Paper is one of those quiet essentials you end up needing constantly. It goes into books for enchanting, maps for exploring, fireworks for your elytra, and it is one of the fastest early-game ways to make emeralds. The good news is that it is dirt cheap to make once you find one plant.
This guide covers the recipe, where to get the sugar cane it needs, everything paper is used for, and how to turn it into easy emeralds. Everything here is accurate for the latest 2026 version of Minecraft.
Quick answer: craft paper from 3 sugar cane. Place all three in a horizontal row in the crafting grid, and you get 3 paper. Sugar cane grows next to water, so one small farm gives you an endless supply.
Paper at a Glance
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Recipe | 3 sugar cane in a row |
| Yield | 3 paper |
| Where to get sugar cane | Beside water (rivers, lakes, oceans, swamps) |
| Also found in | Stronghold library, shipwreck, and cartographer chests |
How to Craft Paper
The recipe is one of the simplest in the game:
- Place 3 sugar cane side by side in a single row of the crafting grid.
That gives you 3 paper, a clean one-to-one trade of sugar cane for paper. The row can be the top, middle, or bottom of the grid, and you do not need a crafting table for it, so you can do it straight from your inventory.
Where to Find Sugar Cane
Paper is only as easy as your sugar cane supply, so this is the real step.
Sugar cane grows on grass, dirt, or sand that sits directly next to water and it appears naturally along the edges of rivers, lakes, oceans, and swamps. It is usually 2 or 3 blocks tall, so it stands out against the shoreline.
To never run out, build a small farm:
- Break the sugar cane you find and keep the stalks.
- Plant them on any block that is touching water, one plant per spot.
- Let them grow back and harvest the top sections, leaving the bottom to regrow.
Because every stalk you plant can be broken into more stalks, a handful of sugar cane quickly turns into a whole shoreline of it. A short row next to a water channel produces far more paper than you will ever need.
What Paper Is Used For
Paper is a crafting ingredient in a surprising number of things:
- Books: 3 paper + 1 leather. Books are the gateway to bookshelves, enchanting, and the enchanting setup.
- Maps: in Java Edition, 8 paper + 1 compass makes a locator map; on Bedrock, 9 paper makes a plain empty map. More paper zooms a map out.
- Cartography table: 2 paper + 4 wooden planks, used to copy and expand maps.
- Firework rockets: 1 paper + gunpowder, essential for flying with an elytra.
- Banner patterns: paper combined with items like vines, bricks, or a creeper head creates special banner designs.
Pro Tip: Turn Paper Into Emeralds
Here is the trick most guides skip. Paper is one of the best early-game emerald sources in the entire game.
Both novice cartographer and novice librarian villagers buy 24 paper for 1 emerald. Since a small sugar cane farm produces paper almost for free, you can convert an afternoon of farming into a stack of emeralds with zero mining or fighting. It is the easiest villager economy to start, and it levels those villagers up toward far more valuable trades. For the full breakdown, see our guide to the best villager trades for emeralds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Place 3 sugar cane in a horizontal row in the crafting grid. That gives you 3 paper. You can craft it directly from your inventory without a crafting table.
Only sugar cane. Three sugar cane makes three paper, so no other ingredients are required.
It grows naturally on blocks next to water, along the edges of rivers, lakes, oceans, and swamps. Replant it beside water to farm an unlimited supply.
Crafting books, maps, cartography tables, firework rockets, and banner patterns. It can also be sold to villagers for emeralds.
Sell it to a novice cartographer or librarian villager. Both buy 24 paper for 1 emerald, which makes a sugar cane farm one of the fastest early emerald sources.
Yes. Paper generates in stronghold library chests, shipwreck supply chests, and village cartographer chests, though crafting it from sugar cane is far more reliable.
Paper costs almost nothing and unlocks enchanting, exploring, and an early emerald economy all at once. Plant a row of sugar cane by the nearest water, and you will never be short of it again. For more recipes, see our guide on how to make a saddle.
