How To Use Paper in Minecraft

One of the most common items we have in real life is paper. And like reality, the same goes for paper in Minecraft. Paper is known to be one of the most useful and important items in the game, and lucky for us, it can easily be crafted from sugar cane which you can obtain from farming. Of course, the only way to create a renewable source of paper is to create a sugar cane farm near your base wherein you can plant, harvest, and repeat the process infinitely.

And since it does not take too much time and effort, players can hoard as much sugar cane as possible and easily craft them all into paper. But it begs the question, “what exactly is paper in Minecraft used for?” We are here to show you how to use paper in the game.

What is paper in Minecraft?

Paper is a common item in Minecraft that is mainly obtained by crafting sugar cane into paper. Like in real life, paper is used in various ways, including creating books and maps in the game. But paper can be used as more than just a crafting ingredient. Read on to find out what you can do with a simple piece of paper in Minecraft.

How to obtain paper in Minecraft?

There are two main ways to obtain paper in Minecraft. The first is to obtain it by crafting, and the other is to obtain it as loot in chests—another unreliable method of obtaining paper benefits from the “Hero of the Village” effect. When a player completes a raid as a librarian, a villager may gift a player with paper and other gifts, although this is purely by chance.

Obtained by crafting

The best and easiest way to obtain paper is to craft sugar cane and turn them into paper. To do so, you will need at least three sugar canes before starting crafting; otherwise, crafting a single sugar cane will only provide you with sugar. Start by placing all three sugar canes in a horizontal position in the 3×3 crafting grid of the crafting table.

Then, once the paper appears in the results slot, click and drag it into your inventory to complete the crafting process. Take note that you must follow the exact recipe and place all of the sugar cane in a straight line horizontally to craft the paper successfully. Otherwise, you can not craft it. For each set of 3 sugar cane crafted, you will be rewarded with three pieces of paper.

Obtained as a chest loot

Although not as reliable as crafting the paper straight from sugar cane, another method is to obtain paper via loot from chests. You can loot paper inside chests located inside shipwrecks, strongholds, and villages with a certain percent chance for every chest.

1. Paper used as a crafting ingredient for books

Books are one of the most important items in the game mainly because it is needed for enchantment. And to make books, you will need paper. But unfortunately, you will need a lot of paper to craft even a single book alone. Thankfully, paper is easily crafted from sugar cane which you can farm constantly.

Books in Minecraft can be imbued with a single enchantment per book, which you can then use to equip your tools, armor, and weapons with the same enchantments through an anvil. And not only that, but a book is also required to craft the enchanting table and bookshelves needed for enchantment, so this means you will need a lot of paper.

2. Paper used to create empty maps

Maps are a great way to have an overhead view of your current location and easily navigate your way around, especially when near mountains and bodies of water. Maps also allow you to easily track where you are going and go back if you get lost. Another great way to use paper is by crafting empty maps in the game. Although this method is not as helpful in creative mode as in survival mode, maps can still be used as a decoration piece when placed on a frame on the wall.

You will need eight papers and one compass to craft an empty map. Once crafted, you can hold the empty map in your hand and start walking to sketch the entire surrounding area on the map automatically. You may also use the map in a cartography table to lock the map and create markers for convenience.

3. Paper used for villager trading

Try to find a librarian villager inside a village so you can trade your excess paper for emeralds. Trading with a librarian villager will benefit you with a lot of emeralds and give you access to better trade menu items such as enchanted books, lanterns, bookshelves, and other items in a librarian villager’s trading inventory. And since paper can be easily farmed, trading paper for emeralds will become effortless in the long run. So if you are looking to grab more emeralds for the trade items sold by the wandering trader and other villagers, then the librarian villager trades is one of the best ways to go.

4. Paper used as a crafting ingredient for fireworks

One of the best ways to use paper is by using it as part of a crafting ingredient to make fireworks. You can make firework rockets by using paper and a few pieces of gunpowder together. One crafting ingredient set in the recipe can create up to 3 firework rockets per crafting process. Firework rockets will allow you to shoot fireworks in the sky and give you a speed boost when using them, along with the elytra equipped on your back. The speed boost from the firework rocket will greatly help with your flight speed and control the altitude when flying so you can choose when and where to land.