How sourcing works in Swimlane

Sourcing is how people get into Swimlane before you talk to them. Each person exists once in your workspace and can belong to several lists. This article maps every way in, what each one gives you, and the limits that apply.

Three places contacts come from

1. AI searches, on your dashboard

On Dashboard, the Find new leads block holds three cards:

People Search: you describe a persona, Swimlane turns it into a LinkedIn people search.
Thematic Posts: you give a topic, Swimlane finds the authors of posts about it.
Lead Magnet Hunters: you give a topic, Swimlane finds the authors of posts that give a resource away in exchange for a like and a comment.

These three are the only sources with a review screen. Results come back ranked, each with a match percentage and a short reason when you hover it. You then import the people you ticked, everyone, or only those above 50%. The import creates a new list named after what you typed, and opens it.

2. Imports, on the Lists page

On Lists, click New Import. The window has two tabs.

Import runs once, straight away, with no review screen. Each run creates a new list:

Competitor Engagement: people who commented on the recent posts of a LinkedIn profile you paste.
Post Engagement: people who commented on one post.
CSV Import: a file of LinkedIn profile URLs with first and last names.
Profile Visitors: people who viewed your profile over a date range you choose.

Recurring Imports create a list and keep feeding it on a schedule:

Auto Post Engagement: new commenters on one post.
Auto Profile Visitors: new profile visitors.
Auto Profile Engagement: people who comment on your own last posts.
Auto Suggested Contacts: the people LinkedIn suggests to you.
Auto Competitor Engagement: new commenters on a competitor's last posts.

3. Automatically, from LinkedIn itself

Everyone you have a LinkedIn conversation with becomes a contact when your inbox syncs.
People who send you a connection request are saved as contacts and listed in Inbox → Invitations → Received, where you accept or ignore them one by one.

When someone is already in Swimlane

Swimlane recognises people by their LinkedIn identity. When an import finds someone who is already a contact, it does not create a duplicate: the existing contact is added to the new list and keeps its other lists. CSV import is the exception: profiles already in your contacts are skipped (see Import contacts from a CSV file).

Daily limits

Imports are paced to protect your LinkedIn account. The bar above the table on Lists shows today's counters:

Daily imports: new contacts created by LinkedIn imports today. The plan allows up to 2,500 a day. Contacts that already existed don't count, and CSV imports don't count either.
LinkedIn Profile Syncs: LinkedIn profiles fetched today, up to 80 a day. Competitor Engagement uses one to read the competitor's profile, and Enrich with LinkedIn uses one per contact.

In Settings → Import & Automation Limits, Daily LinkedIn Imports and Daily Profile Scrapes let you set lower ceilings, never higher ones. Safe Mode sets daily imports to 200.

When the daily import allowance is used up, importing search results is refused with "Daily import limit reached." Background imports wait instead: the list shows Paused (limit) and the import tries again an hour later.

When imports run

Everything started from New Import, one-off or recurring, only works on LinkedIn during your virtual office hours (Settings → Virtual Office Hours). Outside those hours, it waits for the next opening. The three AI searches on the dashboard and CSV imports run as soon as you start them.

What sourcing does not do

Imports from a URL, visitors and suggestions have no review screen: everyone found goes into the list. Filter afterwards, for example with the ICP floor of a campaign (see How ICP fit works).
Post imports bring in the people who commented, not those who only reacted.
An import never contacts anyone. Nothing is sent until you write to someone or put their list in a campaign.