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How to Craft Paper in Minecraft

Paper in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own item texture. Crafting maps, books, banners and firework rockets.

On a Crafting Table, 3 Sugar Canes turns into Papers. On the grid you want three Sugar Canes in a row. You end up with 3 Papers each time.

Paper Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Paper is minecraft:paper. In commands the namespace may be left off, so paper works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one
/give @p paper
Give a full stack of 64
/give @p paper 64
Give it to a named player
/give Steve paper 1

Cheats have to be on for Paper to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Overview

Paper is crafted from sugar cane and used to make maps, books, banner patterns and firework rockets. Paper uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

The paper was already in the game in Minecraft Beta 1.0, the oldest release with an English language file to read, so this recipe is at least that old.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with sugar cane (harvest sugar cane near water).

One Stack, Counted

One stack is 21 goes at 3 sugar cane each, which totals 63 paper. Short by one craft: 1 sugar cane left.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Sugar CaneSugar CaneSugar Cane3xHarvest sugar cane near water

For Paper: 3x Sugar Cane (harvest sugar cane near water), brought to a Crafting Table.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Sugar CaneSugar Cane3x Sugar Cane

  2. 2

    3x Paper

Minecraft crafting recipe for Paper: 3 x Sugar Cane in a crafting table, making 3 Paper.

Tips & Notes

  • Line up 3x Sugar Cane before you open the Crafting Table. Sugar Cane: harvest sugar cane near water.
  • Each craft yields 3 Paper, so a full stack of 64 takes 22 crafts.

Uses for Paper

  • Crafting maps, books, banners and firework rockets

What Paper Goes Into

5 other recipes list Paper as an ingredient.

MapMapMapCrafting TableBookBookBookCrafting TableCartography TableCrafting TableFirework RocketFirework RocketFirework RocketCrafting TableName TagName TagName TagCrafting Table

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Paper on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Paper in Minecraft?
To craft a Paper you need 3 Sugar Canes at a Crafting Table. Lay them out exactly as the grid above shows, and one craft produces 3 Papers.
What can you make with Paper?
Paper is an ingredient in 5 other recipes on this site, including Map, Book, Cartography Table and Firework Rocket. The section above links to each of them.
Can you craft a Paper without a crafting table?
You need a table for a Paper. It is laid out as three Sugar Canes in a row, and that takes 3 columns, more than the 2x2 grid in your inventory can hold.
Where do you find the materials for a Paper?
A Paper draws its parts from several different places. Sugar Cane: harvest sugar cane near water.
How many Papers do you get from one craft?
The Paper recipe makes 3 Papers in a single craft.
What is the item ID for Paper in Minecraft?
Paper is registered as minecraft:paper. Commands accept the short form paper as well, and Bedrock spells it the same. Checked against Java 26.2.
What is the give command for Paper?
Use /give @p paper to put a Paper in your own inventory, or /give @p paper 64 for a full stack of 64. Cheats have to be on.
Is the Paper recipe the same in Java and Bedrock Edition?
Java and Bedrock agree on a Paper: both want 3 Sugar Canes at a Crafting Table in the layout above, and both give 3 at a time.
Which recipe uses the most Paper?
Of everything on this site, a Map swallows the most Paper: 8 Papers in one craft. That is worth knowing before you decide how many to make.
How do you unlock the Paper recipe in the recipe book?
The Paper recipe appears in your recipe book the moment you pick up a Sugar Cane in Java Edition. Until then it stays hidden, even though the craft itself works if you already know the grid.
What version of Minecraft added the Paper?
The files run out before the paper does. Minecraft Beta 1.0 is the oldest language file Mojang publishes and paper was listed in it. Today the game builds it from 3 Sugar Canes, as shown above.

Sources

Grid, ingredients and yield
3 Sugar Canes in, 3 Papers out, Crafting Table. Java 26.2, .
That Bedrock agrees
Bedrock 1.26.40.05, same ingredient.
How far back it goes
Present in Minecraft Java Beta 1.0, the oldest release that exists to check. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
That the ingredients come back
What drops, what villagers trade and what farms regrow in Minecraft Java, followed through the recipes to see what those ingredients can be turned into.
Stack size
The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock
What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The stack sum
Counted, not played: 3 Papers per craft against the stack size.

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