Setting up Postman

Postman automatically chooses default values for some settings so you can get right to work. Make changes to settings at any time based on your use case or to customize your Postman experience.

To change settings in Postman, select the Settings button in the header and then select Settings. In the Postman app, you can also select ⌘+Comma (,) or Ctrl+Comma (,).

General

Use the settings on the General tab to configure how Postman sends requests or to customize the Postman user interface.

Request

• Trim keys and values in request body: Turn on this toggle to trim parameters when sending requests with form data or url-encoded data.
• SSL certificate verification: Turn off this toggle to prevent Postman from checking the validity of SSL certificates when making requests.
• Always open requests in new tab: By default, when you select a request in a collection, Postman opens the request in the preview tab. Turn on this toggle to always open requests in a new tab.
• Always ask when closing unsaved tabs: By default, Postman asks if you want to save any unsaved changes when closing a tab. Turn off this toggle to always discard unsaved changes when closing a tab.
• Language detection: By default, Postman automatically detects the correct media type for the response body based on the Content-Type header. Select JSON to always use JSON rendering for the response body.
• Request Timeout in ms: Enter how long (in milliseconds) Postman will wait for a response before timing out. If you enter 0, Postman will wait for a response forever.
• Max response size in MB: Enter the maximum response size (in megabytes) that Postman will download. For responses that exceed this limit, Postman asks if you want to increase the size limit or download the response. If you enter 0, Postman downloads responses of any size. Rendering large responses may affect Postman's performance.
• Request Validation: Turn off this toggle to prevent Postman from attempting to validate requests in collections that are linked to an API schema.

Working directory

When you send a form-data or binary file with a request body, Postman saves a path to the file as part of the collection. The file path is relative to your working directory. Postman uses ~/Postman/files as the default working directory. To use a different working directory, select Choose and then select the directory you want to use.

To make collaboration easier, store files in your working directory. Storing files in your working directory ensures that requests in shared collections always work correctly. As long as you and your teammates use the same files and working directory location, shared requests will run smoothly across everyone's systems. Learn more about sending body data.

The working directory is also used by Newman. Store files you want to upload to Newman in the working directory path that's saved in the collection. Learn more about file uploads in Newman.

You cannot change the working directory in Postman for Web. When you upload a file, Postman for Web creates a new folder with a random name in the ~/Postman/files directory. Postman stores the uploaded file in the new folder so you can use it when sending requests. To automatically sync files you upload to Postman for Web with your local working directory, make sure you are using the Postman Desktop Agent.

Be careful using files located outside your working directory. To use files located outside your working directory when sending requests, turn on the Allow reading files outside working directory toggle. This option allows third-party collections to potentially read any file on your system. Use caution, and make sure you trust all third-party collections you are using before enabling this option.

Headers

• Send no-cache header: (Recommended) Turn on this toggle to send a Cache-Control: no-cache header with each request. The no-cache directive forces the server to revalidate each request and ensures you get an up-to-date (not stale) response.
• Send Postman Token header: (Recommended) Turn on this toggle to send a random Postman token with an XMLHttpRequest. Sending a random token ensures the receiving server handles each request separately, even when the requests are sent with the same parameters. The token can also aid debugging and help you distinguish between requests on the server side.
• Retain headers when clicking on links: When you select a link in a response, Postman creates a new GET request with the link URL. Turn on this toggle to retain the headers from the previous request in the new request. Retaining headers is useful if you mainly access protected resources.
• Automatically follow redirects: Turn off this toggle to prevent requests that return a 3xx series response from being automatically redirected.
• Send anonymous usage data to Postman: Postman gathers basic, anonymous usage data to help with product improvement. Turn off this toggle to disable sending anonymous usage data to Postman.

User interface

• Two-pane view: By default, Postman displays responses below requests. Turn on this toggle to display the response and request panes side by side.
• Show icons with tab names: Turn off this toggle to hide the icons that appear next to tab names.
• Variable autocomplete: Turn on this toggle to enable autocomplete when typing variable names.

Editor settings

Editor settings only affect code-related text such as request and response bodies, pre-request scripts, and tests. To revert back to default text settings, select Reset.

• Font Family: Enter one or more font family names separated by commas. Postman uses the first available font family to display code text.
• Font Size (px): Enter the font size (in pixels) to use for code text.
• Indentation count: Enter the number of indentation characters to use for each code level.
• Indentation type: Select the type of indentation character to use (Space or Tab).
• Auto close brackets: Turn on this toggle to automatically add a closing bracket when you type an opening bracket.
• Auto close quotes: Turn on this toggle to automatically add a closing quotation mark when you type an opening quotation mark.

Themes

Pick your pleasure: select a light or dark theme for Postman.

Shortcuts

The Shortcuts tab displays all of the keyboard shortcuts available in Postman. To disable keyboard shortcuts, turn off the Shortcuts toggle.

Some shortcuts are not available in Postman for Web. Also, shortcut modifier keys may differ depending on your operating system. For example, to open a new tab in the Postman app on macOS, select ⌘+T. To open a new tab in the Postman app on Windows or Linux, select Ctrl+T.

Data

Use the Data tab to request a bulk export of Postman data or to import data. To begin the export process, select Export Data. You can choose to export your collections, environments, or both. You'll receive an email when your dump file is ready to download.

Importing a dump file may overwrite your existing collections and environments, so use caution. It's always a good idea to make a backup before importing files. Learn more about importing and exporting data.

Add-ons

Select the link to download Newman, Postman's command line companion. Newman integrates your Postman collections with your build system and runs automated API tests using cron jobs. Learn more about command line integration with Newman.

Certificates

Use the Certificates tab to add and manage CA certificates and client certificates in Postman. Learn more about managing certificates.

Proxy

Use the Proxy tab to configure proxy settings for connecting to online services and sending API requests. Learn more about configuring a proxy.

Update

Use the Update tab to check for updates to the Postman app or to enable automatic updating. Learn more about updating Postman.

About

The About tab displays the current version of Postman, along with links to helpful information and support.

Hardware Acceleration

The Postman app takes advantage of your computer's built-in graphics hardware to accelerate the rendering of onscreen graphics. In some cases, your computer's specific GPU, drivers, or operating system may cause issues with hardware acceleration. If you see screen artifacts or other glitches, try disabling hardware acceleration.

To enable or disable hardware acceleration in the Postman app:

• On macOS, select Postman > Hardware Acceleration.
• On Windows or Linux, select Help > Hardware Acceleration.

Restart the Postman app to apply the new setting. Disabling hardware acceleration may affect performance or CPU usage.