# New UI: Import Environment Variables Feature is Gone **URL:** \ **Category:** Product Feedback\ **Created:** [March 19, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051 "2020-03-19T02:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nemosupremo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/nemosupremo/32/18522_2.png) [@nemosupremo](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/nemosupremo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/1 "2020-03-19T02:28:30Z")
I was switched to the new UI today and I noticed that while setting up new projects the “Import Environment Variables”. We use this feature when setting up new projects to share api keys that are required to talk to our backend. ---
**Author:** ![DominikGM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/dominikgm/32/7975_2.png) [@DominikGM](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/DominikGM)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/2 "2020-03-19T15:08:03Z")
You’ve considered using [contexts](https://circleci.com/docs/2.0/contexts/) instead? ---
**Author:** ![nemosupremo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/nemosupremo/32/18522_2.png) [@nemosupremo](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/nemosupremo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 5:26am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/3 "2020-03-20T05:26:34Z")
It looks like contexts fits my use case and is easier to use going forward. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![JonathanC503](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/jonathanc503/32/24364_2.png) [@JonathanC503](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/JonathanC503)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/4 "2020-03-20T15:12:59Z")
Hello @nemosupremo! Contexts is an ideal option to consider as @DominikGM mentions. Another option is to create environment variables via the v2 API. You can read more about this here: [https://circleci.com/docs/api/v2/#create-an-environment-variable](https://circleci.com/docs/api/v2/#create-an-environment-variable) ---
**Author:** ![nemosupremo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/nemosupremo/32/18522_2.png) [@nemosupremo](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/nemosupremo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/5 "2020-04-02T23:09:23Z")
It looks like contexts requires using the new CircleCI config however…? ---
**Author:** ![aluminous](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/aluminous/32/24558_2.png) [@aluminous](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/aluminous)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 8:09am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/6 "2020-04-06T08:09:24Z")
Thanks for suggesting some alternatives. Just wanted to provide some additional feedback about a use case which is not covered by switching to contexts. Many of our projects use different contexts depending on the job. We then use project-level environment variables for common values that should be set for all jobs in a project regardless of which context they use. In order to switch to contexts entirely, we would require the ability to specify multiple contexts per job. Since this is not supported, we use the import feature to copy these values from other projects. ---
**Author:** ![DominikGM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/dominikgm/32/7975_2.png) [@DominikGM](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/DominikGM)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/7 "2020-04-07T06:37:21Z")
I see your use-case. Did you already [vote for the multiple-contexts per job](https://ideas.circleci.com/ideas/CCI-I-761) idea? ---
**Author:** ![david-ikhokha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@david-ikhokha](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/david-ikhokha)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/new-ui-import-environment-variables-feature-is-gone/35051/8 "2020-04-08T16:07:31Z")
Is my understanding of Environment and Context wrong? The way I understood it was that the Environment was for nonspecific environments that do not have secrets. And do not need special permissions to have access to them Example: - someLimitThatAppliesToEverything=“5” And Context was meant for something specific. Like a secret that is used for different stages that I don’t want to commit in my source code like an access key Example: Prod - ACCESS\_KEY=“A” Release - ACCESS\_KEY=“B” Test - ACCESS\_KEY=“C” etc I mean if you could apply more than one Context to a job I think deprecating the Environment section is alright, but If I need to apply one generic config to my runtime and one specific config at the same time, then I definitely need it.