": {
    "profilePicture": {
      "$set": {
        "originalImage": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5604AQETz3tP1vbVrA",
        "displayImage": "urn:li:digitalmediaAsset:C5603AQEZ69UT8-eyQg"
      }
    }
  }
}

Selected Contact Interests

Edit the member's rich media summary. This field is an array of ContactInterests.

Sample JSON request body to edit selectedContactInterests :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "selectedContactInterests": [
                {
                    "predefinedInterest": "GRABBING_COFFEE"
                },
                {
                    "predefinedInterest": "INVESTING"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Supported Locales

Edit the member's supported locales. These locales determine the translations of the profile the member chose to create. This field is an array of Locale.

Sample JSON request body to edit supportedLocales :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "supportedLocales": [
                {
                    "country": "US",
                    "language": "en"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Vanity Name

Edit the member's vanity name.  Vanity name is represented as a string and is used for the public profile URL (www.linkedin.com/in/{vanityName}).

Note

Your custom URL must contain 3-100 letters or numbers. Please do not use spaces, symbols, or special characters.

Sample JSON request body to edit vanityName :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "vanityName": "bobsmith"
        }
    }
}

Volunteering Interests

Edit the member's volunteering interests. See Volunteering Interest Fields for a description of the fields available within this object.

Sample JSON request body to edit volunteeringInterests :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "volunteeringInterests": {
                "supportedPredefinedCauses": [
                    "humanitarianRelief",
                    "politics",
                    "socialServices"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Websites

Edit the member's websites. This field is an array of Website.

Sample JSON request body to edit websites :

{
    "patch": {
        "$set": {
            "websites": [
                {
                    "category": "OTHER",
                    "label": {
                        "localized": {
                            "en_US": "MY OTHER WEBSITE"
                        },
                        "preferredLocale": {
                            "country": "US",
                            "language": "en"
                        }
                    },
                    "url": {
                        "localized": {
                            "en_US": "http://www.linkedin-other.com"
                        },
                        "preferredLocale": {
                            "country": "US",
                            "language": "en"
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "category": "PERSONAL",
                    "url": {
                        "localized": {
                            "en_US": "http://www.linkedin-personal.com"
                        },
                        "preferredLocale": {
                            "country": "US",
                            "language": "en"
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}