To make paper in Minecraft, open a crafting table, place three sugar cane side by side in one row and take three sheets of paper from the output slot.
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Below are the exact grid layout, where sugar cane grows, the chests that hold paper, what paper turns into and the fixes for a recipe that shows nothing.
Minecraft paper crafting recipe
The paper recipe is three sugar cane in one horizontal row, and it returns three sheets of paper. A row of three needs the wider 3×3 grid of a crafting table, because the personal crafting area in your inventory has only four squares.
- Collect three sugar cane by breaking the tall stalks that grow at the edge of rivers and coasts.
- Craft a crafting table from four wooden planks of any wood type arranged in a square, then place it on the ground.
- Walk up to the crafting table and use it to open its 3×3 crafting window.
- Put one sugar cane in each square of a single row and leave the other six squares empty.
- Take the three sheets of paper from the output slot.
- Repeat with each further set of three sugar cane for three more sheets.
Ways to get paper in Minecraft (compared)
Crafting is the dependable route. The alternative ways to get paper are chest loot in three kinds of structure, and none of them promises a set amount.
| Your situation | Where to get paper | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| You have sugar cane or can reach water | Craft it at a crafting table | Three paper for every three sugar cane, every time |
| Sailing or exploring a coastline | Shipwreck chests | Paper sometimes appears in the loot |
| Exploring a stronghold | Stronghold chests | Paper sometimes appears in the loot |
| Visiting a village | Chests in village cartographer houses | Paper sometimes appears in the loot |
Take any paper a chest offers, but plant the first sugar cane you find. Loot runs out; a cane farm does not.
What you need to make paper in Minecraft
| Item | Amount | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar cane | 3 per craft, returning 3 paper | Break wild sugar cane beside water in the Overworld, or grow your own |
| Wooden planks | 4, for the crafting table | Any wood type works |
| Crafting table | 1 | Four planks in the four-square crafting area of your inventory |
Where to find sugar cane for paper in Minecraft
Sugar cane generates in the Overworld beside water. Riverbanks and coasts carry it, including stony shores, the cliff-lined coasts where mountains meet the sea.
- Follow a river or coastline in the Overworld and look for tall stalks at the water's edge.
- Break the stalks and pick up the sugar cane they drop.
- Collect at least three sugar cane for one craft, or 24 if you plan to sell the paper to a villager.
- Keep a few canes back to plant beside water so the supply grows again.
In snowy biomes, frozen rivers carry a top layer of ice. Sugar cane can generate on their banks, but it uproots itself soon after because it needs liquid water to survive.
How to grow a sugar cane farm for unlimited paper
A small farm beside water keeps paper coming without more exploring. Sugar cane needs liquid water directly beside it to survive, so plant every cane on a block that borders water.
- Pick a spot at the edge of a river or pond, or dig a straight channel one block wide and fill it with water.
- Plant sugar cane on the blocks that border the water along both sides of the channel.
- Let the canes grow, then harvest them, keeping a few to replant.
- Carry the harvest to a crafting table and turn it into paper three canes at a time.
If the paper is headed for bookshelves, build the farm near a forest and a herd of cattle. Every bookshelf also needs six planks, and every book inside it needs a piece of leather.
How to check the paper crafted correctly
- Watch the output slot as you place the third sugar cane; paper appears there only once all three share one row.
- Check that the output slot shows a stack of three, not one.
- Take the paper and confirm the three sugar cane have left the grid.
- Find the new stack of three in your inventory and check that the item is Paper.
What you can make with paper in Minecraft
Paper is the gateway to maps, enchanting, fireworks and banner patterns. Each sheet costs one sugar cane, so the paper count below is also the sugar cane count.
| Item | Recipe | Paper needed |
|---|---|---|
| Book | Three paper plus one leather | 3 |
| Bookshelf | Six wooden planks plus three books | 9 (three per book) |
| Map | Eight paper surrounding a compass | 8 |
| Empty map (Bedrock Edition) | Nine paper filling the whole crafting grid | 9 |
| Cartography table | Two paper in the top row above four wooden planks | 2 |
| Firework rocket | Paper plus gunpowder; add a firework star for explosion effects | 1 |
Each extra piece of gunpowder in a firework rocket makes it fly higher before it explodes. Bookshelves placed near an enchanting table enhance its power.
Is trading paper for emeralds worth it?
A librarian or cartographer villager has a decent chance of offering one emerald for 24 sheets of paper. That is 24 sugar cane, or eight crafts, per emerald.
Trade paper for emeralds once a sugar cane farm is running, not while you are still gathering wild cane. A farm beside water regrows the 24 canes each emerald costs, so the trade turns spare harvest into currency. Before the farm runs, every cane traded away is one sheet fewer for books and maps.
Still not working? Troubleshooting paper crafting in Minecraft
When a player struggles to make paper, the layout is wrong: the recipe sits in the four-square inventory grid, the canes are split across rows, or fewer than three canes are in the grid. A farm that keeps losing cane is a water problem.
Nothing appears in the output slot
The three sugar cane are split across rows, or the recipe is laid out in the four-square inventory grid.
- Close the inventory and open a crafting table instead.
- Move all three sugar cane into the same horizontal row.
- Clear every other square in the grid.
Planted sugar cane breaks off and drops as an item
Sugar cane needs liquid water next to it to survive.
- Pick up the dropped sugar cane.
- Replant it on a block that touches liquid water.
- Break any ice beside the farm so the water underneath stays exposed.
Only one or two sugar cane are available
The recipe takes exactly three canes and has no smaller version.
- Plant the canes you have beside water.
- Let them grow, then harvest them.
- Return to the crafting table once you hold three.
Minecraft paper FAQ
How much paper does one sugar cane make?
One sugar cane makes one sheet of paper, but only in sets of three. The recipe takes three sugar cane side by side in one row of a crafting table and returns three sheets of paper from the output slot.
Can you make paper without a crafting table?
No. The three sugar cane must sit side by side in one row, and the personal crafting area in your inventory has only four squares. Craft a crafting table from four wooden planks and lay the recipe out in its 3×3 grid.
Can you make paper from wood in Minecraft?
No. Paper in Minecraft is crafted only from sugar cane, a nod to papyrus, which people in Ancient Egypt made from a wetland plant. Wood goes into the crafting table and the frame of a bookshelf, not into the paper itself.
Where does sugar cane spawn in Minecraft?
Sugar cane generates in the Overworld beside water, along riverbanks and coasts, including stony shores where mountains meet the sea. Canes that generate beside a frozen river uproot themselves soon after, because sugar cane needs liquid water to survive.
How do you get paper without sugar cane?
Search chests in shipwrecks, strongholds and village cartographer houses, which sometimes hold paper. The amount is never guaranteed, so plant any sugar cane you come across beside water to build a steady supply.
How much paper do you need for a map?
A map takes eight paper surrounding a compass. Bedrock Edition also has a recipe in which nine paper filling the whole crafting grid make an empty map. Either way, gather at least three crafts' worth of sugar cane.
How much paper does a bookshelf take?
A bookshelf takes nine paper. It needs three books plus six wooden planks, and each book needs three paper and one leather, so one bookshelf costs nine sugar cane and three leather in total.
Which villagers buy paper in Minecraft?
Librarian and cartographer villagers have a decent chance of buying paper, at one emerald for 24 sheets. A sugar cane farm beside water covers that trade without more exploring, which turns spare harvest into a steady source of emeralds.
