Why the New Extension Matters to You
We know that keeping your database updated is critical to your success as recruiters. Our brand-new side panel Chrome extension helps you expand your network by extracting role, experience, and education records, along with profile photos, in one click.
When you open the extension, it appears on the right-hand screen while you browse LinkedIn. It immediately tells you if a candidate already exists in your Thrive database and allows you to quickly capture their profile as a PDF to create or update their record.
Before You Begin: Remove the Legacy Extension
To ensure everything runs perfectly and you don't experience any glitches, you must remove the older version of our extension before installing the new one.
Open your Chrome browser and locate your current Thrive extension icon.
Right-click the icon and select Remove from Chrome (or delete it via your browser's extension manager).
How to Install the New Extension
The installation process is simple and only takes a minute:
Log into your Thrive account
Navigate to My Account (the People icon in the upper right corner)
Find Integrations
Click Enable Chrome Extensions, which will redirect you straight to the Chrome Web Store
Click Add extension in the web store
Pin the extension to view Thrive’s icon in your Chrome browser
Crucial Step: Return to your Thrive tab and refresh the page. (Note: A page refresh is currently required to get the extension to sync!)
Click to Authorize the extension
Important Note on Monthly Limit
LinkedIn’s Terms of Service includes a Monthly Download Policy that places limits on profile downloads. LinkedIn Recruiter users can export 200 profiles per month, per seat via PDF. Read LinkedIn's policy below.
When you approach or exceed the monthly limit, you'll receive a notification within your Recruiter account in a pop-up window that appears on the bottom of the page. The monthly download limit refreshes on the 1st of each month. If you exceed the monthly limit, your ability to export profiles will be disabled until the following calendar month. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is used for calculating a month.
If you receive a notification that you are close to the limit, contact support. We have solutions in place and can provide assistance as needed.
How to Use the Side Panel
Once installed, simply click the Thrive icon to load the side panel extension while viewing any candidate's LinkedIn profile. The side panel will slide out and automatically recognize if the person is already in your database.
If the profile is NOT in Thrive: You will see an "Add person to Thrive" indicator. Click the Save to PDF button on the candidate's profile. The extension will ingest that PDF and prompt you to build a new profile for them in Thrive, pre-loaded with first and last name, a profile photo, their top three skills, job title, and experience.
If the profile IS in Thrive: You will see a handy link directly to their Thrive profile. You can also click Save to PDF to quickly pull their latest career updates into their existing Thrive record.
Click the Save to PDF button on the candidate's profile. The extension will automatically ingest that PDF and create a brand-new profile for them in Thrive.
The Save to PDF button will always be found by clicking on the More button on a person’s LinkedIn profile. Depending on your connection status to the person you are viewing, the More button location may vary, but you’ll always find it within the top section of a profile page, just beneath the job title and connection information.
Other Side Panel Features
We’ve enhanced the LinkedIn Chrome Extension side panel to make working with candidate profiles in Thrive faster, more intuitive, and more actionable.
When a profile is recognized as already existing in Thrive, the side panel now surfaces key details such as off-limits status, associated projects, and last updated date—giving you immediate context without leaving LinkedIn.
From there, you can take action directly within the side panel, including:
Adding the candidate to projects or lists
Logging outreach activity
Navigating directly to the candidate’s Thrive profile
These updates are designed to reduce context switching and help you move faster when reviewing and managing candidates.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why do I need to install a new version of the Chrome Extension?
The existing extension relied on consistency in profile displays across LinkedIn. When LinkedIn unveiled UI changes or made adjustments to profile displays, the extension had to be updated to continue working, which was frustrating for users. The new version completely bypasses this issue by using a "Save to PDF" method, which is significantly more reliable and keeps your data ingestion running smoothly without constant interruptions.
Is there a deadline to complete the installation? What happens if I don’t?
While there technically is no deadline, we recommend you switch to the Side Panel extension as soon as possible for optimal performance. Our engineering team will no longer support the legacy extension, which means it will no longer receive bug fixes or updates, so if the extension breaks, it becomes unusable.
Why do only three skills pull over to the candidate's Thrive profile?
Because of how LinkedIn currently exports profile data to PDFs, only the "Top 3" skills chosen by the LinkedIn member are brought over to Thrive. The good news is that any keywords mentioned within their job experience descriptions become fully searchable in Thrive.
How are those top three skills selected?
The top three skills correspond to the first three skills listed on a candidate's profile, which they can adjust and re-order while editing their page.
Help! I received an alert from LinkedIn that I'm approaching the PDF profile download limit. What are my next steps?
Reach out Thrive support (support@thrivetrm.com) to let them know. They can assist to ensure you are still able to get profiles added to Thrive.
Is there anything I can do to keep my PDF profile limit low?
Yes. Prioritize adding new contacts with four or more experience records listed on their profile rather than refreshing existing profiles. If you do need to refresh, only do so when a majority of the candidate's experience record is outdated.
My extension is acting a little laggy when I open a profile. What should I do?
Sometimes the side panel may take a second to load the "Add person to Thrive" button when you first open a new profile. Give it a brief moment to recognize the page, or simply refresh your LinkedIn tab.
Does this new extension work for both Thrive 1.0 and 2.0?
Yes! The new side panel extension is designed to support all users, regardless of which version of Thrive you are currently using. If you are actively back and forth between environments, you don't have to remove it your extension, but we do recommend toggling it off in your manage extension settings, and then authorizing in the current tenant environment you plan to use. Toggle on and off and authorize each time you switch.
Why are some locations showing as "Unknown" in the main index? This can occasionally happen due to a data mapping delay between the imported LinkedIn location and Thrive's internal geography database. If you see this, clicking Edit on the profile and re-saving the location manually will fix the display.
Why did some formatting (like bullet points) change after import? When experience descriptions are imported, bulleted lists may be converted into plain-text symbols (like stars *). This is a byproduct of how the PDF text is parsed. You may want to do a quick review of the text formatting for high-priority candidates.
My extension disappeared or showed an error page. What should I do? Follow the steps above to remove your Chrome extension, redownload from the Chrome Web Store, and authorize the integration in Thrive TRM.
Are international profiles supported? Yes, but be aware that if a user’s LinkedIn profile is set to a specific language (e.g., French), the LinkedIn-generated resume—and thus the Thrive import—will reflect that language.
If I have a downloaded version of an existing candidates Linkedin Profile, can I then refresh the profile using the PDF directly in Thrive?
No, the Linkedin Chrome Extension already uses the Linkedin PDF in order to create or update a candidates profile in Thrive. The best option would be to simply refresh the contact using the Side Panel Chrome Extension.