If you’ve ever stared at an empty crafting table wondering how to craft books, maps, or even fireworks for your elytra flights, you’ve probably asked how do you make paper in Minecraft at some point. It’s one of the most underrated basic materials in the game, even though it’s required for dozens of high-level recipes that make late-game play so much easier. I remember fumbling through my first survival world for three hours before I figured out I didn’t need fancy equipment to make it—just a common crop most players walk right past. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to make, farm, and use paper effectively no matter what game mode you prefer.
How Do You Make Paper in Minecraft: Exact Crafting Recipe
The base paper recipe is far simpler than most new players expect, and you don’t need any rare materials to pull it off. I made the mistake of trying to craft paper in my 2x2 inventory grid for my first week of playing, and I couldn’t figure out why the recipe wouldn’t pop up. You can only craft paper using a 3x3 crafting table grid, so make sure you’ve built one before you try to combine your materials. All you need to make paper is three pieces of sugar cane, arranged in a single horizontal row in any of the three rows of the crafting grid. You don’t have to place them in a specific row to make it work, so you can use whatever empty space you have available. Each sugar cane trio gives you 3 pieces of paper, so even a small stack of 9 sugar cane will give you 9 paper, enough for three books to start your first enchantment table setup. Sugar cane only grows next to water blocks, on grass, dirt, sand, or mud blocks, so you’ll usually find it growing along river banks, ocean shores, or desert lake edges when you’re exploring early game.
Fastest Ways to Farm Sugar Cane for Mass Paper Production
If you’re planning to build a max level enchantment setup, or make hundreds of fireworks for elytra travel, you’ll need a lot more paper than you can get from foraging wild sugar cane. Setting up a dedicated sugar cane farm takes very little time, and you can scale it up as you progress through the game to match your needs. One mistake I see new players make all the time is breaking the entire sugar cane plant when they harvest it. If you break the bottom block, the plant won’t regrow, and you’ll have to replant every time. Only break the top two blocks of fully grown 3-block tall sugar cane, and leave the bottom block planted in the ground next to water. That way, it will regrow to full height in less than an in-game day, and you don’t have to waste time replanting every harvest. You can pick a farm design based on your current progression level:
Alternative Ways to Get Paper Without Crafting It
If you’re early in your playthrough and haven’t had time to set up a sugar cane farm, or you’re playing a skyblock map where sugar cane is hard to come by, there are plenty of other ways to get paper without crafting it. You don’t have to stick to farming if you’d rather explore or trade for your supplies. Shipwreck chests have a 45% chance to contain 1-10 pieces of paper, making them the most reliable loot source for paper if you’re exploring ocean biomes. Stronghold library chests are another great source, with up to 12 pieces of paper per chest, plus you’ll find the books you need for your enchantment table there too. If you’ve got extra emeralds from farming wheat or potatoes, trading with cartographer villagers is a super low-effort way to get bulk paper. Novice level cartographer villagers will always offer the paper trade, so you don’t have to level them up first to unlock it. You can usually buy 24 pieces of paper for a single emerald, which is a great deal if you’ve got a surplus of farm crops to trade. You can also find paper in dungeon chests, desert temple chests, and jungle temple chests, though the drop rates are much lower than shipwrecks and stronghold libraries.
Practical Uses for Paper You Might Not Know About
Most new players only know paper is used to make books and maps, but it has way more uses that make it one of the most versatile basic materials in the game. For starters, you need 3 pieces of paper per book, 3 books per bookshelf, and 15 bookshelves for a max level enchantment table. That adds up to 135 pieces of paper total for a full enchantment setup, so you’ll need a decent farm to pull that off quickly. Paper is also required to make empty maps, which are essential for exploring large worlds without getting lost. If you’re planning a long trip to the Nether or the End, bring extra paper to make new maps for each dimension so you can mark portals, fortress locations, and end cities for future visits. You can also expand existing maps with more paper to cover larger areas, or copy maps to share with friends on multiplayer servers. Paper is also required to craft banners if you want to make custom designs for your base, mark territories on multiplayer servers, or decorate builds. You need 1 piece of paper per firework rocket too, so if you use elytra regularly, you’ll burn through hundreds of pieces of paper just making fireworks for travel. You can use paper to craft knowledge books in creative mode, which let you save and share enchantment setups with other players, which is super useful if you run a build server or collaborate on large projects with friends. On roleplay servers, paper is often used to make contracts, wanted posters, and other custom roleplay items, so it’s always a hot commodity to trade for rare materials.
At the end of the day, even the fanciest Minecraft builds and progression paths rely on simple basic materials, and paper is near the top of that list. Now that you know how do you make paper in Minecraft, you can stop putting off that max level enchantment table setup or cross-continental map project you’ve been planning. Don’t sleep on setting up a small sugar cane farm early in your playthrough—you’ll thank yourself later when you don’t have to run around searching for sugar cane last minute to make fireworks for your first elytra flight. If you’ve got a favorite paper farm design or weird use for paper we didn’t mention, drop it in the comments below to help other players out.