How to Get Paper in Minecraft

Paper is one of the oldest items in Minecraft, having been added all the way back in Alpha. It was initially implemented in the game to craft Books but had since then found many more uses. It can be used to make maps, banner patterns, and more! It has made it's way into becoming a valuable and essential item in Survival and Multiplayer worlds.

How to Get Paper in Minecraft

Obtaining Paper is easy, although it can take some time to get the resources for a steady supply. This guide explains how to get Paper by crafting and other ways in which you could get Paper in your Survival world. At the bottom of the guide, we've provided the code and item data for players in Creative Mode.

Crafting

To craft Paper, you'll first need to find its resource: Sugar Cane. This resource can be found on the edge of rivers and oceans. It is only able to be placed and generated on blocks directly adjacent to water sources blocks.

Once you've found the Sugar Cane, bring it to a Crafting Table. Place three of them in a row (it doesn't matter which one), and it will produce three pieces of Paper!

Note:If you don't have much Sugar Cane but want a steady supply of Paper, we recommend growing multiple blocks of Sugar Cane across the edge of the water.

Related: All Minecraft Color & Format Codes - Pro Game Guides

Chests

Paper can be found in pre-generated world chests. The list below shows you all the chests in which they can generate and the chance of it happening.

• Shipwreck
  • Supply Chest
    • Quantity: 1-12
    • Chance: 49.4%
  • Map Chest
    • Quantity: 1-10
    • Chance: 89.4%
• Stronghold
  • Library Chest
    • Quantity: 2-7
    • Chance: 89.2% (Bedrock: 88.3%)
• Village
  • Cartographer Chest
    • Quantity: 1-5
    • Chance: 61.2%

Other Ways

• Villagers: A Cartographer of a Village may drop Paper at the Player if they have the Hero of the Village trait active.
• Creative: Paper can be found on the Miscellaneous Tab (Lava Bucket) in the Creative Inventory.
• Command: Paper can be given to a user using the /give command.
  • Java: /give PlayerName minecraft:paper
  • Bedrock: /give "PlayerName" paper

Did you know you can also put messages on Signs instead of Paper? Check out our guide on How to Make and Use Signs in Minecraft!