---
title: "Sales Navigator URL Converter: 2 Methods"
description: "Convert Sales Navigator URLs to LinkedIn URLs: the anatomy of each URL form, a copy-paste bulk formula, and the limits nobody mentions before you send."
canonical: "https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/sales-navigator-url-converter"
category: "LinkedIn Sales Navigator"
updated: "2026-07-26"
---

# Sales Navigator URL Converter

> A Sales Navigator URL converter turns a link like linkedin.com/sales/lead/ACwAAA...,NAME,abcd into a standard linkedin.com/in/ link that works for people without a Sales Navigator seat. The conversion itself is a string operation: take the segment between /lead/ and the first comma, which is the member identifier, and append it to linkedin.com/in/. It takes one formula to do in bulk. What is worth knowing before you rely on it is that the result is a member-ID link rather than the person's vanity URL, and it only resolves for a viewer who is signed in to LinkedIn.

*Canonical: https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/sales-navigator-url-converter* · *LinkedIn Sales Navigator*

---

You share a prospect with a colleague, they click, and they land on an upgrade page instead of a profile. That is the whole problem in one sentence: a Sales Navigator link is scoped to the product, not to LinkedIn, so anyone without a seat gets a wall.

The fix is a string operation, not a tool purchase. This guide breaks down what each URL form contains, gives you the one-line spreadsheet formula that converts a whole column at once, tells you honestly what the converted link still cannot do, and covers the case where converting is the wrong move because there is a shorter path to what you actually wanted.

**The recipe, if you only need one link right now:** in `linkedin.com/sales/lead/ACwAAA123,NAME,abcd`, take `ACwAAA123`, the part between `/lead/` and the first comma, and open `https://www.linkedin.com/in/ACwAAA123` while signed in to LinkedIn. Copy the address it settles on. Everything below is why that works, how to do it to a whole column, and when not to bother.

## What a Sales Navigator URL converter actually does

A Sales Navigator URL converter extracts the identifier buried in a Sales Navigator link and rebuilds it as a standard LinkedIn address. There is no lookup, no database and no API call involved: the identifier you need is already sitting in the URL you have.

That matters for two practical reasons. It means the conversion is free and instant, whatever tool claims to do it for you. And it means the operation is deterministic, so a formula in a spreadsheet gets exactly the same result as a hosted converter, which is what the bulk method below relies on.

What it does not do is verify anything. A converted link is a well-formed guess that the identifier still belongs to a live profile. If the person deleted their account, the converted URL is well-formed and dead, and nothing in the conversion step will tell you.

## Why Sales Navigator URLs break outside the platform

Sales Navigator runs on its own routes under linkedin.com/sales/, and those routes require an active seat. A viewer without one is redirected to a sales page rather than to the content, which is why the link looks broken even though nothing is wrong with it.

The consequences show up in ordinary work. A link pasted into a CRM record is unusable by any teammate without a seat. A link in a shared prospect list is dead for the marketing colleague you asked to review it. A link stored in a database ages badly, because it is tied to a product subscription rather than to the public web.

The same reasoning applies to anything that outlives the subscription. Seats get reassigned when someone leaves, a team downgrades between contracts, and a link that worked for the person who saved it stops working for whoever inherits the account. None of that touches the underlying profile, which is exactly why the standard address is the one worth keeping.

The rule of thumb is simple: store the standard LinkedIn URL, keep the Sales Navigator one only as long as you are working inside the tool.

There is a storage consequence that bites months later. Teams that mix both forms in the same column end up with duplicate contacts that no deduplication rule catches, because a member-ID link and a vanity link are different strings pointing at the same person. Pick one form, normalise on it, and convert everything else into it as it arrives rather than leaving both in the same field.

