On this page
Supported operators
AND, OR and NOT must be uppercase. Stop words such as by, in and with are ignored.
| Operator | Example | Finds |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes | "head of sales" | The exact phrase |
| AND | sales AND director | Both words |
| OR | CFO OR "chief financial officer" | Either term |
| NOT | manager NOT assistant | Excludes the term |
| Parentheses | (VP OR director) AND marketing | Groups terms |
Rules that trip people up
- Maximum 15 Boolean operators per Sales Navigator search.
- Precedence: quotes first, then parentheses, then NOT, then AND, then OR. Use parentheses whenever you mix AND and OR.
- No wildcards: market* does not work. List the variants with OR.
- Braces, brackets and angle brackets are not supported; + and - are not officially supported.
- Type Boolean in the search bar above the results. Results can include related keyword variations.
Strings you can paste
| Target | String (paste into the search bar above the results) |
|---|---|
| Finance leaders | CFO OR "chief financial officer" OR "VP finance" OR "head of finance" |
| Sales leaders, not assistants | ("head of sales" OR "VP sales" OR "sales director") NOT assistant |
| Marketing leaders | (CMO OR "VP marketing" OR "head of marketing" OR "marketing director") |
| HR and talent | ("head of people" OR "HR director" OR "talent acquisition" OR CHRO) |
| Founders at small companies | (founder OR "co-founder" OR CEO) NOT (investor OR advisor) |
When a string is too long
Recruiter-style strings with dozens of terms exceed the 15-operator cap. Split them into two or three saved searches, each with one title family, and keep each under 2,500 results, the most Sales Navigator will show per search. The search limits guide explains splitting; you can save up to 50 lead searches.
Getting your leads out of Sales Navigator
LinkedIn does not offer a CSV or Excel export of leads or accounts on any plan. Its official route out is CRM Sync on Advanced Plus.
A tight Boolean search is also the best input for an export: fewer junk rows to clean.
If you are on Core or Advanced and want a spreadsheet, the options are copying rows by hand, a Sales Navigator scraper that runs in your browser, or a cloud tool. Our guide to export Sales Navigator leads compares them.
Know the rule before you pick one: LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits scraping or copying the Services, including through browser plugins and add-ons, and LinkedIn says extensions may limit your searches or lead to restrictions. The safety guide covers that risk in full.
Related
Sources
Checked by hand on the dates shown. Vendors change plans, prices and limits without notice, so confirm on the linked page before you buy.
- LinkedIn Help: Boolean search (checked 2026-10-20)
- LinkedIn Help: Boolean operator limits (checked 2026-10-20)
- LinkedIn Help: Sales Navigator search (checked 2026-10-20)
- LinkedIn Help: saved searches (checked 2026-10-20)
- LinkedIn Help: search result limits (checked 2026-10-20)
Questions
Does Sales Navigator support Boolean search?
Yes: AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks and parentheses, up to 15 operators per search.
Can I use wildcards in Sales Navigator?
No. LinkedIn does not support asterisk wildcards; list each variant with OR.
Where do I type Boolean in Sales Navigator?
In the search bar above the results. LinkedIn removed the old keyword box from the left filter column.
Export your next Sales Navigator search
500 rows a month free. Pro is $10/month with unlimited exports and a 7-day money-back guarantee.
