LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. Getty Images/Mandel Ngan LinkedIn has brought back the ability to easily export contacts after angry users protested at its removal.

VentureBeats reports that LinkedIn used to let users download all of their contacts into an offline file, which was a pretty useful feature.

But users discovered on Thursday LinkedIn no longer lets users easily download a list of their contacts.

There was still a way to get your contacts, though. LinkedIn points out that users can request an archive of their data, and it will contain contacts. But that process can take up to 72 hours, unlike the site's former contact download feature, with which it happened immediately.

In a statement to Business Insider, LinkedIn said that "Our members can continue to easily request an export all of the data LinkedIn has stored on their account, by visiting our help center."

Many users aren't happy about the change, and some are accusing LinkedIn of using it to try to keep people on the platform:

—Brad van Leeuwen (@BradvanL) July 24, 2015