Get Coloured Text in Minecraft | § Color Codes

Hey everybody, it’s UnderMyCap and welcome back to another video! Today I’m going to be showing you how to get custom text formatting in Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition. This is such an awesome thing that you can add to your Minecraft world — it works on signs, books, chat, and all those sorts of things. You can change the colour of your text, add boldness, add a glitch effect, use italics, and so much more. I’m going to be showing you how to use every single one of these in both Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition, so let’s get straight into it!

Step 1: Getting the Section Sign (§)

The first thing you’ll need to do is get a special character to actually trigger these colour and formatting effects. This character is called the section sign (§). Unfortunately, it can be a little tricky to find on your keyboard depending on your device. If you’re on an iPad, you may be able to swipe up on your keyboard to find it, but the easiest method for most people is to simply search “section sign” on Google, find the character in the search results, and then copy and paste it. Once you have it copied, you’re ready to move on to the next step!

Step 2: Using the Section Sign in a Book

Once you have the section sign copied, you’ll want to open up a book in Minecraft. It’s worth noting that while signs can technically be used, they tend to revert the text back to black — this is because signs require dye to change text colour. Books, however, work perfectly for this method. Open up a new page in your book and paste the section sign using Ctrl + V on Windows or Command + V on Mac. You may notice that nothing visibly appears after pasting — that’s completely fine and totally expected!

After pasting the section sign, you then need to type a colour code letter or number directly after it. For example, typing §3 will give you blue text. Once you’ve entered your code, just type whatever you’d like to say and you’ll see your text appear in the colour you selected. It really is that simple!

Step 3: Stacking Formatting Codes

One of the coolest things about this system is that you can stack multiple formatting codes on top of each other. For example, you can paste the section sign again at the start of your text and add an L after it (§l) to make your text bold. You can also use a K (§k) to apply a really cool glitched scrambling effect to your text. By combining different codes together, you can create some really unique and eye-catching results in your books and items.

Step 4: Renaming Items with Colour Using an Anvil

This trick isn’t just limited to books — you can also use it to rename items on an anvil with coloured text! Simply place down an anvil, put your item in, and in the rename field paste your section sign followed by your chosen colour code, then type the name you want. For example, using §d will give you a beautiful purple item name. It works with all of the colour and formatting codes, so you can really personalise your items in a creative way.

Full List of Colour Codes

Below is a full list of the colour and formatting codes you can use in Minecraft. Simply replace the § symbol with your copied section sign followed by the corresponding code:

And that is about it for today’s guide! I hope you found this helpful and that you have a lot of fun customising your Minecraft worlds with coloured and formatted text. If you’d like to see this in action, you can watch the full video below. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to leave a like and subscribe — I can’t wait to see you in the next one!

▶ Watch the full video here