# How to Configure Variables

Variables are the user defined fields that:

* can have any desirable name
* can have value of String type
* can be inserted anywhere as Merge field
* can be updated by Actions
* are initialized with initial values when Kanban page is loaded or reloaded
* are stored in memory and do not changed when Kanban is refreshed by Kanban API or "Refresh Kanban" button (and this is a perfect tool to dynamically change a lot of Kanban properties)

Variables are configured in the proper section of Kanban Properties sidebar. Click "edit" link to show a proper popup. Click "<img src="https://3097383375-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FK2dgObBO5ydOH2ZXDJLa%2Fuploads%2FXQJ5tKD8yjOOpSPGESZK%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=c5d63dbd-294a-43f2-be78-0574057bcb48" alt="" data-size="line">" button to add variables:

<img src="https://3097383375-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FK2dgObBO5ydOH2ZXDJLa%2Fuploads%2FOcKcI9uY9s15kOWvv5yu%2Ffile.excalidraw.svg?alt=media&#x26;token=9657e824-a027-461d-972b-e11bd922e773" alt="" class="gitbook-drawing">

Enter variable Name and Value. Value can be any text, Merge Field or Formula.&#x20;

{% hint style="warning" %}

Notes:

* Variable Name can not contain special symbols.
* Variable Name in some cases will be transformed to lowercase by system. No problem, variable names are not case sensitive.
  {% endhint %}

Save variables. After being variables will be listed in "Variables" section:

<img src="https://3097383375-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FK2dgObBO5ydOH2ZXDJLa%2Fuploads%2FOWU9oilF8CcTWW7QfJJ2%2Ffile.excalidraw.svg?alt=media&#x26;token=445e22f1-20b0-4539-8d6c-f2a96b3e69df" alt="" class="gitbook-drawing">

Save dashboard to store changes. After dashboard has been saved variables will be available in Formula Builder to select:

<img src="https://3097383375-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FK2dgObBO5ydOH2ZXDJLa%2Fuploads%2FF0VJvPsu8j6en6LGZB7O%2Ffile.excalidraw.svg?alt=media&#x26;token=2e43d37f-b613-414c-a297-dca8c528a52d" alt="" class="gitbook-drawing">

To see what values are stored in the variables, and manipulate with them, user can open a [Debug Console](https://docs.flexikanban.ai/standard-kanban/using-kanban/how-to-debug-a-kanban) on Kanban. To know how to work with variables [see proper article](https://docs.flexikanban.ai/standard-kanban/using-kanban/how-to-work-with-variables).