## The anatomy of a Sales Navigator lead URL

Three URL forms come out of Sales Navigator, and they convert differently. Reading them once saves a lot of guessing.

| Form | What it looks like | What converts |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lead | linkedin.com/sales/lead/ACwAAA...,NAME,SEARCH_ID | The segment between /lead/ and the first comma |
| Company or account | linkedin.com/sales/company/1234567 | The numeric company ID at the end |
| Search or list | linkedin.com/sales/search/people?query=... | Nothing. There is no public equivalent |

The lead form is the one people mean when they talk about conversion. The string starting with ACwAAA is the member identifier, an opaque and stable reference to the person. The two values after the commas are contextual: a name token and the identifier of the search or list the lead came from. Neither is needed once you have the member identifier, which is why the recipe is to cut at the first comma.

The search form is worth calling out because it is the one that generates the most disappointment. A saved search is a query inside the product; there is no public URL that reproduces it, so no converter can give you one. If you need the results outside the tool, you need an export, not a conversion.

## Manual method: convert one URL in ten seconds

1. Copy the full Sales Navigator lead URL.
2. Take everything between `/lead/` and the first comma. That is the member identifier.
3. Paste it after `https://www.linkedin.com/in/`.
4. Open it while signed in to LinkedIn. The profile loads and the address bar usually settles on the person's vanity URL.

That last step is the one most guides skip, and it is the useful one. The member-ID link works, but it is not the address you want to store long term. Letting LinkedIn resolve it and copying what lands in the address bar gives you the clean, human-readable vanity URL that will still make sense to a colleague in six months.

For a company URL, the same logic applies with a different shape: take the numeric ID from linkedin.com/sales/company/1234567 and put it after https://www.linkedin.com/company/. It resolves the same way, and our guide to [company search in Sales Navigator](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/company-search) covers where those account URLs come from.

## Bulk method: build a Sales Navigator URL converter in your spreadsheet

Ten seconds per URL is fine for one lead and unworkable for four hundred. Since the conversion is a pure string operation, a spreadsheet does it for free at any volume. Put your Sales Navigator links in column A and drop this into B2:

```
=IF(A2="","","https://www.linkedin.com/in/"&REGEXEXTRACT(A2,"/lead/([^,?]+)"))
```

For company and account URLs, the same idea with the numeric identifier:

```
=IF(A2="","","https://www.linkedin.com/company/"&REGEXEXTRACT(A2,"/company/(\d+)"))
```

Some locales expect semicolons rather than commas as argument separators. If the formula errors, swap them. The regular expression handles the two variants that trip people up: links that end at the first comma, and links that carry a query string after a question mark.

In Excel there is no REGEXEXTRACT outside recent Microsoft 365 builds, so use the text functions instead: `=TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2,"/lead/"),",")` gives you the identifier, and you concatenate it the same way. On older versions, MID with two SEARCH calls does the same job with more parentheses.

Wrap it in `IFERROR` if your column mixes Sales Navigator links with standard ones, so the rows that do not match a pattern stay empty instead of filling with errors you then have to hunt down. One shape it will not match is a `/sales/people/` link, which has no `/lead/` segment: those come from a different view and need the profile opened once to recover a usable address.

## What a Sales Navigator URL converter cannot give you

Three limits are worth knowing before you build a process on top of converted links.

1. **The result is a member-ID link, not a vanity URL.** It works, but it is opaque, and two rows pointing at the same person can look different depending on which form you stored.
2. **It expects a signed-in viewer.** The member-ID form is not a public address, and a script without a session will not get the profile. The vanity URL behaves better here, though LinkedIn still shows an authentication wall to logged-out visitors in many cases.
3. **It confirms nothing about the person.** No name, no current company, no job title, and no signal that the account still exists. Conversion is syntax, not data.

None of those make conversion useless. They just mean a converted URL is an input to the next step rather than the end of the job.

## From a converted URL to a workable record

What most people actually want is not a link, it is a row: a name, a company, a title, something a colleague can act on. Once you hold standard profile URLs, [Enrich Leads](https://derrick-app.com/features/enrich-leads) turns each one into a full profile at 1 credit per profile, available on the free plan. That is the step that turns a converted link into something worth storing.

Two prerequisites are worth stating plainly. Enrichment reads LinkedIn, so it needs a LinkedIn account connected through the Derrick Chrome extension, and that requirement is separate from your plan: the feature is on the free plan and still needs the connection. And Derrick runs as a sidebar inside Google Sheets rather than as spreadsheet formulas, so the enrichment happens on the rows you already have, next to the formula you used to convert them.

