Where does Postman auto-save variables?

[hetabjorklund]

I created a new HTTP request and when I inserted its “Bearer token” in the Authorization tab, Postman suggested to “save as variable”.

I clicked yes, thinking that it would allow me to edit the variable name or the location where it’d be saved (collection, environment or global) but no - it has now saved it somewhere, and I have no idea where or under what name!

It is not in Globals.
It is not in any of my collection variables or collection authorizations (in this or any other collection). There is nothing under Tests or Pre-request Script either.
It is not in any of my environments as a variable.

Yet it persists across collections: even if I create a new collection and a new HTTP request inside it, Postman autofills this saved token if I select “Bearer token” in the Authorization tab.

Does anyone know where is it coming from, and how to delete it? The token is expired by now and having it auto-filled just creates confusion.

[danny-dainton]

Hey @hetabjorklund

Welcome to the Postman Community!

Would you be able to show some images of the process that you went through?

I think this is what you may have went through but i’m not sure

Highlight and hover over the string value in the field:

Setting the value as a new variable:

I didn’t have my request in a Collection an Global was the only option:

That set the new token as a Global variable and added the variable syntax, hoving over this I can see the values and the scope:

Going to Globals, I could see the new token and it’s value:

[hetabjorklund]

Thanks for the reply! I only clicked on the “Set as variable” text, not the three dots. It didn’t give me any options to save, the “Save as variable” suggestion simply disappeared once clicked and now the token seems to be saved as a variable somewhere.

[danny-dainton]

If you didn’t explicitly click through all the following pop ups and save it as a variable, i’m not sure what has happened here. Unless you clicked on an existing variable in the list.

As you haven’t provided any visual clues to what you have in front of you, it’s difficult to suggest where this is coming from?

Do you now have a {{..}} value in the field? What does that show when hovering over it?

Is the variable in the field has different values for the initial and current values? It you had clicked on an existing one, it would have updated the current value only.

[hetabjorklund]

@danny-dainton

Unless you clicked on an existing variable in the list.

There was no list to click on anything, and no pop-ups, I simply clicked on the “Save as variable” text.

When I make a new HTTP request from scratch and select “Bearer token” in the Authorization tab, it auto-fills this token. It does not refer to a token saved as a variable, which woud look like {{…}}, it simply autofills the saved token.

I’m using the Postman Desktop app, not through a browser, so it can’t be saved and autofilled by the browser either.

[danny-dainton]

Ok, with that image and the information it seems like the title is misleading. There’s isn’t a variable being used here.

This seems like a different problem - I’m going to speak to the team and see what could be happening here.

[hetabjorklund]

@danny-dainton

Ok, with that image and the information it seems like the title is misleading. There’s isn’t a variable being used here.

Sorry about that, I assumed that since this started happening after I clicked on the “Save as variable” suggestion, Postman was somehow treating this as a variable. Thank you for looking into it!