Create, Use, and Run Postman Collections
Last Updated :
28 Apr, 2025
Postman Collections are a powerful feature that enables users to organize and manage API testing and development. Collections consist of requests, which are APIs with a request and response format. In this article, we study the creation, utilization, and execution of Postman Collections with examples.
Creating a Postman Collection
1. Open Postman
Launch the Postman application.
2. Create a New Collection
- Click on the "Collections" tab in the left sidebar.
- Click the "New Collection" button.
- Enter a name and optional description for your collection.
You can create a new blank collection like this:
Creating a blank collectionor Choose a template for the collection like this:
Creating collection from the template Rest API BasicsHere, we have selected Rest API Basics as the template, and what you see is a loader creating template in progress mode. This is how it looks like once the creation is completed.
Collection created using Rest API Basics templateIt has by default all the four requests available for you to edit and duplicate to save time.
3. Add Requests to the Collection
- Click on your newly created collection.
- Click the "Add Request" button.
- Enter a name for the request and specify the HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.).
- Define the request URL and any necessary parameters.
- Click "Save" to add the request to the collection.
Adding a new requestRemember to always name your APIs depending on the resource you are accessing, how you are accessing and what action you are going to perform.
In the image show below, we are trying to fetch the user details by userId. So the route pattern is like
<Server_Url>/<resource>/<action>/<any_params>
Every one have their own internal standards or rules behind naming the routes but this is something that is most widely used among the developers in general.

Another way to create a request is by using Import button available on top.
Copy the following lines of code and click on import button. Then you will be able to see a dialog that gets opened that says paste cURL. Paste the below code in that text box and wait:
JavaScript
curl --location 'https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
--header 'Authorization: Basic QVV2OHJyY19QLUViUDJFMG1wYjQ5QlY3ckZ0M1Vzci12ZFVaTzhWR09ualJlaEdIQlhrU3pjaHIzN1NZRjJHTmRRRllTcDcyamg1UVVoekc6RU1uQVdlMDZpb0d0b3VKczdnTFlUOWNoSzktMmpKLS03TUtSWHBJOEZlc21ZXzJLcC1kXzdhQ3FmZjdNOW1vRUpCdnVYb0JPNGNsS3RZMHY=' \
--data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \
--data-urlencode 'ignoreCache=true' \
--data-urlencode 'return_authn_schemes=true' \
--data-urlencode 'return_client_metadata=true' \
--data-urlencode 'return_unconsented_scopes=true'
This will create a new request and gives you the rename and save options, once this is successfully processed.

4. Repeat for Additional Requests
Repeat the process to add more requests to the collection if needed.
Using a Postman Collection
1. Access Collections
In the "Collections" tab, you'll see a list of your collections.
2. View and Edit Requests
- Click on a collection to view its requests.
- Click on a request to view and edit its details, including the request URL, parameters, headers, etc.
3. Organize and Group
Organize requests within a collection using folders to structure your API tests logically.
Here is the public collection available over postman website showing how to organize APIs by collection and folder level. This serves as a good example for organizing the requests in postman collection

Running a Postman Collection
1. Open Collection Runner
Click on the "Runner" tab in the left sidebar.
2. Select Collection
Choose the collection you want to run from the dropdown list.
3. Run Collection
Click the "Run" button to execute all requests in the collection.
You can run all the tests in a folder and all the responses will be visible one by one
Run all the APIs in the folderThen, a new view will be visible on the screen as shown below. Here you can choose to run manually or schedule runs at regular intervals.
view showing the multiple options available to run the folder or collection altogether4. View Results
- Postman will execute each request sequentially and display results.
- You can view response details, status, headers, and more as shown below.
Postman Run folder results viewThis is how it looks after all the APIs in the folder has been run
Conclusion
Postman collections are powerful tools for maintaining and automating API testing and development workflows. By creating, using, and running collections, you can streamline your testing process, collaborate with team members. Regularly exploring new features and staying updated on Postman plans ensures optimal utilization of this versatile tool.
Similar Reads
Postman Tutorial This Postman Tutorial is designed for beginners as well as professionals and covers basic and advanced concepts of the Postman Tutorial Application Programming Interface. In This Postman Tutorial, youâll learn various important Postman Topics which are Sending API Requests, Collections, Variables, S
5 min read
Introduction
How to Download and Install Postman on Windows? Postman is a platform for building and using APIs and helps for simplifying the steps in the APIs lifecycles to streamline collaboration for creating faster APIs. It includes various API tools to accelerate the development cycle, including the design mockups and testing documentation, etc. Postman w
2 min read
Sending Your First Request via Postman Postman is a tool that we are using for managing our APIs. It is used for sending the request to the server and then looking at the response from it. It helps us to understand the behavior of the API. Postman can help us with Performance Testing, Managing the API in one place, and sharing the collec
4 min read
How to Create Collections in Postman In this article, we will see how to create Collections in Postman. It is an Application Programming Interface (API) tool that streamlines the lifecycle of API development and testing in an efficient manner. It can be used to develop, design, document, and test APIs. Postman provides the ability to g
2 min read
Sending API Requests
How to create and send GET requests in Postman? Postman is an API(application programming interface) development tool which helps to build, test and modify APIs. It has the ability to make various types of HTTP requests(GET, POST, PUT, PATCH), saving environments for later use, converting the API to code for various languages(like JavaScript, Pyt
1 min read
Postman - Working, HTTP Request & Responses API...Application Programming Interface... If you're a developer then this word is nothing new for you...Being a developer, you know the importance of API in any kind of application. In simple terms, API is a defined set of rules with some defined methods of communication. With the help of API, soft
5 min read
Postman - Working, HTTP Request & Responses API...Application Programming Interface... If you're a developer then this word is nothing new for you...Being a developer, you know the importance of API in any kind of application. In simple terms, API is a defined set of rules with some defined methods of communication. With the help of API, soft
5 min read
How to Perform POST Request in Postman with Test Validation? Postman is an API(application programming interface) development tool that helps to build, test, and modify APIs. Almost any functionality that could be needed by any developer is encapsulated in this tool. It is used by over 5 million developers every month to make their API development easy and si
2 min read