Order the two steps deliberately. Convert first, enrich second, and keep the original Sales Navigator link in its own column rather than overwriting it. It costs one column and it buys you the ability to go back to the source when a conversion looks wrong, which happens on links copied out of a client that truncated them without saying so.

If you started from company URLs instead, [Enrich Companies](https://derrick-app.com/features/enrich-companies) does the same at 1 credit per company, also on the free plan.

## The import path makes a Sales Navigator URL converter unnecessary

Here is the part that saves the most time: if your goal is a usable list rather than one shareable link, converting URLs is a detour. You are extracting identifiers from links in order to look up data that could have come out of Sales Navigator in the first place.

[Import LinkedIn Leads](https://derrick-app.com/features/import-linkedin-leads) pulls a Sales Navigator lead list straight into Google Sheets at 1 credit per profile on the free plan, and [Import LinkedIn Companies](https://derrick-app.com/features/import-linkedin-companies) does the same for account lists at 1 credit per company. Both land the profile data alongside the URL, so there is nothing left to convert and nothing left to enrich afterwards. Like the enrichment step above, both read LinkedIn, so both need a LinkedIn account connected through the Derrick Chrome extension, which is a separate requirement from your plan. The step-by-step version is in our guide to [exporting Sales Navigator leads to Google Sheets](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/export-leads-to-google-sheets).

The rule that follows is easy to remember. One link to share, convert it by hand. A column of links you already have, use the formula. A list you are about to build, import it and skip both.

## When you should not convert at all

Conversion is the wrong step more often than the guides admit. Three cases come up regularly.

If you are staying inside Sales Navigator, keep the Sales Navigator link. It carries the search context, it opens straight into the tool, and converting it loses the very thing that made it useful. The same goes for anything relying on in-product features such as the [TeamLink filter](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/teamlink-filter), which has no meaning outside Sales Navigator.

If you are trying to share a saved search, no conversion exists and looking for one wastes an afternoon. Export the results or rebuild the query for your colleague, which is easier if the search was built with clean operators in the first place, as covered in our guide to [Boolean search in Sales Navigator](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/boolean-search).

And if you are building automation on top of these URLs, converted member-ID links are a fragile foundation for the reason given above: they need a signed-in session. Our guide to a [Sales Navigator scraper in Python](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/scraper-python) covers what that path costs to maintain and when buying the data outright is cheaper than building.

## Six gotchas to know before you convert

1. **Cutting at the wrong delimiter.** Cut at the first comma. Cutting at the next slash instead is the common slip, and it silently returns the whole tail of the URL rather than the identifier.
2. **Forgetting the query string.** Links copied from a search carry a question mark and parameters. Strip everything from the question mark onwards or the converted link will not resolve.
3. **Storing the member-ID form.** It works today and it is unreadable forever. Open it once and store the vanity URL instead.
4. **Assuming a converted link is a verified person.** It is a well-formed guess. Enrichment is what confirms the profile exists and who it belongs to.
5. **Trying to convert a saved search.** There is no public equivalent of a query inside the product. Export instead.
6. **Converting when you meant to export.** If the destination is a spreadsheet with data in it, the import path gets you there without the conversion step at all.

The conversion itself takes ten seconds or one formula. Everything worth deciding is what you do with the link afterwards, and whether you needed the link at all. For the wider context on getting more out of the tool, our [Sales Navigator guide](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/guide) covers the workflows these URLs come from.

## Use Derrick in Claude (MCP) or via API

Derrick isn't only a Google Sheets add-on. The same B2B data enrichment runs as an MCP server (use it directly inside Claude and other AI agents) and as a REST API:

- **Claude / AI agents (MCP)**: connect the Derrick MCP server, then enrich from chat. Setup: /mcp
- **REST API**: call the same enrichment endpoints from your own stack (Standard plan and up). Docs: https://app1.derrick-app.com/api/v1/docs/

## FAQ

### How do you convert a Sales Navigator URL to a LinkedIn URL?
Take the segment between /lead/ and the first comma in the Sales Navigator link. That string is the member identifier. Append it to https://www.linkedin.com/in/ and open the result while signed in to LinkedIn. The profile loads and the address bar usually settles on the person's vanity URL, which is the version worth storing. For a company link, take the numeric ID after /sales/company/ and put it after https://www.linkedin.com/company/.

