Viewing documentation

Postman users can use two different web views while authoring documentation for their Postman Collections: private and public.

All Collections are initialized with the private view. However, users must explicitly opt to publish their documentation for it to be available publicly.

Private, unpublished Collections are only available to the author, while Collections shared in the Team Library can be accessed by the entire team. Anyone with the URL can view published Collections.

Viewing Private Documentation

Only the author can view private documentation unless the collection is shared within their Postman Pro or Postman Enterprise Team Library.

Teammates with “Can View” permissions can oversee progress, while teammates with “Can Edit” permissions can collaborate in writing, revising, and updating documentation.

You must be logged in to your Postman Account to view private documentation.

In the Postman app, hover your cursor over your Collection on the left-hand side, click the right angle bracket (>), then click the View in web button.

To view documentation for a shared collection, click “Build” menu in the status bar at the bottom of the screen and click “Browse”.

Select the collection you want and then click the Ellipsis (…) button. Select “Publish docs”.

In this private web view, you’ll be able to see each request in the collection, their descriptions, and code snippets generated from the environment and the language you’ve selected.

Note that this private URL is only accessible to Postman users logged in with the appropriate credentials — anyone without access to the collection itself receives an error message upon attempting to view it.

To make this documentation available to others, you will need to publish it.

Viewing Public Documentation

Public documentation is accessible through a URL that Postman generates at the time of publication. This link displays immediately, and is availble later in your Postman Dashboard. If you’ve opted to use a custom domain, you’ll find your published documentation link in the Postman Dashboard.