Postman: A hands-on tutorial: Day 1 — Install Postman locally on windows

Welcome to Day 1 of our hands-on tutorial series on Postman! Today, we’ll start by setting up Postman on your Windows machine. Postman is an incredible tool for API development, testing, and collaboration, and getting it installed is the first step towards unleashing its full potential.

What is Postman?

Postman is an API platform for building and using APIs. Postman simplifies each step of the API lifecycle and streamlines collaboration so you can create better APIs — faster.

Why Postman?

Before we dive into the installation process, let’s quickly understand why Postman is such a popular choice for developers:

• User-Friendly Interface: Postman provides an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced developers.
• Efficient API Testing: With features like automated testing, detailed request/response logging, and real-time collaboration, Postman streamlines the API testing process.
• Powerful Collections: Collections in Postman allow you to organize and run multiple API requests together, facilitating efficient workflow management.

Now, let’s get started with the installation!

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

Step 1: Download Postman

1. Visit the official Postman website: Download Postman | Get Started for Free
2. Click on the “Windows 64-bit” button. This will download the postman exe file which you can then execute on Windows.

If you want to try to Web version instead, you can click on the ‘Try the Web Version’ option.

Step 2: Run the Installer

1. Locate the downloaded installer file, usually named something like “Postman-win64-Setup.exe”.
2. Double-click on the installer to begin the installation process.

Step 3: Installation Wizard

Follow the on-screen instructions provided by the installation wizard:

• Accept the license agreement.
• Choose the installation location or stick with the default.
• Select additional options like creating desktop shortcuts if desired.

Step 4: Launch Postman

Once the installation is complete, click on the “Run Postman” checkbox in the last step of the installation wizard. This will launch Postman immediately after you click “Finish.”

Step 5: Sign In or Create an Account

Upon launching Postman, you’ll be prompted to sign in or create a new account. Signing in allows you to sync your data across devices and access additional features. If you’re new to Postman, you can sign up for a free account.

Note! If you want to update your existing Postman installation in future, you can do that from here —

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Postman on your Windows machine. In the upcoming tutorials, we’ll explore the various features of Postman and guide you through practical exercises to enhance your API development skills.

Stay tuned for Day 2, where we’ll create your first API request using Postman! Happy coding!