- Paper can be made using 3 sugar cane stalks found near river banks and swamps in Minecraft.
- Players can also find paper inside loot structures like shipwrecks, villages, and stronghold libraries.
- Paper is essential for crafting books, maps, fireworks, cartography tables and more.
Apart from exploring the world, planting crops, and battling various mobs, there is also a crafting aspect to Minecraft. One of the many items you can craft in Minecraft is paper. If you’re wondering how to make paper in Minecraft, we have covered all the methods to craft or find this item. We have also discussed all the uses of paper in this guide.
Minecraft Paper Recipe: A Quick Overview
Paper is an item in Minecraft used as an ingredient in several crafting recipes, including banners, maps, fireworks, books, and so on. These recipes happen to be really important for both the early and late game players. So, players always find themselves searching for or crafting more paper in the game.
Ingredients Required to Make Paper
The paper crafting recipe is fairly straightforward. Here are the materials you need:
| Item | Amount | Where to Get |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar cane | 3x | Found near water bodies like rivers, oceans, or swamps |
To make paper in Minecraft, you will require at least 3 sugar cane and a crafting table. It’s a great idea to start gathering sugar cane in large quantities from the start.
How to Make Paper in Minecraft
You can not only craft paper but also find it in various locations. Let’s look at the methods to make paper in Minecraft, starting with the crafting method:
- Interact with the crafting table to access its UI.
- Fill out the middle row on the left with three sugar canes.
- You will see 3 units of paper in the right-most output cell.
We have tested this recipe in Minecraft, including all the versions that have been released recently. So, you don’t need to worry about any change in its recipe.
Where to Find Sugar Cane Fast
Before you can make paper in Minecraft, you first need to find sugar cane. Fortunately, this is one of the most easily renewable crops in the game, and here are the steps to get them.
Best Biomes to Find Sugar Cane
Sugar cane grows naturally near water and is usually three or four blocks tall. It can generate in any biome in the Overworld, but you will mostly find sugar cane growing in the swamps and especially in the desert biomes.
Can You Frow Sugar Cane with Bonemeal?
No, you cannot grow sugar cane with bonemeal, and it’s a common misconception among players. Sugar cane grows at a fixed rate, and the only way to get more crops faster is to build a farm.
Also, if you were wondering, Bamboo cannot be used to make paper in Minecraft.
Wandering traders also have a chance to sell you sugar cane for one emerald. But, if you want this useful ingredient in bulk, you can automate the process by making a sugar cane farm in Minecraft. Apart from that, you will require a crafting table to bring everything together.
How to Find Paper in Minecraft Naturally
Furthermore, you can find paper when exploring your Minecraft world. It is commonly generated in chests found in the following structures:
- Shipwrecks: The Supply and Map chests can have around 1-10 pieces of paper
- Villages: The Cartographer’s chest can contain 1-5 units of paper
- Strongholds: The Library chest can have 2-7 units of paper
5 Essential Uses for Paper in Minecraft
Once you learn how to make paper in Minecraft, check out some of the most unique applications of this item.
Books & Enchanting
Books are essential in the early game as they allow you to make bookshelves. With at least 15 bookshelves around an enchanting table, you will be able to place Minecraft enchantments of the highest level on your gear. The crafting recipe for a book requires three pieces of paper and one piece of leather.
Empty Maps
You can use paper to map out your surroundings, get oriented more easily, and even make awesome custom art. If you would like to learn more about how to make a map in Minecraft, follow the linked guide. For this recipe, you will need eight pieces of paper and one compass in Minecraft.
There is a different recipe for the empty map in the Bedrock edition, which requires nine pieces of paper. You don’t need a compass on the Bedrock edition.
Cartography Table (The Explorer’s Path)
With a cartography table in Minecraft, you can modify maps. See the table below to learn what combining maps with different items gives you:
| Item You Combine with a Map | What You Get |
|---|---|
| Paper | Zoomed out map (one zoom level) |
| Empty Map | Copied map |
| Glass Pane | Locked map |
| Compass | Locator map (Bedrock Edition only) |
Besides using the cartography table for your own needs, you can also use it to turn unemployed villagers into cartographers. Check our guide on villager jobs in Minecraft to learn more about cartographers. The recipe for this block in Minecraft requires two paper and four planks.
Firework Rockets (The Elytra Flight Path)
Learning how to make paper is essential for crafting fireworks. They are used in the late game since you can boost yourself in the air with your Elytra in Minecraft equipped. For fireworks used for this purpose, you will need one piece of paper and 1-3 gunpowder.
On the other hand, if you want to use fireworks for their primary purpose in real life, you will need firework stars. These items make the fireworks explode and display an array of colors. Recipes for fireworks include one piece of paper, 1 to 7 firework stars, and up to 3 gunpowder.
Banner Patterns & Aesthetics
If you are looking for more design options on your banners, banner patterns can help you with that. They will display unique designs ready to be placed on a banner. Crafting a recipe for these items in Minecraft requires one piece of paper and one special item. Depending on the special item you use, the following banner patterns can be crafted:
| Special Item | Banner Pattern |
|---|---|
| Creeper Head | Banner Pattern Creeper Charge |
| Oxeye Daisy | Banner Pattern Flower Charge |
| Wither Skeleton Skull | Banner Pattern Skull Charge |
| Enchanted Golden Apple | Banner Pattern Thing |
| Vines | Banner Pattern Bordure Indented (Bedrock Edition only) |
| Bricks | Banner Pattern Field Masoned (Bedrock Edition only) |
How to Farm Paper Sustainably in Minecraft
If you want infinite paper, build a Minecraft sugar cane farm at your base. Not only can it give you lots of paper, but you can also get sugar as a by-product. The farm requires dirt blocks, a few solid blocks, pistons, redstone dust, an observer, a hopper, a chest, and fifteen sugar canes. You can refer to our linked guide above to learn about the building process
A few tips on building this farm include placing lily pads on top of the water surface to walk over it without falling down. Furthermore, you can make zero-tick farms on bedrock, whereas you use an observer and a piston setup on the Java edition.
Many players get confused about using the new Crafter block to make paper. However, it’s simple. If you pipe sugar cane directly into the Crafter in Minecraft, it can give you sugar instead of paper.
So, ensure that you lock the necessary slots in the crafter and leave the central 3 slots blank to make paper. The sugar cane farm, along with the Crafter setup, will help you farm paper sustainably.
Trading Paper for Emeralds: Is It worth it?
Paper in Minecraft is also applicable in trading with villagers. Cartographers and librarians on both versions of the game purchase paper for emeralds. The only difference is that librarian villagers on the Bedrock edition offer to buy paper definitely, whereas librarians on the Java edition have about a 66% chance to offer the paper trade.
So, yes, it is worth trading with the villagers for paper because you get a lot in exchange for a single emerald in Minecraft.
Now you know everything about making and using paper in Minecraft. Have you found the most efficient way to make paper in the game? Tell us in the comments section below.
No. You can only craft paper with sugar cane. However, you can also find paper in a few different structures.
The most efficient way to make paper is by gathering a lot of sugar cane. Since the sugar cane farm is rather simple, you can set it up relatively early and therefore, be able to make a lot of paper efficiently. You can also visit biomes like deserts or swamps, where sugar cane generates more.
Unfortunately, no villager sells paper. Cartographers and librarians buy paper from you and give you emeralds in return. You can get paper only by crafting or finding it.