### Why does a Sales Navigator link not work for my colleague?
Sales Navigator runs on its own routes under linkedin.com/sales/, and those routes require an active seat. A viewer without one is redirected to a sales page rather than to the profile, which makes the link look broken when it is simply scoped to a product they do not have. Store the standard LinkedIn URL in shared systems and keep the Sales Navigator link only while you are working inside the tool.

### Can you convert Sales Navigator URLs in bulk without a tool?
Yes. The conversion is a pure string operation, so a spreadsheet formula does it for free at any volume. With links in column A, use =IF(A2="","","https://www.linkedin.com/in/"&REGEXEXTRACT(A2,"/lead/([^,?]+)")). Some locales expect semicolons instead of commas as argument separators, and Excel needs TEXTBEFORE and TEXTAFTER instead of REGEXEXTRACT. Wrap it in IFERROR if the column mixes Sales Navigator links with standard ones.

### Is the converted URL the same as the person's public profile URL?
Not exactly. The conversion gives you a member-ID link, which resolves to the profile but is opaque and only works for a signed-in viewer. The vanity URL, the readable one with the person's name in it, is what LinkedIn shows in the address bar after the member-ID link resolves. If you are storing these long term, open the converted link once and keep the vanity URL instead.

### Can you convert a Sales Navigator saved search URL?
No. A saved search is a query executed inside the product, and there is no public LinkedIn URL that reproduces it, so no converter can produce one. If a colleague needs the results, export them or rebuild the query on their side. Only lead and company URLs have a public equivalent, because they point at an entity rather than at a search.

### Does converting a URL tell you anything about the person?
No. Conversion is syntax, not data: it rearranges characters you already had. It returns no name, no company, no job title, and no confirmation that the account still exists. To turn a converted link into a usable record, enrich it. Enrich Leads returns the full profile at 1 credit per profile on the free plan, and it needs a LinkedIn account connected through the Derrick Chrome extension.

### Is there a faster way than converting a list of URLs one by one?
Usually yes, and it is to skip the conversion. If the goal is a usable list rather than a shareable link, Import LinkedIn Leads pulls a Sales Navigator lead list straight into Google Sheets at 1 credit per profile on the free plan, with the profile data already attached. Import LinkedIn Companies does the same for account lists at 1 credit per company. Nothing is left to convert afterwards.

### When should you keep the Sales Navigator URL instead of converting it?
Whenever you are staying inside the product. The Sales Navigator link carries the search context and opens directly in the tool, and converting it loses that. The same applies to anything relying on in-product features such as shared connections. Convert when the link is leaving the tool, for a CRM record, a shared document or a colleague without a seat.

## Related

- [The State of LinkedIn Sales Navigator Prospecting 2026: Benchmark Report](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/sales-navigator-prospecting-report-2026)
- [How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for B2B Prospecting](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/guide)
- [How to Get the Sales Navigator Free Trial on LinkedIn (2026)](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/free-version)
- [How to do a Boolean search on LinkedIn Sales Navigator: tutorial, tips, tricks](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/boolean-search)
- [How to Search for Companies on LinkedIn: Complete 2026 Guide](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/company-search)
- [Smart Links in Sales Navigator: features & tips [Tutorial 2026]](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/smart-links)
- [How to Properly Use the TeamLink Filter in Sales Navigator on LinkedIn](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/teamlink-filter)
- [How to Export Sales Navigator Leads to Google Sheets](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/export-leads-to-google-sheets)
- [Sales Navigator Scraper in Python: How to Extract Leads Without Breaking Your Account](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/scraper-python)
- [LinkedIn Sales Navigator Pricing in 2026: Plans, Per-Seat Cost, and the Real Price Per Lead](https://derrick-app.com/linkedin/sales-navigator/sales-navigator-pricing)